Better Use of Communication Methods

There are an overwhelming number of channels that we use to communicate with one another.

Email, phone calls, instant messages/texts, in-person meetings. There are so many options that many of us default to whatever means is most convenient or familiar to us instead of what is most effective based on the purpose of the communication. 

Intentionally choosing your means of communication is one of those rare behaviors that can help you stand-out amongst the crowd. Of course, there are exceptions to every situation and understanding the recipients individual communication preferences is helpful to factor-in for more sophisticated communications.  For today's topic, we are focusing on the more general recommendations of when to leverage different communication methods.

Emails

Email is probably the most overused medium which is why most of us end-up spending more time reading and responding to emails than we should. While people are quick to use email for almost any context, it is best used for non-urgent information sharing.

If no response is needed from the recipient, emails is absolutely the way to go. If you want to cut down on replies for acknowledgement, you can include "FYI" or "no response needed" in the message.

Text and Instant Message

These messages are best utilized for urgent items that don't require a lot of back-and-forth.  These are often quick question and answers exchanges but can also be quick reminders for time critical items.

Remember the nature of the communication should be urgent and quick. Nobody enjoys getting a large volume of non-urgent interruptions while they are trying to focus on other things.

Phone Calls

Similar to instant messages, phone calls are best used for urgent items and are more effective than instant messaging when there is a little more back-and-forth required.  For urgent items, you can make first contact via Instant Message to see if one is even available to discuss something urgent via phone. Again, just make sure it's urgent.

Meetings

The sentiment of "couldn’t this meeting have been an email?" is a strong reflection that most meetings are over-used for sharing information that could be communicated in a more effective manner. 

The primary focus of meetings should be for group discussions, answering questions and making decisions. If there is not a problem to be solved, you likely don't need a meeting for it.

One-on-Ones

One-on-ones should really be in place to serve the needs of your directs or business partners. This is there time. Understanding that purpose, one-on-ones are incredibly effective for building relationships.

This week’s action items:

Use the following infographic as a visual reminder of being more intentional with your communications.