When a project goes bad and I need to talk to an individual about it, I try to follow a Pyramid for Effective Communication:
- Face time: The first thing I try is to catch somebody at their desk.
- Phone time: If I can’t see them, I try to talk to them on the phone.
- Voicemail: If I can’t make the top two tactics in my pyramid happen, I’ll leave a message with some or all of the details.
- e-mail: If it’s too complicated for voicemail or when repeated voicemails go unanswered, then I’ll write it up and send it in an e-mail (but with no CCs).
- IM: Only if everything else fails will I resort to using an instant message to deliver bad or difficult news.
This pyramid doesn’t apply for distributed environments (where much or all of the team works remotely), but it has otherwise always worked for me, so it throws me off when co-workers a generation younger than me follow these tactics in the exact opposite order. And I know it doesn’t work that way because when I ask them what happened all I hear is “well, they didn’t respond to my [IM or voicemail],” or “I sent them an e-mail!!” (This response is usually delivered in that tone of voice that says that they OBVIOUSLY did everything they could.)
I’ve watched a young direct report leave a half a dozen voicemails for somebody rather than finding a way to get some face time. Old farts like me always bitch about people who won’t just get up and walk across the room to talk to somebody else, and I’ve watched people’s eyes glaze over when they think that’s what I’m talking about. But my argument isn’t about laziness, it’s about effectiveness. When you have to talk to somebody about bad things, use your face first.
