So each week I aim to give a snippet of advice on Contract or Commercial issues.
This week I am going to give some observations about communications.
- Delivering bad news - never do this in an email late on Friday. worked on a scheme where one of the parties used to push send at the end of the day on Friday, and you could never contact anyone to discuss. What does that attitude present to the receiver? Not good trust me. Think how that might play out on the receiver's mind all weekend.
- Emails - These contain no tone or emotion other than the words on the electronic page. Communication is more than words on a page. In the days of meetings and telephone calls, tone and body language can give context to the words. A smile or expression can soften the impact. Electronic mail has no such context for the reader. So if its bad news pick up the phone before pushing send and try and talk the contents over. Trust me it always goes down better.
- Impasse - There are times when you will have a differing position. Rather than spend hours arguing over the same element, get both parties to agree that the issues are (list them out), that the stance is (briefly describe) and agree that you can't but that over the next week, you will both spend some time to look at both sides and then meet again to discuss further. Taking the heat out of the moment may provide enough breathing space to soften and find the middle ground. It may not but at least you have defined the issue.
- Deadlines - If you commit to a deadline - hit it. Nothing is more frustrating when one party constantly fails to do what they said. How many times have I sat in a meeting with an agreed agenda and actions from the last meeting only to have the other party sit and say they have not had time to look at it? The inference to the other party is that it is not important to you. Their issues are not important. How do you think that will drive their behaviour?
I could go on, but these are some of the things I see everyday especially in item 2, where rather than speak to each other email ping pong becomes the norm. Think on that, if you are about to email a reply to a reply, either ask to meet to discuss or pick up the phone. Trust me in a dispute the reading and presenting as evidence of an email ping-pong rant can be embarrassing.
Please share if you like as these words should reach to as many people as we can so we can all improve the work experience.
