How to Ask to Chat with Someone

Your organization's Communication policy can say that starting a conversation with some people needs an approval first. When it does, you don't get a chat window straight away: you ask, say what it's about, and someone approves. This is how to ask, how an approver decides, and what happens next.

What "needs approval" means

An approval opens contact between the two of you for 30 days. During that time either of you can start the conversation and write in it freely. When the 30 days are up, the conversation stays where it is, but neither of you can write in it until a new request is approved.

Your organization decides which conversations need an approval, for example contact between two departments. If you're not sure why a particular conversation needs one, ask whoever looks after your organization's settings.

Who approves

Your request goes to your manager. If you have no manager, it goes to the head of your department. The approver is always a person in your organization, and never you.

If you have neither, the request can't be sent, and you'll see "Nobody in your organization can approve this request. Ask an administrator." An administrator can fix this by giving you a manager, or your department a head.

Ask

You can ask from three places:

• A member card. Where the card would show Chat, it shows Ask to chat instead. Hover it to see your organization's reason.
• A chat window. If you open a one-to-one chat from the directory, the window opens locked, showing your organization's message. Click Ask for approval under that message.
• A group chat. If you create a group chat, or add someone to one, and one of the people needs an approval, you're asked straight away.

Then:

1. In What is it about?, say why you want to talk, in up to 500 characters. Your approver reads this, so make it specific: "Questions about the renewal we're both working on" gets a faster answer than "Quick question".
2. Click Send request.

The dialog then names your approver, with a link to open the request. If you already asked and the request is still waiting, you'll see "You already asked, and the request is still waiting for a decision." There's only ever one waiting request per person you want to chat with.

A request can't be withdrawn. If nobody decides it within 7 days, it expires, and you can ask again.

Decide a request

When someone asks you to approve, you get a Contact request notification. Its title says who is asking and who they want to chat with, for example "Alex asks to chat with Robin", and their reason is underneath.

1. Click Review on the notification.
2. Read who is asking, who they want to chat with, and why.
3. If you like, write a note in Comment (optional), up to 500 characters. The person who asked sees it.
4. Click Approve or Decline.

Only the approver named on the request can decide it.

After the decision

The person who asked gets a Contact decision notification saying whether the request was approved or declined, with the approver's comment if there is one.

If it was approved, open the request and click Start chat. The conversation opens, and either of you can write in it for the next 30 days. You can also start the chat the usual way: the approval is already in place.

Find your requests

Every request you've made, and every request waiting for your decision, is on the Contact requests page, at /contact-requests in your workspace. It has two tabs:

• To decide: requests waiting for you, as an approver.
• Mine: requests you made, each with its status: Waiting, Approved, Declined or Expired.

Click a request to open it.

For administrators

People with Manage Chat Settings can see every contact request in the organization in Settings → Chat → Communication policy, in the Requests view. They can open any request, but only its approver can decide it.

SI members don't use contact requests. When the policy says an SI member needs an approval, it asks through its own approvals. See How to Approve or Reject an AI Action.

How to Set Your Communication Policy covers how the rules themselves are written.