- When done right, teamwork drives innovation within a company.
- Collaboration tools – group messaging apps, email, office designs – can help spur creativity. But there are best practices to follow so that you don’t end up distracting coworkers.
- Experts say to be wary of sending too many notifications, and not to overshare.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
With the rise of online chatting, workplace messaging has become an essential tool in the modern workplace. Combined with open-office designs and email, offices are collaborating like never before.
Since online collaboration tools are still a relatively new invention, employees may be unsure of proper etiquette to follow. Do you text your boss like you would your friends, or are you supposed to be strictly professional?
Business Insider consulted with leading career experts to find the most important etiquette rules for a collaborative workspace. Suggestions include using collaboration tools to celebrate wins – but not oversharing personal information.
Here are some rules to follow when using collaboration tools.
Collaboration platforms are a great way to celebrate your colleagues' wins ...
Collaborating teams are winning teams.
And what better way to celebrate your wins by sharing with the team?
Company group messages and channels are a great place to compliment your colleagues, said Lynn Taylor, workplace expert and author of "Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant." These spaces allow low-level to senior execs to collaborate - meaning if you highlight an accomplishment, management will take note.
"What an opportunity to pay a kind word and memorialize it in this venue," Taylor said of chat rooms.
... but try to avoid slang.
Friends typically slip in an "LOL" or "SMH" when chatting, but be careful using slang or acronyms at work.
Some common acronyms - such as "WTF" or "LMAO" - contain swear words, which have no place in the office, said Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of "The Humor Advantage."
The same goes for trendy slang phrases (think "slay" or "shook"). Marc Cenedella, founder and CEO of The Ladders, a job search website, said popular slang terms tend to have a short shelf life, so your colleagues might not be up to date on the latest phrases. Words and phrases can also be regional, meaning out-of-state coworkers won't catch on.
"It's not like you have to avoid [slang] altogether, but the latest and greatest slang comes and goes away pretty quickly," Cenedella said.
Be clear in your communication.
Collaborating over text comes with a caveat: Colleagues can't read your body language. And because 93% of all communication is nonverbal, you run a greater risk of being misunderstood over text.
That's why you need to watch what you say on collaboration tools. Use humor sparingly, as sometimes what's funny to you may not be to your colleague. "When in doubt, leave it out," Pachter added.
Taylor's rule of thumb is to not say something in a chatroom that you wouldn't say in person: "Think twice before you take that there because you might see that person five minutes later across your cube or by the water cooler."
Don't bombard your team with unnecessary notifications.
While collaboration can make for creative ideas, too much interaction can keep you from actually working. Open offices, for example, were designed to spur innovation - but in reality, can distract employees from getting things done.
The same goes for collaboration tools. Avoid "replying all" in company emails, for example, unless you really think everyone on the list needs to read it. Failure to do so sends annoying pop-up messages to your coworkers, career coach Barbara Pachter tells Business Insider.
The same goes for a chatroom: Avoid sending five short messages when you could have just sent one message. "It's really annoying for people," Kerr said about too many messages. "Remember, it's not texting."
