I have two simple email rules for people who report to me. First, if someone has bad news, it must be delivered in person or, if that’s not possible, by telephone. Email is not an acceptable substitute.
My reasoning is I want to the hear the bad tidings so I can look the individual in the eye and gauge how bad the bad really is by the amount of perspiration on his or her upper lip and how many times the person’s voice cracks. This also works on the phone. I just substitute my perspiration barometer with the number of hushed whispers and intermittent indecipherable mumblings I detect per minute.
Am I a masochist, some kind of voyeur or do I really enjoy watching and hearing people squirm? Absolutely not. Instead mano a mano communications helps me help the person solve the problem at hand. My issue with bad news via email is that it’s just too easy for someone to logon and then log out by dumping the issue in the inbox and then emotionally abdicating by feeling that since they’ve spilled the beans about the problem it becomes the recipient’s issue to solve. The one-on-one delivery also forces the deliverer to have an idea or two about how to save what’s left to be saved.
Rule two is one may deliver good news by email, but this means of conveyance usually tells me that the person sending the message can’t accept success or really doesn’t deserve the credit. I found that when there is truly something good that has happened, the person responsible will do whatever it takes to deliver the news up close and personal. Probably the person is thinking they can look me in the eye and see if I break out in perspiration caused by excitement or my voice shrills, hitting new high notes when I hear each tidbit, all of which can give them courage and fuel to ask for a bigger raise at salary review time.
Good communication techniques are a two-way street. I’ve had people waiting for me in the parking lot, most likely having slept in a lawn chair since midnight just to be the first to deliver the positive message. Others of my same gender have even followed me into the washroom, were I’m captive at least for a minute or so while they blurt out their success story. Coming to my office door and sticking one’s head in is just as effective, but does lack a bit of the drama of the above-mentioned intercept venues and tactics.
Don’t get me wrong, I really love email. I’m always connected even in the most unusual and intimate locations. Email is great for a quick update, detailed reports, fast-breaking news, not to mention snide remarks about a competitor’s shortcomings, particularly.
Editor’s note: This month, we’re commemorating 20 years of columns from Michael Feuer by revisiting the first column he wrote for the magazine.
Visit Michael Feuer’s website www.TipsFromTheTop.info to learn more about his columns, watch videos and purchase his books, “The Benevolent Dictator” and “Tips From The Top.”
