Email has a lot to answer for. I am an email fanatic (junkie one might say) but it does bring a slew of problems with it. One particularly thorny one is in the area of communications.
In the last three weeks I have come across so many issues relating to poor communication where the communicators standard line of defense was "But I sent you the email!"
For crying out loud! I get a lot of emails that I should read - but don't, should act on - but don't, or should reply to - but don't. And I'm not alone. We all do it. Lets face it, the email traffic these days is numbered in the dozens of emails per day.
And once you get a Blackberry (read: leash) then the volume increases substantially. The problem here is that once the email has been sent, then many people think their part in the communication game is finished and they faithfully wait for the other player to do their part. (Whatever that may be)
Wrong! Dead wrong!
A Communicators Responsibility
Your responsibility for communicating a message ends when the other party "gets it". Thats it, nothing more to it.
- So, do send an email. (Keep it brief for best results.)
- Then call to discuss,
- Then visit to discuss
- Then send another email
- Then call to discuss
- Then visit to discuss
- Then talk to others to make sure they are discussing it also,
- Then send another email...
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