Once upon a time, long ago, there was no e-mail, no text messaging, no faxes and nary an instant message to be sent or read. Business professionals communicated by two now out-dated and archaic forms of communication. They met and talked, or they spoke on the telephone. As strange as that may seem, deals were consummated and the wheels of commerce rolled along at about the same pace as today. In fact, I believe, though no data exists to prove me right (or wrong), business actually moved faster before the advent of our “technological breakthrough” means of communication. So why is that? In an age where space travel meets with a collective yawn and reality television replaces “real” reality, why do we continue to communicate at warp speed and yet convey so little information and so few ideas in the process? Perhaps it’s because the volume of communication has increased so dramatically, and so the weight of each message back and forth has diminished. One hundred years ago, a letter from my cousin Olivier in Paris would have taken two or three weeks to make it across the ocean and into my mailbox. One hundred years before that, it might take three months. Now, we email blithely back and forth about the weather, travel plans and business ideas. All important items, to be sure, but I wonder how well we would communicate if we were face-to-face or on the phone. His halting English and my high school French would be roadblocks to communication, and not something we could resolve with a “click” to Translation.com! How does your every day communication obscure the really important information you need to convey? We are used to deciphering the barrage of text messages we receive (LV U 2), and yet the ease of communication in short-hand leaves me wondering if the emotion, the wit and the creativity of the written and spoken word in every day use are nearing their demise. Do this the next time you find yourself in an e-mail exchange that involves relaying more than quantifiable and easily identifiable information. Choosing a restaurant for lunch doesn’t work for this experiment. Debating the pros and cons of a proposed business deal does. The latter likely will be an exchange where emotion, opinions, perspective and independent judgment are required. Pick up the phone and interrupt the e-mail train with actual dialogue and rapport. I will admit that some people are so comfortable in the electronic message cocoon that they are put off by an intrusion like a phone call. Staying in that cocoon however, implies that the “rules of engagement” of your interaction are exactly the same as they have always been. Changing the rules of engagement means you challenge the status quo of your interaction, and that the boundaries of creativity in pursuit of resolution are pushed aside. If Orville and Wilbur Wright had been emailing instead of talking, I’m convinced we’d all be riding trains everywhere and looking at the sky saying “How do those damn birds do it!?” It’s not always easy to be the agent of change. Jackie Robinson was the first modern baseball player to break the color barrier that prohibited blacks from playing in the white major leagues, when he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Changing the way people think about how they interact with the outside world can be painful; in Robinson’s experience, it was brutal and accompanied by vile language and actions from fans and players at every turn. Breaking the chains of value-less communication isn’t nearly that difficult. Breaking the norms of communication, no matter how “advanced” that communication is, can mean social change, speedier progress and the chance to truly hear all voices. More great tips on Great Communication are available in Mike Faber’s free weekly email newsletter, Great Communication. To subscribe, please send an email to mike@fabercomm.com, with the words “Agent of Change” in the subject line. Copies of this article may be reprinted with appropriate attribution to Mike Faber and Faber Communications LLC. To learn more about Faber Communications keynotes and coaching, call toll-free 877-262-2402.
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