When You Need to Ditch the Keyboard

There are times you in your life that you remember exactly where you were at the time of a seminal event – i.e. the Kennedy assassination, the first lunar landing, 9-11, etc.

Then there are also those second-tier experiences that are also indelibly etched in your memories. For me, it was the first time I saw someone receive an email. It was July 1984 and I was at a friend’s stiflingly hot apartment watching TV while his wife was inserting a floppy disk into a PC that by now is probably in the Smithsonian. 

She motioned me over and pointed to the screen. Since my technical knowledge at that time in my life went little beyond correctly programming the VCR, she explained that she was “talking” to a colleague via the computer.

Novel, I thought, but I assured her it would never replace the phone call as a primary method of communication. Looking back, I put that prediction right up there with one I made years earlier lambasting CBS for attempting to replicate the movie M*A*S*H into a TV show.

Fast forward to 2014 where estimated that roughly 300 billion emails are sent each day with an incredible 3 million sent every second. In the workplace, email has inarguably become the default method of communication – a trend replete with good news/bad news baggage.

I’m sure you’re all aware of the advantages of email, so I won’t bore you with repetitious observations. But topping the con list is that the loss of the personal touch. Emails, while far more efficient in bulk, present a sort of sterile component versus picking up the phone. And as “most trusted advisors” to your clients, there’s a critical people-centric relationship that has to be both developed and nurtured.

Recently I ran across several articles on guidelines as to when it’s probably best to stop the email thread and just pick up the phone.

1. The multiple email rule: If you’re going back and forth over details of a project or problem that hasn’t been resolved after the third, fourth or even the fifth exchange, it’s probably past time to just pick up the phone. You can always summarize the conversation and any agreed-upon action steps in a later email.
2. You’re hoping to rope in that new client. An in-person visit is always best, but if you happen to be in different cities – then you need to begin dialing.
3. An urgent matter suddenly comes up. This one probably needs little or no explanation.
4. You need to address a confidential matter: Whether it’s an employee warning, a medical issue or you’re breaking bad news, it’s best to leave it off the screen. Everyone has horror stories about errant emails that have gone to the wrong people.

Sometimes it’s best to pose the question of whether a phone call would work better than email in a certain instance. If your instinct tells you “yes,” then ditch the keyboard and give your fingers a different form of exercise.