And Again Hello Google No Hello

Please don't "hello" me! Why HELLO in Microsoft Teams isn't polite!

I recently stumbled over nohello.com and aka.ms/nohello, which refers to https://github.com/sbmueller/nohello/blob/master/index.dr.#please-dont-say-just-hello-in-conversation by https://sbmueller.github.io/. The author states very clearly, that just saying "hi" in a conversation (at work) and then waiting for the other one to answer is not the all-time way to human action.

Later tweeting about information technology, I found myself in a quite controversial discussion and thought information technology could be helpful to explain my thoughts in a more persistent way-and with more only 280 characters.

Why exercise you "hello" people?

Which purpose could it serve? I asked on twitter, got following answers and I would honey to dig a bit deeper into them:

• Being polite/ first greeting the other one
• Seeing if they are available for synchronous chat
• Control, if their status represents their actual work situation
• Control, if you are still on their "VIP" list of people to exist ever answered first
• Leap the queue, similar to "did you read my email?
• Control if it's a good time to share confidential information

Let's have a look why all of them are bad and how in that location are meliorate alternatives

Being polite

I am certain, you want to be polite. But in chat tools, there is no need to greet the other person like there is no reason to add your signature / contact details. To empathise, why we used to practice this and why it is not only mot necessary anymore but too harming our colleagues, information technology's quite good to sympathise the roots of this behaviour — equally the intention "beingness polite" seems to be valid and just practiced.

Greeting is a relict of times in which we tried to interpret our analogue world (writing letters) to a digital world (writing emails). Nosotros all know, that this worked quite good for communication with customers and partners (externals), as e-mail is just a simple manner to substitution text and files if you don't work together in a collaboration solution (similar Microsoft Teams). Information technology evolved into a nightmare within companies (internal), as we adult quite unhealthy habits which were the outcome of an information hiding culture. As anybody made themselves a bottleneck of knowledge and with glorifying busy (and disruptive busy with productive), we came into the habit of forwarding the force per unit area that nosotros got to the next one in the chain of commands by the devilish trinity of bad behaviour in the workplace:

1. "Did you read my email?"

Throw a stone, if y'all never said that to a colleague. "Did you read my email" doesn't mean "Did y'all read my electronic mail". Information technology can be translated to:

"I gave you a task. And I know that you received it every bit our mail servers piece of work. Merely I want you to confirm when you will intendance near me. So basically, I am jumping the queue and bring yous into the position of justifying why y'all didn't answer Still."

Pro Tipp: You tin fifty-fifty add some actress flavor when hitting the send button WHILE calling a colleague "did you lot already see? I sent you lot an email. What? Didn't make it notwithstanding? Just refresh!". It's the ultimate manner to put pressure level on others and its totally unproductive at the aforementioned time as you interrupt others and force them into task switching, which is energy draining for our brains and leads to slower work while more mistakes occur. Please don't say it. Don't even try to "did you read my Teams message?". Thank you.

ii. Checking inbox up to 100 times a day

A lack of purpose in work (we experience disconnected and don't see the whole moving-picture show) leads to a misunderstood sense of duty which results in living in your inbox (doesn't matter if you call your inbox Outlook or a chat in Teams — if yous just put your former means of working into a new tool, y'all didn't win at Digital Transformation!) and checking for new mail in an insane frequency. Of form, this is supported by a default setting in Outlook which gives you a desktop notification for every unmarried post that you receive.

(ICYMI: you lot can turn that off:

File à Options à mail àuncheck "display desktop alert" — #EnjoyTheSilence ). Constantly interrupting others and expecting fast response times didn't aid with productivity, simply with staying busy.

3. Being the bottleneck / abusing postal service /messages for task management

The "my knowledge is my power" approach doesn't come at no costs. Not simply that sharing knowledge is beneficial for the whole visitor, it'southward just time consuming, if we try to hide information and human activity like the gatekeeper to — for case — a project status. If nosotros don't share information, we will always be busy with individually answering questions. I wouldn't telephone call this very efficient working behaviour. You tin see, that a lot with people abusing mail or messages (again, doesn't matter if you lot show this behaviour in Teams!) for chore management, because they misunderstand what "polite" means. It'due south is non polite, to "enquire" your colleagues to accomplish a task that they are responsible for. It gives them — additionally to their task, the task to manage this chore appropriately. Assigning the job in a task management system (similar Planner) handles responsibilities quite effective. A job has some properties which can easily answer the most common question around this task similar

• "whom is it assigned to?",
• "which category does information technology belong to?"
• "in which bucket volition I detect it?"
• "when is the due date?" and
• "what is the status of this chore?"

WITHOUT sending mails/messages back and forth. So your so-called politeness resulted in more than work for you lot and others. I would call that a waste of fourth dimension. If y'all now say: "But what if we need to exchange our views and actually accept a conversation?" Then, please consider that a synchronous scheduled conversation (in chat or telephone call) might be the better approach.

Polite to means:

• Not causing actress work
• Not putting pressure on me
• Sharing your cognition

Equally this behaviour will be beneficial for me. Sticking to sometime behaviours and not being willing to transform and evolve how we work is not polite, its just very yesterday and fa sign of a mixed mindset.

Looking, if the other one has time for a synchronous chat

Asking "Hey, practise you lot have 10 minutes to give me an update regarding Project Deathstar" is at least a bit more specific, but please keep an center on a small item: Those closed questions (that tin can be answered with yes/no) come often with an expectation to exist answered immediately (every bit it is assumed that information technology doesn't take a lot of attempt to blazon ii,3 letters), but nosotros all know, that an interruption volition steal manner more just the few seconds of seeing the bulletin and answering information technology with "no". It volition take up to 20 minutes until you lot are equally focused on the thing you wanted to exercise before you lot got interrupted. This lack of focus and the quality of your work and your wellbeing are tightly continued

Means: The more interruptions, the less stuff yous get done and the more tired you feel.
The more than fourth dimension yous can spend on deep work, the more you attain and the meliorate you feel.

You already interrupted the other one and perhaps they know that they now need to fourth dimension to re-focus and requite in, answering: No, I wanted to do something else, but every bit you already interrupted me, shoot". And perhaps, you already knew this…

If you ask an open question: "when practice you take time to talk virtually Projection Deathstar" y'all volition cease up with writing back and forth letters well-nigh the best fourth dimension… If at that place but was a good way to schedule meetings… Oh expect, there is!

1. Outlook Agenda tin can prove the availability of your colleagues, you can also use FindTime and Microsoft Bookings (this is what I do and information technology works like a charm!)
2. You tin can larn a lot about your co-workers availability past merely reading their condition. It works like a traffic calorie-free, a concept that we are already familiar with.

Control, if their status really represents their piece of work state of affairs / if yous are yet their VIP

If my status is "busy" and you ask me, if I am Really busy, this won't meliorate our human relationship. It reminds me a bit about sleeping and being asked if I am already/however sleeping. Its an expression of not respecting and not trusting, which is both toxic. Even worse, if your colleagues /managers? Just want to command, if you lot are nonetheless on their "VIP" listing of people to be always answered immediately. Leadership doesn't hateful micro-direction. As we don't want to repeat mistakes that have their roots in processes from 1910 ( Henry Ford), we also demand to evolve leadership and acquire to trust our employees. Especially in #wfh times its simply disrespectful to check, if your team members are "withal" working.

Jumping the queue

Yous possible wrote your question — even @ mentioning them in a aqueduct, perchance you assigned them a job in Planner or wrote them an email — and at present y'all actually call back that it is a good thought to write "Hello" in a private chat to check if they respond and if so — enquire them when they will answer your question? Please heed, that you lot are function of the problem and non office of the solution. Jumping the queue is not only disrespectful and showing your colleagues that you don't trust them, its also counterproductive every bit information technology leads to the next interruptions, which… nah, I won't tell you again… You got this! Just interruption this roughshod circumvolve.

Control if information technology's a adept time to share confidential data

This ane surprised me the most. If I share or duplicate my screen, I am automagically on DND, which means, that I don't get notifications and don't betrayal data unintentionally to my audience. If it's very common to me, that someone else shares super loftier-confidential information with me, I don't allow others take a look over my shoulder. I remember information technology's the recipients responsibility to secure what happens on their screen like we expect everyone to lock their machines once there are not sitting in front end of them.

Conclusion

Talk with your team members on a regular basis about the right tools to use and how y'all want to use them. Educate each others and larn almost unlike expectations regarding working styles and response times. Just because I work crazy hours, doesn't mean you should as well! A good starting point towards excellent teamwork is to have a collaboration contract. If you lot are not familiar with that — equally your Microsoft 365 Consultant well-nigh it — or read this article by my MVP colleagues Loryan Strant and Sue Hanley. Delight besides read Darrell as a Service'southward post nigh availability– he might have a different approach but I highly recommend it!

TL;DR?

What should you do?

1. Don't "hi" people.
2. Setup your status message in Teams
3. Share this blog post as often as you can

originally published on www.m365princess.com

Feedback & What's adjacent

If you liked this post, please handclapping for it and share on twitter. You tin discover me at that place @LuiseFreese.

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Source: https://regarding365.com/please-dont-hello-me-why-hello-in-microsoft-teams-isn-t-polite-d80b7a55cf6f

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