Factors affecting our work settings and daily lives may be beyond our control at the moment, but we can shape how we adapt and improve the way we work together while keeping our teams safe and healthy. (We should know – we just had to do the same thing ourselves.) That’s why we’ve created five new templates for Workflow Builder, a visual tool that allows any Slack user to automate routine processes. From streamlining requests to gathering feedback, these templates are designed to make remote work feel like business as usual. Speaking of making work simpler, we have just released a more organized Slack. You can find customized workflows for any channel by clicking the lightning bolt icon at the bottom left of your message box.
Update teammates on your status
When everyone is working from different places, be it a living room sofa or a different time zone, it helps to keep everyone in the loop without adding to their notifications. With this workflow, team members can easily complete a form to let others know where they’re working from. The form response is automatically sent to the channel, so team members and managers can easily keep track of one another. Get your status update template.
Approve requests quickly
Filing and approving requests can be a cumbersome process even when you’re in the office. This workflow provides a customizable template so that you can easily track and approve employee requests such as expenses or travel. Have you introduced a new request policy and need to update your template? You can edit your workflow in just a few clicks. Get your request approval template.
Remind your team to take breaks
Working from home tends to blur the boundaries between our personal and professional lives. You may find yourself hunched on the sofa for one too many hours or eating lunch at dinnertime. This workflow sends your team scheduled reminders to engage in healthy habits, such as stretching, drinking some water or taking a short walk. Every day at a designated time, a message is posted in a channel of your choice with a reminder to take a break and practice some self-care. (While reading this now, do you realize that you haven’t taken a break in a few hours? Here’s your reminder to take a well-deserved time out.) Get your healthy habit reminder template.
Kick off daily huddle reminders in-channel
When everyone is working from different locations, daily huddles are essential for keeping the team aligned. Instead of holding video meetings to list your priorities and blockers, huddles can happen in Slack channels – and we have a template for that. [Read: These tech trends defined 2020 so far, according to 5 founders] Use this template to send a daily reminder to a team or project channel asking everyone to post an update on their work. Encouraging people to post their reply in a thread helps to keep channels clean and uncluttered. Plus, you’ll have a searchable history of everyone’s tasks, ensuring that no one is working on the same thing – all crucial to a smooth transition to working remotely. Get your daily huddle reminder template.
Get feedback, no meeting required
Soliciting feedback from your teammates can be tricky when you aren’t in the same place. This workflow allows teams to collect ongoing feedback, which often replaces the need for a formal meeting. It’s quite simple: set up your workflow so that when someone reacts to a message with the emoji of your choice, they’re sent step-by-step instructions – by way of a simple form – for sharing their feedback. Once submitted, the person who initially requested the feedback automatically receives new responses via direct message. Try this workflow if you’re gathering feedback for a pitch deck, blog post, or design. Get your feedback request template. This article was originally published on Slack’s blog by the Slack team. You can read it here.
