Cassie, my German Shepherd, does not write email but she is an effective communicator. When Cassie wants to communicate she gets right to the point.
“Woof! woof,” she says as she drops her ball. (Translation: Let’s play!)
“Woof!,” (Translation: This is fun! Throw the ball! Throw the ball!)
“Yip, Yip, Woof! Woof!” (Translation: Glad you are home from work. Let’s go for a walk!”)
I can think of many more examples. Cassie says exactly what is on her mind. She does not dance around issues, make assumptions, or point fingers and place blame. She is all about action and getting things done. She has well defined priorities and goals!
“Woof, woof, woof!” (Translation: I love you. You may scratch behind my ears and rub my tummy!)
Cassie is limited in her ability to communicate. She is forced to use face-to-face communication. There are other methods one could use to communicate. The telephone, voicemail, and email are all reasonable options. Without fingers and opposable thumbs, Cassie’s options are limited.
There really should not be any doubt face-to-face communication is ideal. The telephone and voicemail are the next best options. Email, an excellent tool, should be used as a last resort when communicating important ideas, instructions, or simply trying to make plans for an event.
Email can be easily misunderstood. Some individuals take offense to the tone that can sometimes come across in email. Cover your ass (CYA) email and the blame game email really are not necessary in the business world nor the private world.
Email has a role in the business world and private world. Documenting minutes of a meeting, sending files to individuals, or communicating ideas which are not time sensitive are acceptable uses of email.
The next time someone in your organization says they sent an email about an action they are to follow-up on remind them it is more efficient to walk over and talk to the individual or call them.
If someone sends me a personal email, I assume the email is not urgent. If the topic is urgent, I expect the individual to pick up the phone and call.
Let all of us be more efficient with our time and the way we communicate. We should all take a lesson from Cassie and learn to bark. “Woof! Woof!”
Interesting links found on Twitter
@ArfanChaudhry Ananova - 'Pool got my daughter pregnant'
@timoreilly RT @sitepointmatt: Soft drinks make up 7% of all calories ingested in the USA. Yikes!
@TrendTracker Fastest-growing Demographic on Facebook: Women over 55
Books I am currently reading
Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
Outliers: The Story of Success
Books I want to read
The Dip: A little Book that teaches you when to quit (and When to Stick)
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by being remarkable
Posts
Have you met people who learned how to communicate at work? You realize this when you notice how it carries over into their personal life because they tend to send personal emails using business type phrases like, "I need this by COB" and "I will be happy to discuss this with you" but they really mean by email, not picking up the phone or actually face to face.
ReplyDeleteEven my ex-husband has learned the value of picking up the phone to handle real life issues! Like Cassie, goes to show that we can all learn new tricks to get our woof! on in a way that gets the desired result.