At the training conference I attended, one of the lecturers provided a list of the type of communication we use at work. There is email, texting the phone et cetera. However, it was interesting to know that the most popular form of communication is the phone. It is more personal than email or texting. It is not as effective as a face-to-face meeting, but those are not always possible.

I have always found that using the phone is the best form of communication when dealing with one person at a time. Email is good for a large distribution of information. Can you imagine phoning 20 people to relay the same message to them?

Today, I needed to relay some information with respect to a project my department is managing for the installation of workstations at one of my buildings. There are half a dozen contractors involved and at least a dozen of people who need to know what is going on. The main portion of the message is general, and then I break down the specific information to the specific contractor. I place the specific contractor in the “To” section, and all of those who need to know about the project in the “CC” section.

Once I forwarded the email, I received a couple of contractors contacting me about specific information regarding what they needed to do and the phone is the best medium to relay that information to them specifically.

Is one medium better than the other? It depends on the situation. You need to figure out which one is best for the situation at hand.

Tomorrow’s post: Breaking bad habits