Over 40 years ago a famous rock group released a song about communication break down and it seems that no matter how far advanced technology has brought us, we still have to deal with this challenge.
From the home front to the offices of our businesses to the school room, it makes no difference; we have to communicate; yet many people I come across have not learned the basics? Is it the simple fact that society has made such a fast change or is it as simple as people not knowing how to use and adapt to new communication methods?
Going back to 1995 when I first started using email, most of the people communicating with me were business oriented. In my case, our prospects and some clients used email to search and inquire about our products and services. This was new to me and I needed to adapt fairly quickly. So I learned, tested, failed, grew and finally figured it out, but still have to work on it to this day.
In one case I remember a scientist working in Antarctica called me on a satellite phone instead of emailing because he had specific questions and didn’t want to mess around with email. Plus I think he liked the contact with the outside world and it turned out to be fascinating for me, as I had never spoken to anyone like this before.
One lady I know of prefers texting to all other forms of communication and she’s pretty good at it, but she’ll still pick up the phone when necessary.
On the other hand, I now see more and more people using email and text with their smart phones assuming that the recipient will get back to them immediately with an answer. Instead of picking up the phone and making the call to communicate, they stress out for hours until the person answers or they send another text or email.
Today, I still see people fire off emails without thinking twice and yet they wonder why the responses they receive are so short and razor sharp, if you know what I mean. I believe part of it has to do with laziness and the other half is just plain ignorance and not caring at all what the outcome might be.
With so many ways to communicate today, are you stuck in your shell and locked into one or two methods, or are you embracing and testing new forms of communication?
Have you let the ‘ole’ tele go by the wayside and opted for typing to avoid human interaction, conflict or even accountability? I’ve personally seen this time and time again and wonder if these individuals understand what they are doing?
Maybe it’s time we really evaluate what communication methods work for us and which ones don’t. Remember to test, test and test some more and then you can make quality decisions that will hopefully help your business and personal life.
Communication breakdowns will always be around, no matter how far advanced we human’s get. Let’s do our part as professionals to eliminate as many communication breakdowns as possible and make it easier on those we work and associate with everyday.