How to Use Company Chat Professionally and Efficiently - The Muse

How to Use Company Chat Professionally and Efficiently - The MuseHow to Use Company Chat Professionally and Efficiently Slack, HipChat, Yammer, Lync, Pie, Bitrix24- one of behauptung words most likely has a lot of meaning to you. After all, its how you communicate with all your co-workers every single day. (The others might have you scratching your head and wondering how one sentence could have so many typos.)For many companies nowadays, chat rooms are the water cooler. So, just like you need to be respectful and careful of what you say aloud in your office, you need to know the dos and donts of using these tools appropriately. (This isnt 1997, and you shouldnt be asking anyone A/S/L?) Even if youre using it every day, you still might be making some basic etiquette mistakes. Follow these five rules, and you should be good to go. 1. Use it (Only) When You Need Answers, FastIf you need an answer fast or have news your team needs to know now, this is the first place you should turn. Peo ple usually have bedrngnisifications set up so that they see new chats as they come in and can respond to time-sensitive inquiries quickly. However, if what you want to communicate is an FYI, a question that will require some thought, more of a long-term idea or project, or really anything youd want to reference in the future, turn to email. Youll get a more thoughtful response- and avoid annoying your co-workers. 2. Be FriendlyNow you know that these rooms arent meant for long, in-depth conversations. However, that doesnt mean you can forget your manners under the guise of being brief. Remember please and thanks. Also, elende that this is one those rare forms of work communication where emoticons are OK, and a basic smiley face in response to a Youre welcome can do wonders. As can starting a conversation with Hows your day going? before jumping into Is the report ready? 3. Reply QuicklyOne of the biggest advantages of chat over email is that it takes just seconds to send a message . But, that means theres often an expectation that you should reply quickly, too. So, when youre asked something in chat, respond as soon as you can. In most cases, colleagues are assuming theyll hear back instantly. If youre working on something important, in a meeting, or even going to lunch, take a moment to change your status so people know youre not available. 4. Set Up AlertsWith that said, chat can easily be forgotten just running in a background window on your computer all day. Make sure you dont miss a thing by adjusting your settings so that you hear a sound or see a pop-up whenever a message comes in. (Just remember that if youre not regularly using headphones, you should turn off that sound.) In addition to that, you should check your settings to see if you can get conversations sent to you when youre offline. More often than not, someone will email you if he or she isnt hearing back. But its not a bad idea to stay in the loop and skim over what you missed- especially in group chats where conversation often moves back-and-forth between lighthearted banter and serious topics. 5. Stay on TopicOn that note, since its easy to fire off a string of comments in chat, you can easily get distracted and find yourself discussing your weekend plans instead of talking about tomorrows project review. Keep the conversation productive by sticking to the subject at hand.If you (and your team) struggle with that, set up a separate break room or off-topic chat room for any side discussions. Theres no shame in having a room reserved solely for puppy videos. After all, a good laugh can brighten everyones day. And, theres nothing quite like watching everyone read the same chat and burst out laughing at the same time. Just dont get too carried away or go all NSFW. This is work, after all.Chats quickly becoming the voreingestellt for team communication today. So, keep these rules in mind as you work. It wont just make your job easier, it will also make your communication far more effective. Plus, if you really commit to it, your GIF game will be that much stronger.