What's funny about our technological age is how, with all the options to communicate at our fingertips, most of us do not follow-up or follow-through.
Emails are left unanswered. Calls are not returned. Texts are ignored. Calendars are not updated. Promises are not kept. I'm not complaining; it's everywhere and there can be an advantage for someone or some company that wants to stand out: communicate clearly and timely.
If I find someone who, as a rule, follows-up and keeps their promises, that person is very important. I've known wonderful people who seem to sabotage themselves by showing great potential but then have to be tracked down in order to have them share status.
Why does this happen? Are we afraid to share status? Do we like the feeling of importance that having to be tracked down gives us? Do we just not care enough to let those we work with learn where things stand?
I don't know and would love any of our readers to share their theory on this. But, I do know this: be the rare person who follows-up and follows-through and you are automatically more valuable than a more gifted person who doesn't.
Barry LaBov
LaBov Marketing Communications and Training
www.labov.com
Thursday, January 31, 2013
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I’m not sure why others don’t follow-through or answer their emails. In some cases, I could see it being a power play; you know the whole I’ll get back to you when I get back to you mindset. I hate those types of people. In my case, I just think it’s because I get caught up in something else and forget about your email. Nicholas Carr wrote something a few years back about how Google was making us stupid. In his writings, Heidegger often questioned whether technology was a good or bad thing.
ReplyDeleteI could see their points. We’re constantly inundated with stuff that it can become too much. I need to make it a point to take these points from the Barry LaBov blog and return emails and be someone who follows up. Great post!