May 20 2010

Call Me

Call Me

A fine song by Blondie from 1980 and from the soundtrack of the movie American Gigolo.  And also something that reminded me about the importance of not relying too much on email this past month. 

 I had surgery on my left wrist in early March to hopefully fix a nagging tendonitis problem.  And while I could still write and type post-op, I got sore pretty quickly every day, so I tried to keep those activities to a minimum.  As you might imaging, I do an awful lot of email and IM in my line of work.  So what was my short response to a huge number of emails and IMs for a few weeks?  “Call me.”

 My communications, especially with remote employees, not only didn’t suffer while I couldn’t type a lot – they were stronger than ever.  Even short, two-minute phone conversations – the remote equivalent of someone sticking their head in my office – are preferable to IM or email in many cases.  There’s nothing like the sound of someone’s voice to add real texture to a dialog and to avoid misunderstandings.