The timing of when these are sent is a direct correlation to the previous evenings bedtime….perhaps I should just leave that as my “Sunday thoughts”…..
I was with my folks yesterday, unfortunately watching my wild cats get their rear ends handed to them by Wisconsin. For some reason I asked my parents “does your world seem more on edge lately”? Dad of course says “what do you mean”…..and I commented that people seemed more stressed, more on edge, more unhappy, more visceral, and flat out meaner as of late. I commented about a couple of situations/examples I had been dealing with. Reality is this is probably how I feel more than the world but the question was asked none the less and my mom gave me an answer that hit me, and made sense, and something I think we could all learn from. Her answer was “yes, its because everyone hides behind emails/txts these days and thoughts just fester. It’s a lot easier to write out a mean/angry email than it is to have that conversation with the person on the phone or in person”. Personally, I’m guilty of this. If we get a nasty email (which is going to happen from time to time) my team comes flying into my office to make sure I’m not typing back the email that will blast this person back down off their horse…so that I can crush them with my writing, and feel great about myself…..Only to go back 15 minutes later and think “WHY DID I DO THAT”.
Email obviously has a major part in our lives and is a great tool but as it relates to the hard conversations, or the great ones, pick up the phone or discuss in person. Email creates more misunderstandings, more stress, more anger, than any other communication device. In reality, trying to resolve a hard/personal situation by email, simply because you don’t want to have the conversation in person/phone is a cowardly act. Next time you think of sending an email vs. picking up the phone think of the word coward. For me, there aren’t too many words I’d rather not be called than that of a coward. True definition: a person who lacks the courage to do or endure dangerous or unpleasant things.
I can imagine the comments this email will create “what about this situation, what about that situation”….I would say its this simple: If you have to tell someone “no”, if you have to tell a referral partner that you can’t do what you said you would do, if you get a hate mail from a client or referral partner, that is when you pick up the phone, every single time. It’s a lot easier to hate an email than a person. People get angry if they think you don’t care and aside from me saying “I swear I’m really really really sorry” vs. having them hear that in my voice…….the call wins.
P.S. I’m having my quarterly meeting on Tuesday. You guys should be having yours too. Happy Sunday.