Video is a core part of effectively working more asynchronously. But before we get into the specifics of video, let’s a level-set on what asynchronous communication actually is. Simply put, asynchronous (async for short) communication is any communication that doesn’t happen in real-time.

Instead of tapping someone on the shoulder, or worse, scheduling an unnecessary meeting just to ask a question, send them an email or chat message. Communicating async allows people to respond when it’s convenient for them rather than distracting them in the moment. Don't underestimate these distractions! The average person loses 2 hours a day recovering from distractions!

Communicating async gives your team the flexibility to do their best work without constant distractions and pings.

Everyone on your team should have agency and control over how they spend their time and respond to teammates when they’re able or when they’ve had enough time to be thoughtful in their response.

Video supercharges your team's async communication.

Email and chat are all well and good but let’s get real – nobody enjoys having to read dozens of emails or fire off back-to-back chat messages, just to get their work done. When teams can watch and record videos instead, they’re able to get up to speed quickly, convey important nuances, and connect more naturally with their teammates.

“Asynchronous video” is a mouthful, but what it refers to are meeting recordings and pre-recorded video messages that people can watch on their own time. Asynchronous video provides the context and clarity of being together without the time commitment.

And it’s the answer to bloated, unproductive, and endless meetings. Here are a few specific benefits:

• You absorb and understand information faster. Did you know our brains can process videos 60,000 times faster than text? Yes, you read that correctly – 60,000 times faster. For teams who are tired of slogging through email and chat, video isn’t just a welcome relief from walls of text. It’s also a more efficient way to work.
• You learn more and retain more knowledge. There’s a reason the majority of employees and managers prefer video for learning and training: video has been shown to increase knowledge retention by 25% to 60%. Plus, video enables teams to learn at their own pace and when it works for their schedule.
• You build stronger connections with your teammates. If our global experiment in remote work has taught us anything, it’s that we need better ways to stay connected with our team. Research shows video leads to higher levels of engagement and builds deeper understanding.

Let's take a deeper look at three ways to use video to communicate more async.

1) Async meeting attendance

Scale the effectiveness of your existing real-time meetings and allow others to contribute asynchronously.

The first and easiest way to layer in async video communication is to record your existing real-time meetings. This one thing immediately unlocks a powerful new type of collaboration that enables anyone with access to the meeting’s recording to attend asynchronously. This is especially empowering for people on the team that are on different time zones, were out of the office, or just had some other time conflict with the in-person meeting.

All this allows you to keep your in-person meetings small and more efficient. Invite only the most necessary contributors and keep everyone else informed by making the recording available to your team.

However, just having the recording isn’t enough. Your team also needs to be able to collaborate and contribute to those meeting recordings. Sadly, this is where most teams fall short. They just don’t have the tools they need to give their async attendees a voice in the conversation. But never fear! We’ve built tools to enable teams to do just this, and we’re going to show you in detail in the very next section.

2) Fully async meetings

Give back time to your team so they can do real work instead of talking about work.

So maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “but I want to completely remove some meetings from my team’s calendar.” We like the way you’re thinking!

One common unnecessary meeting is the dreaded Monday morning “stand-up” meeting, where everyone has to take 30 or so minutes to hop on a video call and give a rundown of what they’re working on. This type of meeting is hated because it’s usually pretty boring, and it doesn’t give people the space to show off the important parts of their work. It’s also often purely for the benefit of leadership rather than encouraging real collaboration between the team members.

These synchronous meetings should be replaced altogether and give teams back their time to actually do their work rather than talk about it. If you want to bring your team’s productivity to the next level, consider using Rewatch Series. Series are short-form video feeds that can replace meetings for status updates, product demos, leadership comms, and more.

3) One-off video messages

Show your work and share nuanced ideas with the power of short videos.

The rise of screen recording tools has made it easier than ever to record your computer’s screen and add your voice to express the nuance around your work. Text leaves too much to the imagination, and it is too difficult to express complex ideas quickly. If a photo is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million.

Not only can you share your work internally with other team members, you can (and should!) use video messages for personalized sales outreach, customer support, and marketing material.

That’s the thing about video; it’s the most powerful but underused tool across every team in every company.

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You’ve heard the old business adage: adapt or die. Companies who want to lead, not just survive, the future of work need to equip their teams with the tools – video among them – that they need to innovate, collaborate, and grow.

But here’s the thing: only 14% of companies are successfully using technology to unlock knowledge and productivity for their teams.

Companies who get it, are ahead of their peers in creativity, efficiency, and revenue. It’s exactly why video has become so essential for high-growth teams. Video enables teams to achieve more across vast distances and with greater flexibility.

Asynchronous video helps you get more out of your meetings and eliminate the ones that didn’t need to happen in the first place. Recording meetings turns them into resources for people who couldn’t join or only need to be made aware of specific decisions. And pre-recorded videos give everyone their time back, enabling teammates to follow up when it’s convenient for them.

Ready to join the future of work with video? Let's take a look at how to operationalize it in the next section.