Communication: Did you really try?

You are asked to get information from someone, where do you start? If you know the person and have worked with them, then it is easy – you know how to communicate with them. If you don’t know the person, you have to figure out what forms of communication they use to be able to get an answer to the question you are needing to ask. How do you go about doing that?

Observe Directly:
The beginning of most interaction that you have with people should consist of you observing. Watch them. Do they answer their phone when it rings? or do they ignore phone calls. Do they email? or do they SMS? Or, do you need to talk to their assistant? When you observe someone you are able to see what kind of communication they use, and as a result you know how to communicate with them. Knowing that Bob will answer his phone but not read your email gives you a “in” with Bob. Try calling him and sending an email at the same time, and ask him if he can look over the email.

Observe In-Directly:
If you aren’t able to observe people in person, ask around. If you were to ask, “how does Chris like to communicate?”, people who have worked with me should know my communication code book. They would know that email is probably the best way to communicate because I can read it, and respond thoughtfully. You can find out how people communicate by asking people around them.

Doing it:
Once you’ve found out how people communicate, that is when you try to communicate with them. Send me an email and ask your question, and be specific so I can answer what you are asking. It is your responsibility when communicating to make sure that the recipient receives the communication. Chase down that form of communication. If you sent me an email and you don’t get a response, try again by emailing. If it continues to not work, then try other forms of communication.

Repeat Yourself:
When you are trying to communicate with someone and they don’t respond, try again. If you call once and you get no response to a very important item in a week, try again. If you call someone once, without a voice mail – that’s lame. Try harder. Know that most people read their most recent emails, then older ones. Send a new email every few days to make sure that you are heard.

No Excuses:
When you are tasked with getting information, don’t come back with excuses. I emailed, and got no response. So? that’s an excuse. What is valid is if you come back and say, “I emailed daily, called 20 times with voicemails, and haven’t gotten a response. How much more time would you like me to spend on this?”

Don’t Give Up:
Don’t try and then give up. Keep trying until you get what you want. Don’t be annoying, but keep trying. Asking nicely, and asking daily does work. You may be thanked for  following up and giving the recipient the ability to get you the information you want.

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