Surface Ripples

It’s All in the Response

One of the most important things we all possess is our personal brand.

Like a corporate brand, when people think about us, they associate certain qualities or attributes with us.  These could be anything: “reliable”, “trustworthy”, “helpful”, “efficient”, “professional”, knowledgeable and so on.

Just as when we think of a corporate name, we associate certain qualities with it, we need to think about what we want people to associate with us and (by extension) our organisation.

One of the key areas in which it’s all too easy to fail is in our response to requests.  When I started my career, I was taught that, unless a deadline was given, I should respond to a request in a memo or letter (email hadn’t been invented) within two working days.  Even if we were unable to provide full resolution, we were required to reply that we had received the request, were acting on it, and would provide an update within a specified period of time.

Is it the case that the fashion is more to ignore communications?  To be fair, many people are deluged with emails during the working day.  It’s become too easy to send an email rather than pick up a phone and call the person or even (assuming it is possible) walk over to their desk and speak to them. 

Another complication is that emails may go to a “Junk” or “Spam” box if the “system” doesn’t recognise our address.  Add to this the high volume of “Junk” email to which we are all subject anyway and one begins to see the problem.

What can we do?  The most effective technique I’ve seen so far is to go very quickly through one’s emails periodically during the working day and sort them into three categories:

• Action
• Read later
• Maybe

“Action” items need a response or action within 24 to 48 hours. “Read Later” items may be “information only” or information needed for a report that we are expected to produce at some distant point in the future.  “Maybe” emails are the ones that we get around to as, when and if we have the time.  In the latter case I find that I end up deleting the contents of the “Maybe” folder.

The advantage of this method is that it clears our “Inbox” rapidly, reducing the pressure and prioritising what needs to be done.  However, it requires discipline.  At times I find that I still tend to let things pile up in the “Inbox” which then becomes my de facto “Action” folder.  This works for me, but I appreciate that others may prefer an alternative. 

After using it for a while I found that barely 20% of incoming emails were “Action” items.  The rest were filed in “Read Later “, “Maybe” or just deleted on the spot.

The point of all this is that when somebody emails us, they usually expect a response.  It would be unreasonable to expect an immediate response (unless they said so and why it was needed), but if more than a week went by without me receiving some kind of reply to a request I had sent, I’d start to entertain doubts as to the professionalism of the recipient of that email.

Whatever the case, we’re judged by how quickly we respond.  It’s up to us to make sure that judgement is as favourable as possible.

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  

Labels: Customer Care, Productivity, Teamwork

posted by William Martin @ 09:13