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IM best-practices in the workplace

What is IM used for in the workplace?

My office mates and I figured out this week that we have an IM client on our corporate workstations. Novices to the world of corporate IM, we don't really know what it's used for. I've used IM clients at home, of course, but never at work and we're all at a bit of a loss on how this would be useful, if at all.

A quick session of searching 43f reveals that most of the discussion up until this point has been about managing the distractions of IM and managing your coworkers' expectations of your responses. But I'm wondering, what's IM used for in business? So far in my office, people have started chat sessions with entire work teams present online and left the session open all day. Team members will post questions or comments or requests to review edits on shared documents. In one of our groups, the director has moved some of his communication to the chat room, with the expectation that his team members will read this message during the next hour or two. Is this a typical use? How about one-on-one chats with colleagues?

Tell me what IM looks like at your workplace.

bmccaff's picture

A review...

Great response, thanks everyone. Here's a review of the uses you described:

  • Status message indicating if interruptions are welcome and how to do so
  • Quick questions to individuals or teams that don't require long, researched answers
  • In place of short telephone calls
  • Requests for permission to IM, telephone or visit in person
  • Running chat sessions for work teams used to pose questions and get responses within hours or days

And some of the rules to make the office a happier place to be:

  • Respect others' wishes on interruptions and method by which to do so
  • Set expectations on your own use -- don't respond immediately all the time if you can't live up to it
  • Ask others to respect your wishes if they violate them (including your boss, it can be done)
  • Keep "office hours" on your IM for when you can be interrupted freely
  • No emoticons? They don't seem professional to me. Do they fly at your job?
  • Be professional... Don't appear to be a 14-year-old in your messages; you are at work, after all

Thanks, this will help to get my team started. I am a person that's easily distracted, so I'll certainly use the status messages and respect the wishes of others.

 
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