Informal communication

An intentional approach to informal communication is crucial in a fast-paced organization with a bias for asynchronous workflows and text-based communication. Understanding a colleague's unique personality will help teams collaborate more effectively, so leaders should encourage team members to prioritize informal connections (e.g. coffee chats, social calls, special interest chat channels) and get to know the people behind the text. This builds trust, prevents conflict, and enables better communication during work-related interactions.

Building this level of trust also enables DRIs to make faster decisions, as there's a foundation of confidence in interacting with others.

Examples and resources for informal communication

Example 1: Scheduling coffee chats during team member onboarding

To set the precedent for informal communication at OASCI, each team member is required to schedule and conduct several coffee chats and consider applying to join a Team Member Resource Group as mandatory tasks during their onboarding. This ensures that they have the skills and confidence to initiate casual conversations and build cross-functional relationships during their time with the company.

Example 2: Sharing READMEs (personal operating manuals) to build trust with new team members

Two GitLab team members have never worked together before, so they set up a coffee chat and exchange READMEs prior to a new project starting. They learn a lot about each other, their work styles, and their backgrounds in the 25-minute video call and the asynchronous README reviews. The project runs more smoothly because of their shared trust beyond transactional work interactions.

Resource: Informal Communication Definiton by BambooHR (article)

Change management support for informal communication

Quick Start Tips: - Individual: Add 5 minutes of casual conversation time to the beginning or end of every meeting agenda. - Team: After a break, holiday, or company closure, reconnect as a team in your asynchronous communication platform by each sharing pictures of how you spent your time off. - Company: Build channels in your asynchronous communication platform dedicated exclusively to informal communication about topics like hobbies, local culture/events, pets, caretaking, etc. (Check out GitLab’s Slack channel directory for inspiration.)