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Enterprise messaging apps have been a boon for workplace communication. They’re invaluable for facilitating collaboration for remote teams just as easily as they do for in-office and hybrid teams.
Yet as cultural theorist Paul Virilio said in one of my favorite quotes, “When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck.” The “shipwreck” of messaging apps turned out to be distraction.
According to a recent study published in the Harvard Business Review, employees switch between various applications and communication platforms approximately 1200 times a day.
Employees can trick themselves into feeling productive by spending hours at the beck and call of pings and dings. Managers who expect their employees to be immediately responsive all day are interfering with efficiency.
Unless companies implement rules of use, their messaging apps — Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat — will remain a huge source of distraction for employees.
As Dr. Deb Mashek wrote in her recent article, adopting technology like chat apps doesn’t automatically solve organizations’ collaboration problems — they have to figure out “when, why and how to use the tech and … when not to use the tech.”
My book "Indistractable" has a whole chapter on how organizations can use messaging apps without distraction, but below I share a few key takeaways — plus lessons on optimal usage from one of the most popular enterprise messaging apps.
End the 'Always On' Mentality
In a previous article, I wrote that organizations that permit a cycle of responsiveness by demanding that their employees always be online are driving those employees to distraction. Fixing distractions around technology like messaging apps starts with breaking that expectation.
Slack, the messaging app of choice for 77% of Fortune 100 companies (and more than 100,000 organizations total) knows this. It’s taken steps to combat the maddening cycle of responsiveness endemic to so many organizations today.
At Slack, people know when to log off. A 2015 article reported that Slack’s offices are empty by 6:30 p.m., and employees are discouraged from logging back on at home and from sending late or weekend messages.
Slack has a Do Not Disturb feature that users can turn on when it’s time to focus on what they really want to do, whether it’s working on an important project or spending time with family or friends.
Other organizations can emulate Slack’s approach by strongly discouraging messages after hours, allowing employees to breathe.
Related Article: Bothered and Bewildered by Notifications? It's OK to Opt Out
Allow Employees to Hold 'Open Hours'
Even during work hours, employees do not need to check messages all the time. Instead, encourage them to timebox short periods of time throughout the day to review and reply to messages.
They can schedule-sync with coworkers to share their availability — either by sharing their time-boxed calendar or displaying their availability on the messaging app.
Training employees to check and respond to messages only during “open hours” gives them the undisturbed time they need to do their best work.
Former Slack chief revenue officer and chief marketing officer Bill Macaitis said in 2017, “You need to have uninterrupted work time .… This is why — whether I’m dealing with Slack or email — I always block off time to go in and check messages and then return to uninterrupted work.” I’m sure that seeing Macaitis prioritizing uninterrupted work and scheduling time for email and Slack set a profound example for his colleagues.
Channels for Everything
Organizations should rely heavily on channels to filter and separate topics of discussion. These separate channels not only save others from the sort of off-topic conversations that clog up email and make in-person meetings unbearable. Employees can disengage from the channels that don’t pertain to them, limit notifications on channels that don’t need to be addressed immediately, and see important messages right away.
If employees want to share photos of their pets or envy-inducing shots from their latest vacation, great! They can do that in a specific channel, fostering bonds with their coworkers who check those photos in their free time.
Related Article: The Speed of Work Today: More, Faster, Now
Build a Triage Workflow
Setting up channels and holding “open hours” are great ways to help employees manage the, for example, 125 Slack messages that the average worker received a day back in 2021. But a triage workflow increases efficiency even more by stopping employees from needlessly rechecking messages, which reduces distraction.
In a triage workflow, employees review each message only twice: first to label or tag the message, then to respond to it.
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Organizations can help their employees build a triage workflow by offering them software, which gathers messages in an inbox where users can tag them.
First, employees review messages and tag each as needing a response “Now,” “None,” “Today” or “This Week” — or whatever labels employees choose. They can schedule one or multiple periods of time each day for this task.
Then, during a separately scheduled time, employees respond to the messages labeled “Today.” To address messages “This Week,” they can similarly timebox a slot on their weekly calendar.
If you want more ideas on how to use messaging apps more effectively, create a channel. Ask your employees. And watch your workplace become indistractable.