Communicating verbally is key to successful and healthy relationships. If this is true, why don’t people pay more attention to it?
I had an interesting discussion with another business owner recently about the importance (but lack) of verbal communication in a professional relationship. He shared that, from his perspective, communication is the foundation for a successful working relationship. (One could argue the same point for personal relationships as well, whether they be between spouses, parents, and children, friends…you get the picture). I wonder how many people would agree with this but are locked into a cycle of busyness that prohibits them from exhibiting even the basic common courtesies that they themselves would expect from someone else. What is protocol in today’s world? How many times do you call; how many times do you call and leave a message; how many times do you call and not leave a message? How many e-mails do you send and how long do you wait between them for an answer?
Follow this with another comment shared with me by a colleague. She indicated that I should not send her an e-mail because she receives 400 e-mails a day. How can that be possible? Well, I suppose receiving that volume is possible, but how can a person effectively manage such an onslaught? Should you pick up the phone instead only to get thrown into voicemail? Even now we are moving to a point where e-mail is becoming obsolete—it’s simply not fast enough! Texting is quickly replacing instant messaging and e-mail because it is quicker, more concise, and immediate and only requires a cell phone, which, by the way, most 6th graders now have.
All of this shows signs that we continue to move in the direction of non-personal, non-verbal communication with nothing to provide clues regarding intent. No voice inflection, no body language, no facial expressions…all leaving much to interpretation, which many times is costly to the relationship. Do yourself and your relationships a favor…TALK to the other party involved.