Step 1: Create a working group channel
Whether broad (e.g., #marketing) or narrow (e.g., #q3-gtm-campaign), set the tone early by creating an inclusive working team channel. Unless you expect confidential information to be shared, leave it public. Working in public channels enables meaningful contributions to come from people you may not have thought to ask. If you require confidentiality, a private team channel is still more collaborative than a flurry of one-to-one direct messages.
Step 2: Establish team norms
Encourage anyone in your function or working group to keep all project-related discussion in the team channel, resisting the urge to splinter off into direct messages. In fact, you can tag an individual in a team channel to alert them to a question. Letting others see the question and the discussion that follows empowers others to learn — and see inside your head — without the need for a synchronous meeting.
To bring historical knowledge or ongoing repositories into view, bookmark or pin items like intranet or wiki links in relevant chat channels. Pointing conversations back to a single source of truth reduces misunderstandings and knowledge gaps.
Step 3: Denote and transfer decisions
In fast-moving chat channels, it’s hard to decipher between in-progress discussions and decisions made. A simple visual mechanism is to use the check mark emoji (
) on messages and thread starters where a decision has been made. For teams working around the sun, leaders can publish a single shift recap post that collects decisions and preserves them in one time-stamped place.
Step 4: Use threads
Working team channels are busy and tough to follow on a play-by-play basis, even when following our write for understanding guidelines. Inject order into the chaos by using threaded conversations. Diligent use of threads enables teams to have multiple parallel discussions while eliminating confusion and overlap.
Step 5: Use search
Working team channels aren’t just great for information sharing - they’re great for knowledge retrieval too! Leaders should advise participants to use the chat tool’s search function first before posing a fresh question. In the event the topic they’re interested in is already being discussed, they can catch up with an existing thread.
