A large organisations where I was rolling out a ‘customer service’ programme, introduced the mantra, ‘pick up the phone’.  The purpose was to get people to talk to each other.  By relying too heavily on e-mails and SMS’s, people were not building and sustaining personal relationships. 

Even better than speaking on the phone is being able to interact ‘face-to-face’.  Hearing a person’s voice, and being able to observe the subtle nuances of facial expressions and other gestures adds extra meaning to our words and leads to greater understanding. 

The General Manager of my favourite hotel was telling me today that they are introducing ‘no e-mail days’ when staff may not send e-mails to their ‘internal customers’.  The intention is to create awareness of the number of unnecessary e-mails we send.  It also hi-lights the importance speaking to people.  I applaud this initiative. 

Many of us have developed ‘send an e-mail’ as our ‘default’ way-of-operating.  What can each of us do to make sure we are communicating in the most effective way?  How do we create awareness and ‘take action’ to hold a greater number of in-person ‘quality conversations’?   

When presenting specific BEI workshops, we cover ‘how to hold quality conversations’ and ‘building positive relationships’.  If you’d like further information, please contact me - brenda@146.66.90.172, Phone: +27 33 3425432, Mobile: + 27 82 4993311.