Communication & Communication Etiquette in the Office

The office environment has sped up in productivity over the past 10 – 15 years, what used to be a several day deadline request has been upgraded to a several minutes notice request. My boss would ask in 1988, "I need this report by next Wednesday". My boss would ask me in 2000: "Sorry for the late notice, but could you run the report, print it out and bring it to the conference room in about ten minutes? That is when the presentation will start."

Communication has evolved for the convenience of office personnel, but it has also added additional ways for a busy executive to be incommunicado, therefore frustrating Executive Daycare Providers (AKA: administrative assistants, executive assistants, secretaries, etc.) even more so in our technologically advanced society. In 1985, I could reach my boss when he walked into the office and asked for messages. In 1995, I could reach my boss when he walked into the office and asked for messages, or leave him a voicemail, or call him on his cell phone, or page him on his pager or send him an e-mail.

The year 2000 has made it virtually possible for an executive to be available literally 24 hours a day / 7 days a week. I would be happy if the person I was supporting would not seemingly disappear off of the face of the earth between the hours of 8AM – 5PM, Monday through Friday.

If you are the busy executive OR are required to carry a cell phone, a pager, a laptop, or any other sort of PCD (personal communication devices):

Remember to carry your equipment with you: If you are carrying a cell phone, make sure it is charged, make sure it is turned on, and make sure you know how to use all of the functions. If you don’t know how to use the cell phone, read the manual – if you don’t or won’t make the effort, you do not need to carry a cell phone for company use.

If you are carrying a pager, make sure the batteries are working, make sure it is turned on, and make sure you know how to use all of the functions. . If you don’t know how to use the pager, read the manual – if you don’t or won’t make the effort, you do not need to carry a pager for company use.

If your communication of choice is a laptop, make sure you have all of the peripherals, such as power cords, external disk drives, modem cards and make sure that you know how to use all of the functions. If you don’t know how to use the laptop, read the manual – if you don’t or won’t make the effort, you do not need to carry a laptop for company use.

Remember to check in with your office: If you are relying on your office staff to keep you informed of important happenings around the office – then check into the office on a regular basis. It is better to check in once an hour, or in between appointments throughout the day to hear, "Nothing is happening", rather than checking in at the end of the work day from your hotel room at 10:30PM to find out that you have 49 voicemail messages (12 of which are from your boss).

If you are relying on email for correspondence, then check the emails from your assistant FIRST. Remember, your assistant is supposed to be an extension of you, so any latest developments would probably go through her/him first.

Respond!: If you have a pager, remember to be discreet in giving out the number, unless you like to be paged incessantly throughout the day. If you do like to be paged, then respond and respond promptly – especially if your assistant is looking for you.

If you receive emails and voicemails, especially from your assistant – respond to them. Even if you don’t have a complete response, at least admit that you have received the message and will do whatever it is that you have to do, as soon as you can get to it.

LEAVING VOICEMAIL MESSAGES: One of my biggest pet peeves is the complete and utter lack of knowledge most people have when leaving a voicemail message, especially since I get so many voicemail messages and have to transcribe so many voicemail messages.

There is nothing more infuriating than to be forced to listen to a 3 minute voicemail message that says absolutely nothing, is incomprehensible either due to connectivity issues [or the person sounds as though he has an entire foot-long hotdog in his mouth], or provides no valuable information, like a telephone number.

"Hi, Ro, this is B[static] inghma[static] from the "I’ll say the name of the company really, really fast so that you can’t possibly understand where I am calling from" and I don’t know if you remember that I called you a few months ago about using your company for [static], but I have a deadline and would appreciate if you would call me back by [static] at 1-333-456-789[static]. Okay? Thank you. Remember to call me back because it is an emergency."

People unaware that they are using their car phones, inadvertently – should not have car phones. Period.

The beginning of the message sounds like it is being placed from a car phone, using the speaker function. "[traffic noise and muffled voices]", the message ends.

People that have no sense of the logistics, particularly how fast listeners can write or type a written message should not be allowed to leave messages.

"Hi.
ThisisBobBrownandI’mcallingfromtheABCCompanyandthismessageisforyourbossanditisreallyimportantthathecallmerightawayaboutthemulti-milliondollarproposalthatissupposedtobesignedofftodayorelseourbusinesswillgobellyupotherwise.Haveyourbosscallmeat555-1234.Bye.Ohyeah. areacode415.

Also, people who do not understand that leaving a voicemail message is the same thing as making an audio recording, should also not be allowed to leave messages either.

"Hi, uh,? [pause] This is Bob. [pause] Uh, yeah, so I was wondering if you had a chance to look over that report I sent you a few minutes ago. [pause] Uh, so, if you get this message, be sure you check the report over and let me know right away, okay? [pause] Call me if you don’t get this message, okay? Because it is important that you give me the final number for the report, or else my @ss will be grass. [pause] Okay? Yeah, well, you have the number. So, bye. Oh, yeah, this is Bob."

I hate to tell Bob, that he had a wrong number, and I don’t know who he is, where is from and what report he is talking about, but he didn’t leave a phone number.

Let’s make Alexander Graham Bell Proud!

Be completely prepared BEFORE you pick up the phone to call someone. Have a pen, pencil, marker or crayon, AND piece of paper or something else to write on at the ready. Also, have any pertinent information you might be requested to provide. Nothing really sets me off as much as answering my phone and having the caller say, "Hi, Can you hold a sec?" or "Wait a minute, I have to get a pen.", or "Hold on while I run downstairs to get my files."

If you do not get a "live person" and must leave a voicemail, remember to leave the following information:

	Leave your name [saying "it’s me" won’t really help the person know who you are, unless you are really, really familiar with this person]. If you have never spoken with this person before, be sure to spell your name and remember to distinguish B, as in boy from D, as in dog, from T as in Tom.
	Leave your telephone number [it doesn’t matter if you feel this person knows your number or should have your number memorized, if the person is checking voicemail away from his/her desk – be ready for a shock – This person may NOT know your number. Think back, how many calls have you received where the person said, "Gee, I was off-site and wanted to call you back, but I didn’t have your number with me."
	Leave your company name. If for some reason, the person you called didn’t get your name [bad connection maybe], or your phone number [you forgot to leave it], just by leaving your company name – you might leave a clue and get a return phone call.
	State briefly what the call is regarding. If you have just sent an email to this person and want them to know to look for it, then state the subject of the email. Do NOT recite the entire email word-for-word, and insert your running commentary. A telephone message is supposed to be a message – it is not meant as a forum to leave a soliloquy
	Speak clearly and slowly enough for the listener to get all of the information you have left. A tip to help you learn how to leave an comprehensible message is to WRITE your name, number and company as you are leaving the message – this way, you can learn how quickly you are speaking and how quickly the recipient of your message has to write down what you have said.
	Leave a call back time for your caller. If you will be inaccessible by phone after leaving your message, state in your message the best time the person can reach you, or leave alternative choices, such as "send me an email" or "I will call you back at 2PM today."
	Repeat your name and number at the end of your message. The person may have missed your name and number at the beginning of the message, but caught the body of the message. Repeating your name and number at the end of your message gives them a second chance to get callback information, without having to rewind, replay and to listen to your message again.

Telephone, voicemail and paging logistics. Use common sense.

Set up a timeframe in the morning and a timeframe in the afternoon for placing, returning or accepting return telephone calls. If you are in one place for a set period of time, chances are, you will be able to avoid playing phone tag with these people.

Call one person at a time, and wait for a reasonable period of time for a return telephone call, OR leave a call back time for your caller to return your call, OR leave a time that you will call them back. Do not call 20 people, not leave a callback time, then go out to lunch, or leave the office for the day. These 20 people will call you back and you will not be there to take the call. Then you will have to repeat the whole process again.

Do NOT have your assistant telephone or page more than one person at a time for you to speak with, unless you are planning on having a conference call.

If you need 5 different people for 5 different topics, what is the point of having them all call in at the same time anyway? They will either have to wait to speak with you, go into your voicemail, or will have to restart whatever it was they were working on prior to being interrupted.

If a conference call is the case, the conference call should have been planned at least 15 minutes prior. This will give you or your assistant the time to track everyone down, or in the event that the participants could not be located, a chance to schedule a time for a conference call.

Telephone, voicemail and paging logistics. Use common courtesy.

Be prepared, both physically and mentally before you pick up the phone to dial.

Be to the point. The telephone, especially the telephone at work, is not for socializing, it is for communication. Dial, bottom line it, then hang up. Period.

Do not be rude! Do not dial the phone, nor answer the phone with food or beverage in your mouth. Chewing, gulping or snapping gum is unacceptable at any time.

Making excessive noise while using a speaker phone – crinkling paper, speaking to someone else who is not participating on the call or slamming desk drawers is a no-no.

Coughing, sneezing, clearing your throat without covering the receiver, or apologizing for your interruption is equally rude.

If you are easily distracted while driving, do NOT use your car phone. Nothing is more annoying than to be on the phone with someone who is driving, swearing, swerving and honking at the same time.

Calling anyone while using the restroom facilities…… DON’T EVER DO IT -- NEVER! A former boss called me from a toilet stall once. The connection had a weird echo, so I asked why it sounded like he was calling me from a cave. He told me where he was calling from. I hung up – and quit my job - immediately.

Being rude to operators, receptionists, or assistants is NEVER justifiable under any circumstances