Getting everyone "in sync" is a constant challenge for teams of all sizes, which can grow in step with both the scale of the organisation and the ever-changing tools and processes you use. The problem of bad sync can typically be thought of in terms of imbalance, while good sync comes from adapting to a working world that is becoming ever more distributed and decentralised through time, space and other dimensions.
The best organisations recognise these imbalances, talk about them, and intentionally deploy both practices and tools to alleviate them. They facilitate asynchronous workflows, whereby every team member is able to move independently towards the optimal cadence and process for them. Consider how different the typical workflow is between a salesperson and an engineer. The former might be used to constant interruptions, sudden opportunities and picking up the phone without hesitation, while the latter is likely to pay a mental penalty every time they are interrupted or have to switch context.
Technology and processes can simultaneously help and hinder this synchronicity problem, hence why it emerges as a big theme for modern business strategy. That said, it's an enigmatic and indistinct theme that often goes unnoticed, unnamed, and unchecked. The attributes of organisational synchrony and asynchrony are not easy to package into one framework. They can arise along several vectors, as outlined below.
Bad Sync
Good Sync
Power
Anywhere hierarchy exists, whether explicit or implicit, power can be abused. It could be between employer and employee; manager and direct report; privileged and less fortunate; or long-standing member and newbie.
Time
Forcing colleagues to work, meet or communicate on schedules that suit you but not them.
Waking up to piles of messages from earlier timezones.
Maintaining good Documentation & Handover practices.
Permitting truly flexible working hours and locations to accommodate everyone's lifestyles, not just their timezones.
Making allowances for the mental effort and time lost from "context switching" between subjects.
Comms
Expecting people to answer emails immediately, or taking days to answer your own emails.
Sending uneditable versions of files to people and expecting them to be able to edit or comment efficiently.
Embracing the varying degrees of asynchronicity in each communication channel, establishing norms with your team over time.
Synchronous editing of files such as meeting notes, handbooks and digital whiteboards allow real-time group collaboration.
I think that everyone has their own flow and rituals that work for them, so I'd say the most effective new process is personal freedom, as in; freedom to give shape to your own methodologies and play around with different ones to see what works best.
– Neoco survey response to the question "What are the most effective new processes?"
Since Covid-19 forced the world to take remote work more seriously there have been tales of employees being ordered to add invasive tracking software to their home workstations so their managers can "prove" that they're doing the work. This kind of approach isn't just unethical, it's also nonsensical. Surely if you wish to measure the input of your staff you would look at how much value they are adding to the business, rather than the hours they spend at their desk.
We can go further by questioning the fundamental notion of what a team member is and how they can bring value to the organisation. With access to a wealth of digital tools, a global community and the world's greatest knowledge resource, the digital workforce does not consist of lone beings working in complete isolation. Our access to the resources around us, and the way we use them, manifest as a kind of extension of the self.
Thinking doesn't just happen in your brain. It doesn't just happen in your brain and your body. It happens in the brain, the body and the material. The material itself is part of your thoughts.
– Karen Pearlman speaking in 5 Things Film Editors Literally Do - According To Science, by ThisGuyEdits, in reference to The Extended Mind, by Andy Clark and David Chalmers.
The Neoco worker is comfortable extending their existence into and through the tools, materials and people they connect with.
I don't think there is any such thing as a solo project anymore. We are all "standing on the shoulders of giants". Raiding Stack Overflow for answers or occasionally being that first person to hit and record a solution to a problem is a team of sorts – albeit a very distributed one. [...] So modern 'teams' are distinct from organisations.
– Neoco survey response to the question "What are the personal and cultural factors?"