144: Best Communication Tools for Teamwork

On Engaging Leader, we share a lot of principles about leadership communication, but what about collaboration communication? In other words, what’s the most effective and efficient way to talk to the colleagues and clients you work with most closely in order to do great work together?

That’s a trick question, because there isn’t (yet) a single communication tool that’s best for every moment of collaboration. The answer depends on several factors, which we’ll quickly discuss and then share Jesse’s current favorite tool for the different situations.

Three tools limited people who are stuck in the mid-90s:

* In-person meeting

* Email

* Conference call

10 considerations when picking a communication tool at any given moment:

* In person vs. virtual

Real-time vs. on-demand (asynchronous)

Focusing vs. distraction-inviting

Typed vs. spoken audio vs. visual

Non-visual vs. screen sharing (webcast) vs. webcam (videoconference)

Silent vs. audible

Instant (urgent) vs. at-convenience

Introverted vs. extraverted (speed and energy for you and the other person[s])

Organized (threaded)

Searchable (and archived)

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Jesse’s current favorite communication tools for teamwork:

Message board

Basecamp (message board and task commenting)

Facebook groups

Instant messaging

Voxer

Ping feature in Basecamp 3

Last resort: iOS or mobile text messages

Screen capture (images) and screen recording (videos)

SnagIt 

Conference call with optional screen sharing and optional webcams

Freeconferencecall.com 

Join.me

Skype (no option to call in by phone)

Google Hangout (poor reliability, no option to call in by phone)

WebEx or GoToWebinar for larger groups

Document commenting

Comments tool for MS Office files, Google Apps files, or Adobe Acrobat 

Basecamp (task commenting)

NOT the commenting features in storage platforms such as Dropbox (although I do love Dropbox)

Real-time collaboration (simultaneous document editing)

Google Docs 

MS Office Online

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