Want to lessen the likelihood of getting bitten by something you’ve shared? With apologies to Paul Simon: Put down the pen, Jen. Don’t hit send, friend. Pick up the phone, Joan. Make it a call, Paul. Just listen to me. But how do you know when to write and when to call?
Researchers have found that between 80% and 90% of Gen Z respondents claimed to suffer anxiety before making a phone call, rating an awkward phone call one of the top three things in life to avoid. Another study found that 75% of millennials disliked phone calls because they’re a waste of time.
It’s been dubbed phone phobia.
By 2025, millennials will be the largest generation represented in the workforce. But it’s not just millennials among us who have determined that telephonic communications in the workplace are inefficient and time-consuming.
What Are the Hurdles to Making a Phone Call?
If email, text, instant messaging, etc. haven’t quite made traditional phone calls obsolete, they sure have given the nearly 150-year-old technology less mandatory. Not surprisingly, cell phones (introduced in the last century as car phones, as a non-millennial reader might remember) have quickly become the undifferentiated “hand-held digital device.” Using hand-held devices, we start automobiles, report the efficiency of solar roof panels, take and display photos and video, conduct internet research, control hearing aids, and practically anything else anyone can imagine. Many offices don’t even have desk phones anymore. (And some don’t even have desks!) Using a “phone” to communicate with a co-worker, client or business prospect has become something of an afterthought at best and an anachronism at worst. It’s sooooooo 20th Century.
But don’t toss Alexander Graham Bell into history’s dustbin just yet. There really are times when using a phone to actually speak to someone is the right thing to do.
When Should You Write?
It’s true that Kessler PR Group almost always advises our crisis clients to convey statements to the media in writing to ensure they are received exactly as intended. And, more importantly, to ensure that they’re reported accurately. Providing text puts the reporter on notice that words matter, that you’ve written exactly what you mean, that no “interpretation” or rephrasing may be attributed to you, and that messing with the words in your communication is simply unacceptable and wrong. That’s particularly important when you’ve taken pains to craft a statement in response to a media inquiry that has reputational implications, or one intended to establish a public stance on an issue.
Similarly, we believe written communications (email, text, social media post, whatever) are warranted when we’ve determined it’s important that many individuals in various internal and external stakeholder groups receive the identical message. A good example is when a company seeks to provide employees, customers and the public at large with an explanation for a potentially unpopular decision (layoffs, price increases, executive transitions, and so on). Once you put it in print, there’s no chance of the message being misheard or misunderstood, as famously happens in the classic children’s game of “Telephone.”
However, the spoken word still plays (or should still play) an important role in business and professional communications. Deciding when to write and when to call often comes down to the sensitivity of the information you’re seeking to convey.
When Should You Call?
For one thing, spoken words (unless they’re recorded) leave no trace. That means, among other things, no record of them having been said exists, an important concern when it comes to litigation, for example. Without a written record, it’s your word against an accuser. It’s hard to deny the content of a written message: “Isn’t it true, Ms. Kelly, that you wrote in an email to Mr. Wildstein, ‘Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.’?” Ms. Kelly might dispute what the email meant, but she couldn’t say she never wrote it.
Other situations in which you might want to avoid the written word include when speculating about the cause or impact of a crisis (or speculating about anything at all, really), or sharing information (later, “rumors”) about individuals in your organization, or questioning the wisdom of some controversial executive decision, etc. In these and similar situations, written communications often end up becoming used against the sender in organizational shake-ups, lawsuits, inquiries by regulatory agencies, whistleblower claims, or allegations of discrimination. Unintentionally, a frivolous or ill-considered text message jotted off today can one day become the source of personal, professional, and existential angst, a reputational timebomb just waiting for an unforeseen event or unexpected scrutiny to light the fuse.
Practice Good Judgment When Deciding When to Write and When to Call
Back in the dark ages of the last century, it wasn’t unusual for first-year law students to be taught, “Never send a letter and never throw one away.” The point: Don’t put in writing today something that might harm you in the future. (And, similarly, hold onto others’ written words because they may become helpful at some unforeseen time for your own protection.)
Giving careful consideration to when to write and when to call may seem paranoid from the perspective of the 21st century. However, it’s still good communications advice.
