Home » Consider These Etiquette Suggestions on Slack When Collaborating

Consider These Etiquette Suggestions on Slack When Collaborating

Read this article to learn about the Slack etiquette suggestions for collaborating, which will help you further with corporate and business communication.

by asloob
Etiquette Suggestions on Slack

You could think that since there is meal etiquette, wedding etiquette, corporate etiquette, and so on, there is also chatting etiquette. Yes, they exist, and as humans, we are required to uphold standards and etiquette in our interactions. However, the same rules apply to this conversation etiquette, such as consideration, honesty, and respect.

Let me expound on the chatting etiquette while collaborating as a team, preferably on Slack, rather than generalizing it.

Know your Team

Since a company may have numerous teams working towards uniform goals, you may not know everyone on the other teams. So, before approaching them with your problem, try approaching the team leader, because the responsibilities will be divided among the team, you will be mapped to the appropriate or concerned individual, and some team leaders don’t want their team to be approached by another team without their knowledge for obvious reasons. If you approach directly, you may ping someone with distinct duties, who may then direct you to the proper person.

With the foregoing in mind, you can save yourself the trouble by introducing yourself to the team leader and asking them to assist you in addressing the relevant person. It’s a perfectly professional approach, so give it a shot at your workplace.

Start with Greetings

Always say ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ when initiating a conversation with someone, and then check to see whether it’s a better moment for them to converse. You might be interrupting them if you don’t. Just because it’s a workplace doesn’t mean everyone is obligated to speak with you regardless of their priorities; I’m sure you’d like others to do the same when they want to speak with you.

It’s ideal to explain the goal of starting the discussion directly after the greetings, along with finding out their preferred time to chat, rather than waiting for them to respond with pleasantries because they might respond based on the message’s criticalness.

For example, ‘Hi, if it is the right time, may we please discuss the client’s requirements in detail?’.

Avoid Short Messages

Short messages or communications will only strain your recipient’s patience and don’t expect others to grasp your made-up abbreviations. Attempt to fit the entire message into a single message because each line will take a long time to appear from the recipient’s perspective. Furthermore, if you use the Slack free plan, every short message, GIF, smiley, and so on will be counted, and considering the Slack pricing, your entire organization is limited to 10,000 messages only. Although the tool does not stall after exceeding the limit, you will lose access to the message history.

Appreciate in Groups, criticize in the recipient’s chat window

Never criticize your team members, especially the managers and team leaders in the group, regardless of how critical the issue is because it will affect their morale and the messages will remain in the group indefinitely, allowing bullies to criticize them and instill antipathy in the minds of other members towards management. If you need to involve another person, create a temporary group and chat with them and then delete the group, or if you need to involve a large group of team members, hold a conference or meeting. You can also use Slack as a screen-sharing software to share message history or emails to share the complaint, HR’s suggested action, and management’s response.

Make it a habit to compliment employees in groups; their abilities and loyalty should be honored at the very least to inspire or motivate others. It’s one of the tried-and-true methods for motivating your workforce.

Use appropriate tools

When you’re using Slack, you may utilize another tool for email, so whatever is conveyed by email should be responded to via email rather than through the chat app. For example, if the meeting time is modified, don’t notify the participants via the chat app; instead, send a fresh email with the update tagging to the thread.

Slack is one of the most effective communication tools, but you can’t answer an email in Slack; you’ll need to utilize other tools to deliver the information.

Check the Members’ Status

Don’t send someone a message asking them to answer right away if their status is ‘away’ or ‘busy.’ Although the member’s status is ‘break’ or ‘lunch,’ few managers send the message; whereas, you can send ‘please ping me (or phone me) after receiving seeing this message.’ You may be disturbing their peace of mind by showing up in the middle of their break or interfering with their task while their status appears busy. And, I’m sure you don’t want to be bothered, despite being marked with such status.

Conclusion

I hope after reading the above etiquette you will apply it at the workplace. The following etiquette can not only improve your communication but also creates an image of an ideal employee in your management perspective and teams.

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