People doing business with people

In today's world we have so many tools to communicate with each other that it is easy to overlook the most obvious one. You know ... actually talking and listening to someone. There are some things to remember as we are now so unused to talking to each other that some guidelines are required:

LISTEN MORE THAN YOU TALK

Ofteh they say the best meetings are over a meal/drink. Is it perhaps because you are forced to listen while eating/drinking and everyone has an equal opportunity to talk. A good trick is to bring a bottle of water into a meeting, even if you are not thirsty, having the bottle sit in front of you is a great reminder to keep listening.

DO NOT USE EMAIL IN CASE OF URGENCY

E-mail is not to be used as a tool to communicate a sense of urgency between 2 people - No really the more urgent it is, the more you need to pick-up the phone and talk.

EMAILS MUST BE BRIEF
All e-mails should be written with the understanding that a person on a Treo/bBlackberry will be reading the e-mail. E.g. the message needs to be to the point. Direct questions or answers are preferred followed by back ground info. So no book writing with at the bottom a question.

GOOD NEWS FAST / BAD NEWS FASTER
Communicate good news fast and bad news even faster - Actually most of the times good news can wait. Its a trick taught in executive communication classes around the world to communicate bad news as fast as possible. So don't be afraid to communicate bad news, and remember bad news can be really good news as it opens up all kind of new opportunities with it.

In case of doubt - just use the phone!