Good Communication Skills (Opinion)

I heard an interesting question the other day.

“How do you prefer to communicate?” someone asked.

The question was asked in reference to professional communications, as in, “How do you prefer to communicate with clients and co-workers, peers and prospective clients?”

Maybe it’s because of my age — one that never dreamed communication in the form of 100-and-something characters would be considered effective — but my first impulse was: “Face to face, of course.”

Face to face, of course, isn’t always feasible. And increasingly, it seems, neither is a phone call (unless you count trading voicemails), which would be my second choice.

Instead, in today’s mobile society, I find myself communicating more and more via email. I fully realize email is by no means a new phenomenon, but in my time at the Business Journal, I am constantly amazed at how many people apparently are too busy for a face-to-face meeting or phone call, but seemingly can respond to an email within 30 seconds of me hitting “Send.”

And that’s fine. I’ve adapted, and email does have its perks.

I often send them to the staff members sitting right outside my office, in fact, out of convenience and because doing so eliminates the risk of me interrupting good work. I am at peace, in other words, with email.

Or was, because of what ironically showed up in my inbox just hours after I heard the question about preferred methods of communication.

“Give Up Email Altogether” was the headline accompanying the Harvard Business Review’s management tip of the day.

“If you spend hours every day trying to keep on top of a huge inbox, try an extreme solution: Give it up,” the body of the email read. “Yes, that’s right, stop checking your email.”

It then urged me to consider other tools, like blog posts, Skype or Basecamp. (Note to self: Google “Basecamp” when finished with column.)

Other options included Twitter direct messages, online chat, and texts, which struck me as cousins, if not brothers and sisters, of email. Frankly, I’m still not sure what to make of it all.

If you can help, swing by my office or give me a call. Maybe we can talk.