They are easy. They are ubiquitous. And they are overused.
Emails and texts are so easy to send and are great for transactions. Use them for things like, “Where are you?” “I can meet at 2:30” and “The Q2 net disbursements were $1.2M”
They are NOT effective for communicating anything with significant emotion, either positive or negative. The words you write in an email or text make too narrow a pipe to adequately and accurately give your meaning to your recipients.
Missing from email and text are tone and body language.
Need to persuade someone? Need to address a contentious topic? Do you feel tense, angry, worried as you compose an email or text? Then don’t send an email or text.
Pick up the phone. Or visit in person.
2 thoughts on “Don’t send that email (or txt)!”
This is so true – on the weekend I received an email that made me react negatively and angry – I wanted to compose an email to “BLAST” the individual. I started to compose the email but did not send. Tried writing the email again a few days later and still did not feel comfortable sending it. In the end, I asked the individual to have a chat on the phone, it turned out that there were a lot of assumptions made and we were able to clear it up. It ended happily.
Hi Sandra,
Yes! You highlight one of the two reasons to call or meet versus email or text: the unpleasant friction of miscommunication, misunderstanding, and conflict. The other is the time wasted due to miscommunication, misunderstanding, and conflict. More proof of the mantra, “With people, slow down to speed up.”
Mike