Good Morning,
Continuing in my current read, “What Would Lincoln Do?,” there is a section on quality communication. The author, David Acord, shares with us what communication was like in the 19th Century, where letter writing was the primary method of communicating over long distances. Paper and ink were scarce in some places and you had to refill your pen in an inkwell often. In effect, there was a limited number of letters which could be written, and then you had to find a place to send the mail through, which could be miles away from you.
Acord then asks us if we could only write five letters or emails each day, what would we write?
Think about this. If we were limited to sending just five messages each day (this includes Tweets, Texts, emails, IMs, Faxes, Chats, letters, blogs, phone calls, etc.), what would we send, and who would we communicate to.
This would be a difficult task simply because most of us do not realize how many different times during a day that we send some form of long distance communication. I know I can send anywhere from 100 to 150 emails a day from work and home. IM’s are comparable, and phone calls over the cell, home and work phone number a dozen a day easily.
This means I would have to go from about 300 messages a day to 5.
With just 5 messages to send per day, I would have to think about a few things before I event send the first message. Note, that I would have to think about sending the message (something that has all but been lost in today’s world where long distance communication is a habit).
I would make a list of who I needed to communicate with, and then what I wanted to share with them. Since I would not have immediate interaction with these people, my messages would have to be thought out beyond simple ‘hi’s and hello’s’. I would most likely include a lot of information, but try not to be wordy as I would not want the communication to be too long.
In effect, these 5 communications would be planned out in advance with care, knowing who the audience was and what I wanted to say. The information in the communication would be more focused on the subject at hand and less likely to ramble.
The net result is better communication.
A funny thing about this exercise is that this is something that we can do right now, without being forced to cut down our communications. If we plan out what we want to say, to whom, and with what effect, we can have more productive and informinative emails, letters, etc.
I find that interesting.
Enjoy!
Sanford Berenberg
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