Best practices for structuring organizational communication in digital workspaces

When the telephone was first invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, it initially made communication more complex. No one knew what to say at the beginning of a call until Thomas Edison suggested starting with “Hello?” People didn’t immediately see the advantages of the new technology outside of a few business use cases, but, of course, it quickly revolutionized communication for everyone.

The same can be said of communication when more than half of employees work remotely at least some of the time. When most organizations shifted to full remote work during the pandemic, they quickly had to learn their way around tools like Slack, Zoom, and Zoho Cliq. The first weeks of this shift led to miscommunications, misunderstandings, and frustration. But as time went on, many learned the advantages of these communication channels.

Now that many companies have shifted to hybrid work or full in-office presence, they’re dealing with new challenges as they try to adapt to environments in which digital workspaces are where most communication happens, but side conversations fall through the cracks.

Here’s how you can improve your communication when you’re working this way.

Why digital workspaces expose communication debt

Communication debt describes the costs that accumulate due to lackluster communication channels, workflows, and guidelines. This debt can impact projects and your company’s strategy as a whole. Collaborators struggle to stay aligned on important projects, critical updates get missed, and productivity declines as teams double up on work.

While it may seem like digital workspaces have caused this communication debt, they actually just reveal it. Even without a formal communication framework or clear guidelines, teams stay aligned through impromptu meetings and casual desk-side conversations. When even a few employees work remotely at least some of the time, these opportunities for communication disappear. When everyone has to rely on more formal communication channels for their conversations, the gaps that lead to communication debt become more obvious.

Remote leaders spend at least three hours a day on emails and virtual meetings. When these channels are inefficient, your increased reliance on them creates communication debt that impacts operations company-wide. But that debt isn’t inherent to using these channels, and it can be paid off.

Here’s how.

The SIGNAL communication framework

You don’t need new tools or integrations to tighten the way your teams communicate; you just need a clear framework that serves as a foundation for your efforts. That’s where the SIGNAL framework comes in. It turns disjointed communication channels into vital infrastructure. Here are the pillars of this framework and what they mean.

S: Segmentation

One of the biggest communication problems in digital workspaces is a lack of clarity. Employees, managers, and leaders don’t have clear guidelines on the purposes each communication channel serves, so they drift from channel to channel based on their own preferences, their team’s expectations, or even just convenience. Create clear boundaries around each channel (both by tool and by channels within those tools) and determine which audience they’re for and what they’re meant to accomplish.

For example, you might make a list of all the chat channels in your organization, and write a few quick lines about what each one is for.

I: Intent

When employees receive dozens, if not hundreds, of messages a day, there’s always a temptation to just skim through an important message. That can lead to essential information getting lost. The Intent pillar means standardizing markers that employees can add to their messages, allowing recipients to triage quickly and act on messages appropriately. You could, for instance, encourage the use of markers like FYI (i.e., no immediate action required but still important), decision needed (i.e., input from a stakeholder is required), action required (i.e., a task actually needs to be completed), or blocker (i.e., progress can’t be made until something else is resolved).

You can also encourage teams to add a TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) to lengthy messages, summarizing its broad strokes.

G: Governance

Who owns chat apps in your organization? What about email? The Governance pillar allows you to assign explicit responsibilities for each channel, meaning there’s always someone improving the way you use it. You could have a single owner for each channel or split responsibilities across multiple people. However you choose to do it, make sure each of these responsibilities has a clear owner:

• Making decisions about the channel as a whole (e.g., changing the tool used for it).
• Moderating messages in a communication channel to address conflict and prevent policy violations.
• Establishing and carrying out an archiving policy (i.e., how long messages are archived for and how they’re deleted).

N: Norms

Every communication channel should have a set of norms and expectations around the following:

• Reasonable response times.
• When a conversation should lead to a meeting.
• When communications should be escalated to a manager or leader.
• The type of language that should be used or avoided.
  
  These norms need to be documented in a way that’s easily accessible for everyone in the organization. They also need to be maintained and updated, ideally by a person identified through the Governance pillar.

A: Async-first

As soon as even a few of your employees work away from the office at least some of the time, you should prioritize asynchronous communication channels over their asynchronous equivalents. Asynchronous channels create a record that can be consulted later, making them superior for most communication. Synchronous channels should be used in situations that require important decisions, debate, or relationship-building. Below, you’ll find a list of asynchronous and synchronous communication channels to guide you.
 

L: Longevity

There are two kinds of messages: temporary and durable. The Longevity pillar means you need to determine which messages belong in which channel, and how they should be archived or maintained. 

There are two kinds of messages: temporary and durable. The Longevity pillar means you need to determine which messages belong in which channel, and how they should be archived or maintained. 

A knowledge base article describing one of your processes is an example of a durable message. It's meant to be referenced long after it’s produced.  

Problems can arise when channels best suited for temporary communication are used for durable communication (and vice versa). Identify these messages and channels and build clear processes around them. 

FAQ: Organizational communication in digital workspaces

What is organizational communication infrastructure?

Organizational communication infrastructure is what makes the difference between clear communication and frequent misunderstandings. It’s an organization-wide commitment to effective communication, with clear channels, ownership, documentation, and urgency. It isn’t about policing and moderating individual behavior; it’s about giving everyone clear guidelines to follow.
 

Why does communication break down in digital workspaces?

Digital workspaces don’t cause communication breakdowns, they just reveal pre-existing issues. Water-cooler conversations and impromptu collaboration opportunities can plug communication gaps in the office, gaps that become more obvious when working remotely.
 

What’s the difference between synchronous and asynchronous communication?

Synchronous communication happens with both parties present at the same time. Examples include meetings and phone calls. Asynchronous communication doesn’t need both parties to be present simultaneously; the recipient can consult a message or recording on their schedule, no matter when it was sent. Examples of asynchronous communication include chat messages, meeting transcripts, and emails.
 

How many communication channels should a company have?

There’s no magic number of channels that leads to flawless organizational communication. Rather, you should ensure that every channel can pass this three-stage test:

• It has a named owner, responsible for making decisions and answering questions.
• It has a documented purpose, ensuring that it doesn’t overlap with other communication channels.
• An archival or retirement policy, outlining when and how a channel could be replaced, if necessary.
  
  Most companies have more communication channels than they need, and periodically auditing your channels can help prevent this.

Who owns the internal communication strategy in an enterprise organization?

In enterprise organizations, the internal communication strategy is typically owned by both IT and Operations. IT owns the process for deploying, customizing, and retiring communication tools, as well as keeping communications secure. Operations owns the workflows and norms around communication, including documenting what each channel is for and correcting individual behavior as needed.
 

Keep your organization in sync (asynchronously)

Communication is essential to everything your teams do, but it can easily break down when you’re working with distributed collaborators. The SIGNAL framework can help you plug communication gaps, prevent communication debt, and anticipate problems before they can affect your projects and overall strategy. Just remember that standardizing the way you communicate, while requiring an initial investment, can close collaboration gaps and pay massive dividends over time.