Please Pick up the Phone June 7, 2013 Email is a crutch for many people in the workplace. They hide behind email and use it as a guise for being productive or feeling important. Don’t get caught in that trap! The following article provides some insight into why it’s beneficial to pick up the phone from time to time and really get some work done! I did something a bit crazy this morning. I broke my morning routine. I’m not sure what prompted me; it may have been the full moon, not enough sleep, or a combination of both. Usually, my morning routine is pretty simple: I sit down at my desk, tune into a classical internet radio station, and sift through email with a cup of coffee by my side. It allows me to ease into the day and makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something. Well, today I blew that morning routine out of the water! Typically, if I have a question, I crank out an email, hit the send button, and then wait a couple of hours for the response. Not today…something possessed me to pick up the phone and give my colleague a call! Yes, in today’s environment of texting, instant messaging, and email it can be unheard of to pick up the phone and chat a bit. Maybe I’ve been hanging out with the sales team too much lately. They seem to enjoy calling people. They have this reasoning that it builds relationships, instills trust, and has other nonsensical touchy-feely benefits. Not me. I’m a project manager with a million things on my To-Do list. I like efficiency, effectiveness, progress, and precision. I don’t have time to linger. Well, today I did linger and a funny thing happened. I actually enjoyed it! I called to ask a question about one specific thing, and we ended up talking about a number of other topics as well. When we finally hung up, I reflected on the experience and came up with my own short list of benefits: •Question(s) Were Answered – Not only did I happy man on telephoneget the single question answered that I wanted to ask, but multiple issues were addressed. Back-and-forth dialogue has a snowball effect: one question gives rise to another question, which gives rise to another question, and so on. All questions were answered on the spot.Think about how a simple Q&A transpires via email. One question can produce ridiculously long threads that bounce in and out of our inbox all day. Other people are often cc’d, which is an invitation for them to start offering their uneducated opinions. Misunderstandings can arise, which often then produce chaos. Not on today’s call. The person on the other end of the line sensed that I didn’t understand what they were saying, so simplified things in a way that cleared up my uncertainty and doubt. •Decisions Were Made – Something else happened on that call this morning. Decisions were made on the spot. We needed to determine who the best person would be to fill a particular role on an upcoming project. We bounced some names around and talked about the pros and cons of each person. In no time at all, the obvious choice became apparent and the decision was made. •Insights Were Shared – An unexpected and valuable benefit that came out of the call was that additional information and insights were shared. There were things that were brought up that would most likely not have come across in email. For example, I was advised to proceed carefully, and present our decision to one of our colleagues before running with it. This particular colleague had a conflict with our choice of resource six months prior, and although things had been resolved and we didn’t anticipate a problem, their buy-in was important. It only took a five minute phone call to be made aware of the potential for conflict, which most likely saved hours and days of frustration later. •Progress Took Hold – I felt a deep sense of progress as I hung up the phone this morning. We had a good conversation, understood each other, made some decisions, and avoided some mistakes. Could this be accomplished by email? I doubt it. Why do we rely on email so much when there are so many benefits from picking up the phone? Because… •It Feels Faster – I could have asked my question in an email in a matter of seconds, and been on to the next item in my inbox. Instead, I ended up on the phone for five whole minutes! Wasn’t that a waste of time? Sure, email feels faster, but it’s an illusion. Think about how long it would have taken you to have that phone conversation through email. Number one, you wouldn’t. Number two, it would have been much longer than five minutes. The ground that can be covered in one phone call could never be accomplished by reading, writing and firing off email after email. •It’s Easy – Someone sends you an email that you don’t quite understand. It may be long or the topic may be complicated. Rather than read through it or take the time to understand, you forward it on to one of your team members with an “FYI”, or “Can you handle this?” Nothing is easier than scribbling a line or two at the top of an email and forwarding it on to someone else. However, you won’t get the benefit of understanding that you would if you picked up the phone. •It Leaves a Paper Trail – Of all the reasons why email is preferred over a conversation, this is a good one. Been burned before by someone you work with who committed to something and then changed their mind at the last minute? Email may not prevent this from happening, but it could prevent you from being thrown under the bus. Client approval is another area where an audit trail would be useful via email.Here’s something to consider if you find that you don’t trust someone: spend time in conversation with them. Get to know them better. Let them know the impact of their decisions on your work and the rest of the team. Again, pick up the phone and linger awhile. The results will be much better and you’ll have more peace of mind.One more thing…please, please, please do not use the Read Receipt feature in most email programs! These days, it just screams unprofessionalism and puts you in a bad light. •It’s Gratifying – That’s why I like email. It makes me feel like I’ve done something. Wow, I just blazed through 100 emails in 30 minutes…that’s awesome. I really got a lot done! Not really. It’s like empty calories that make you feel full or give you lots of short-term energy, but do nothing for the long haul. Think about how much you could get done in a 30-minute conversation with your teammates. A lot more than sifting through a ton of emails with subject lines like “Friday Funnies”. •We Don’t Want to Talk to People – Finally, another Businessman declining publicity on white backgroundreal reason that we like email over phone conversations is that we don’t want to talk to other people! You know who I’m talking about. There’s the lady in accounting that has to talk for five minutes about how awesome her kid is in the school band before you can see whether an invoice was paid. Or, there’s the guy in the marketing department who feels compelled to discuss his woodworking skills before he starts talking about the email campaign that needs to be finished.You can have a pass on these two examples…go ahead and send an email. In this case it will be faster! Here’s the point. Don’t become so dependent upon email that you no longer pick up the phone or have an engaging conversation. Emails are great for transactional, single-word answers and basic types of questions. Picking up the phone or having a conversation is great for everything else! Hey, your phone is ringing. Would you mind getting that?
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:42:15 +0000
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