In my previous job I introduced my coworkers to SLACK, my favoritest (it's a word, I promise) communications tool ever.
With SLACK you can message your coworkers, set up to-do lists, send gifs, record meeting minutes, and SOOOO much more. PublcTechnology.net stated that, used properly, SLACK "generally cuts email traffic, increases productivity, supports specialist professions and exposes you to a whole world of gif animations you'd had never previously dreamed of (Greenway, A., 2017)."
Did I mention you could send gifs? Because that's my favorite part!
Angry Panda was something of a hit in my office. Once the boys (I was the only girl.) caught on to giphys, they were all in with SLACK, especially once we moved to a new location and instead of being in the same room, we were all in our own offices and could no longer just turn around to talk to one another. We used SLACK for chatting, assigning tasks, meeting agendas and meeting minutes, and more. It was quite literally how we communicated at least 80% of our day!
So, the first week into my new job I decided to introduce SLACK to the new boys (once again, only girl in the office). I kept one of my previous coworkers in the loop, as it was not working well and I needed to vent. The conversations went a little something like this:
References:
Greenway, Andrew. 2017, June 26. Group. chat an indispensable tool within Whitehall. PublicTechnology.net. Retrieved from https://www.publictechnology.net/articles/features/group-chat-indispensable-tool-within-whitehall
Ferrazzi, Keith. 2014, August. Managing Change, One Day at a Time. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/07/managing-change-one-day-at-a-time
With SLACK you can message your coworkers, set up to-do lists, send gifs, record meeting minutes, and SOOOO much more. PublcTechnology.net stated that, used properly, SLACK "generally cuts email traffic, increases productivity, supports specialist professions and exposes you to a whole world of gif animations you'd had never previously dreamed of (Greenway, A., 2017)."
Did I mention you could send gifs? Because that's my favorite part!
Angry Panda was something of a hit in my office. Once the boys (I was the only girl.) caught on to giphys, they were all in with SLACK, especially once we moved to a new location and instead of being in the same room, we were all in our own offices and could no longer just turn around to talk to one another. We used SLACK for chatting, assigning tasks, meeting agendas and meeting minutes, and more. It was quite literally how we communicated at least 80% of our day!
So, the first week into my new job I decided to introduce SLACK to the new boys (once again, only girl in the office). I kept one of my previous coworkers in the loop, as it was not working well and I needed to vent. The conversations went a little something like this:
DAY ONE
To which he replied:
DAY TWO
He must have agreed because he said:
DAY THREE
The reply:
He gets me.
However, on day four, things seemed to turn around a bit. Messages were sent back and forth on a semi-regular basis and I even received a gif!
So what am I trying to say here?
Changing the channels of communication takes time. You can't introduce a new form chatting or talking or anything of that sort without expecting some resistance.
Change is hard!
Keith Ferrazzi said it perfectly in his article in the Harvard Business Review, Managing Change, One Day at a Time. He stated, "Organizations can't change their culture unless individual employees change their behavior - and changing behavior is hard."
Expecting my coworkers to instantly start using an online tool to communicate instead of getting up and/or yelling across the office all in one day would have been absurd. And getting them to keep an eye on the chat system for new messages, which was not something they were used to, was going to take time. In the back of my mind, I knew this. I was just exerting that millennials mentality though; I wanted it to happen right away.
My goal is to keep trying. Keep pushing the agenda. Keep acquainting them to new methods of communicating that can effectively increase our productivity as well as make our job easier.
As my boss likes to say, "Work smarter, not harder."
And you have to listen to your boss after all.
References:
Greenway, Andrew. 2017, June 26. Group. chat an indispensable tool within Whitehall. PublicTechnology.net. Retrieved from https://www.publictechnology.net/articles/features/group-chat-indispensable-tool-within-whitehall
Ferrazzi, Keith. 2014, August. Managing Change, One Day at a Time. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/07/managing-change-one-day-at-a-time
Yes, change is hard! And it is hard to be patient with everyone when progress is slower than expected, but it is always worth it in the end.
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