5 creative ways to use a business messenger beyond team chat
Today, many managers cudgel their brains in search of new methods to increase team productivity. Taking into account the fact that team members communicate in business messengers rather than privately, the effort to make improvements should be targeted towards the communication and collaboration process.
Post-COVID tendencies to transferring teams to virtual or hybrid offices bring more challenges in managing employee burnout. A comfortable home chair and quiet atmosphere do not seem that nice when employees stop seeing boundaries between work and private communication. This is the first sign of employee burnout.
Adding some creativity to business communication is one of the ways to reduce employee burnout and make the collaboration process less boring. Let's see how your team can use the business messenger beyond team chats.
Team culture and wellbeing activities
Business messenger apps can be used by teams to foster open communication, enable casual connections, and integrate wellness activities. They act as a digital "staff room" for informal chat and celebrations, a platform to share feedback and ideas, and a space to organize and encourage wellness initiatives like group exercises or stress-relief sessions.
Team messaging apps improve a company's culture by fostering informal and open communication. This helps to create a digital space that can be used for sharing ideas and feedback, as well as formal and informal discussions.
Group chats can become a place to start various challenges, share results, and monitor the progress of activities. In addition, with the help of daily check-ins, managers can keep their eyes on stress levels and take necessary measures to reduce the pressure.
Virtual library
Group chat rooms can become not only a space for communication, but they can also be used as a storage of valuable documents and publications. One of the ways to use the business messenger is to create a group chat room and allow team members to share their favorite books. At the same time, managers and team leaders can share useful materials for learning and professional development.
Team building activities
Team building activities are part of any workflow in offline offices. Many virtual teams complain they miss these types of activities, and as a result, they have problems with collaboration and communication with their co-workers. Let's see what kind of team building activities you can do in a team messenger:
- Start each day with an ice-breaking question and have some fun with your team.
- Post quizzes and award points for correct answers.
- Celebrate wins, big or small, and share the success of all team members in a group chat room.
- Start creative challenges and play games.
- Wellness and mindful activities like meditation, 5-minute plank, etc.
With the help of team building activities, you can foster personal connections, encourage casual integrations, mix fun and learning, promote teamwork through play, and support wellbeing.
Learning and training
Team messengers have become an ideal place for training and learning. With the help of the group chats feature, managers can create channels for sharing various useful information for new-hires, security tips, or sales skills improvement. In addition, almost all remote teams have channels with a knowledge base, user manuals, useful documentation, and various educational materials.
Let's see how remote teams can use business messenger for learning and training:
- Webinars and online classes
- Channels with educational materials
- Q&A threads
- Microlearning: short videos, infographics, "tip of the day" posts
Company news chat
The channel with company news and updates is one of the best ways to keep your remote team informed about everything in real time. It's the place where you can share latest news, achievements of team members, ideas, and customer feedback. This is the place where employees can feel they are part of the team and where you can announce product launches, new hires, or partnerships, provide leadership messages, and share goals. Even if such channels look like a chaotic space with thousands of messages, they play a vital role:
- They keep everyone informed in real time
- They help to build transparency and trust
- They reduce email overload
- They help to keep remote teams together
- They encourage feedback and fresh ideas
Modern business messengers are used not only for communication; they offer a wide range of tools for efficient collaboration and can be utilized beyond team chat to enhance team efficiency and employee engagement.