How I Got Lauretta – a Typical Non-Responder – To Pay Attention To My Messages

Call me a workaholic, but I’m one of those people who quickly respond to their text messages or emails.

Even if it’s just acknowledging that I received it, I’ve always considered it an essential sign of respect to come back to people within hours.?

As you might have guessed, I’ve struggled with people who don’t reply, also known as “non-responders.” It must be a perception, but I’ve always seen them too busy or disorganized to respond to my messages.?

Although my issues might not have been high on their priority list, I’ve experimented with ways to catch their attention and get things moving without calling them repeatedly.

Here’s what worked best for me:?

Once, I had a colleague named Lauretta, who was notorious for keeping hundreds of unread messages in her inbox.?

Lauretta was a solid performer and generally delivered on expectations. However, she often kept things brewing and growing out of control until the very last minute, causing her to rush to sort out all problems simultaneously.?

The results were there, but she was unpredictable and drove me crazy.

So, I started to make the consequences of her not answering more obvious simply by incorporating them in the subject line of my messages.?

The messages went something like this:?

• “Bob wants to complain to the CEO about the missed product deadline – Need to explain the background,”?
• “Securing $50k budget – At high risk if the analysis is not sent by 6 pm,”?
• “Product launch in jeopardy – The production sign-off must be confirmed now.”?

By choosing a clear subject and making it clear what would happen if she didn’t respond promptly, I started to see a shift in Lauretta’s attitude.

As I kept perfecting the approach, I realized how effective it was to elevate criticality or urgency into the subject lines. No matter how busy Lauretta was, she didn’t even have to open my messages to understand what was at stake and the consequences for her.?

Some old-timers may think I should pick up the phone and converse synchronously. Still, the reality of life at Corporate is that you have to juggle dozens of such issues at a time, and trying to talk it through can be intense, from playing phone tags to being unavailable at the exact moment.

Over time, Lauretta became more reliable, and my clear context-setting helped us avoid a few crises. I expanded this technique into more aspects of my communication with team members and senior executives.?

While being careful not to overdo it, elevating criticality and urgency into subject lines gave me similar results and got the job done.?

It’s one of these small things, but next time you’re struggling with a non-responder, try it, and you’ll soon be cruising to the next challenge.