Empowered English‍

Building an Asynchronous Culture That Connects Eight Time Zones

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Challenge

With team members in the UK, West Africa, Los Angeles, and the Philippines, Empowered English was struggling to stay aligned.
Information lived in too many places ,Slack threads, Google Docs, email, and Trello boards, leading to missed updates, duplicate work, and delayed handoffs.
The company needed a way to communicate, document, and manage projects effectively without relying on everyone being online at the same time.

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Our Approach

1. Designed for Asynchronous Collaboration
We rebuilt Empowered English’s internal communication model around async work.
All messaging, updates, and briefs were moved into ClickUp, creating a single workspace where every project, comment, and decision was documented and visible to the entire team, no meetings or timezone overlap required.

2. Unified Knowledge & Operations
The employee handbook, SOPs, and project templates were migrated into ClickUp’s Docs and connected directly to live workflows.
This allowed anyone, no matter their timezone, to access guidance, ask questions, or pick up tasks with full context.

3. Simplified Communication and Transparency
We established async communication guidelines that replaced daily check-ins with written updates and clear documentation.
This improved autonomy, reduced unnecessary meetings, and gave every team member equal visibility into goals, progress, and decisions.

4. Engagement Measurement & Optimization
Through quarterly Pulse Checks, we tracked how async communication affected engagement, leadership, and empowerment.
The data showed measurable gains in clarity, connection, and overall satisfaction across all regions.

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Results

12% Increase in Overall Engagement
Engagement scores rose from 7.1 to 8.0, reflecting stronger alignment and connection across eight time zones.

20% Improvement in Work-Life Balance
Reduced dependency on live meetings allowed employees to manage their time more effectively, creating flexibility without sacrificing accountability.

16% Lift in Leadership Communication
Async updates made leadership communication more consistent, transparent, and accessible across regions.

18% Boost in Empowerment
With clear expectations, accessible documentation, and autonomy to work on their own schedule, employees felt more trusted and confident in decision-making.

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Key Insight

By shifting from “always on” to asynchronous by design, Empowered English proved that global teams don’t need constant communication, they need structured clarity.
When systems replace noise with visibility, engagement thrives.

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