CHAPTER 18
Respond Promptly in the Age of Twitter
Leaders who make it a practice to draw out the thoughts and ideas of their subordinates and who are receptive even to bad news will be properly informed. Communicate downward to subordinates with at least the same care and attention as you communicate upward to superiors.
Ninety-six percent of current smartphone owners say they rarely or never shut off their phones. Users expect to be in touch constantly with friends, family, or colleagues on social media.11 With unlimited texting and tools and new apps entering the marketplace like popcorn, people can schedule their memes and messages to land every twenty to thirty minutes.
On social media, the expectation time for response is zero to four hours. How fast do companies typically respond? Ten hours, according to various studies by social media experts and bloggers. Big disappointment.
But more to the point here: Is it any wonder that coworkers and customers expect prompt responses to emails and texts? Yet a Gallup poll of 1,000 German employees revealed that only 60 percent strongly agreed that their manager responds to calls or messages within 24 hours.12 So roughly 40 percent must sit in a “holding pattern” on the current project, waiting for an answer.
Have you yourself ever waited and waited for a response from your boss before moving forward on a project or decision? If so, you understand the drag on productivity. Team members want acknowledgment that you’ve received a key report or proposal and that you’ll respond shortly with approval, a no-go, or a request for more information.
You as team leader need to communicate clearly to your team what the standard response time is for your team: 4 hours? 8 hours? 24 hours? Are there exceptions to this standard? If so, what? Once you’ve communicated the standard, live by it.
Slow responses suggest many things—most of them negative:
• You’re overwhelmed and can’t keep up with the pace.
• You’re puzzled by the decision or action required.
• Your system of handling daily inquiries is ineffective.
• You have a staffing problem.
• The situation, decision, or project is unimportant to you.
• You need time to deliberate before replying.
• You need to gather more information or input before responding.
A big part of strategic thinking involves sorting the significant from the trivial, putting efficient systems in place to handle routine matters, and prioritizing the important over the urgent.
A common time-management mistake for less effective communicators is to handle “urgent” matters before important matters. They define those “urgent” matters as those with a deadline—no matter how unimportant they might be, matters like reserving ad space, returning a phone call, replying to a colleague’s request for information. However, when there are too many “urgent” matters, that leader never gets the truly important things done. Finishing ONE high-priority important project may contribute more value than completing seven “urgent” tasks.
Granted, speed can lead to poor decisions based on missing or faulty data. When you need more time to reflect, simply acknowledge to the sender that you’ve received their message and that you’ll reply fully later or by X date.
Speed has become the newest metric of quality communication. The second phase: Prioritizing important tasks over urgent tasks. The third phase: Increasing the speed of handling both your important communication and the urgent. Everything needs to be acknowledged and dispatched in some way.
Little misses can lead to big losses.