Taking Communication Back in Time

These days communication has become very efficient. We can send messages to anyone, anywhere, at anytime via email and other electronic communication methods. Taking other people’s schedules into account no longer matters. Need to ask someone a question, but know they aren’t in the office? Just send an email and they’ll get it first thing when they get in. Personal communication is technically not necessary. Heck, you can even do your grocery shopping without having to have personal contact with anyone.

While I am guilty of taking advantage of the benefits of non-personal communication to fit my schedule and others, perhaps we should look at some of he sacrifices we are making for the sake of efficiency

• Lack of relationship building. It’s much easier to develop a relationship with a client, vendor, or colleague via personal contact such as a face-to-face meeting or telephone call. Sometimes it’s just easier to talk about something rather than putting it on paper.
• Miscommunication. While miscommunication also happens with verbal communication for other reasons, how many times have you read an email, responded according to how you understood the email, and then learned you were way off base? Without hearing a person’s tones or inflections, it is very easy to misinterpret statements. It is also very easy to respond quickly without taking all information into account.
• Shortening of time-off. With the ability to work 24/7 from anywhere, many people now experience less time in a truly relaxed state. Mobile phones, phones with emails, laptops that go from office to home all create a blur between work time and personal time. We all know what happened to Jack in the Shining from all work and no play. While less drastic, similar situations happen every day in real-life. While we may think we are more effective being able to work at all times, without taking time to recoup we all become overworked, tired, and less-efficient whether we know it or not.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not anti-electronic communications. In fact, I am all for it, with a few “rules”:

• Be sure to maintain regular personal and verbal communication with those you work with and interact with. This will go a long way to enhance your email communication as well, given that you will have a better understanding of each other.
• Not sure you understand the meaning of a comment in an email? Pick up the phone to discuss the content before responding.
• Please, take some time off! Set a time that after which, you do not check or respond to emails. Of course, there will be exceptions, but they should be the exception not the rule.

The next time you reach for the email, take a moment and think – would it be beneficial for me to just pick up the phone?