TELEPHONE TAG

You’re off to meetings. You may be walking about the shop floor. You may be attending a seminar. Meanwhile, people are trying to contact you, but you’re unavailable. Upon returning to the office, you try to call these people back, and they are not in! This is called telephone tag.

Combating telephone tag provides several obvious benefits. It saves time and, consequently, money. It also increases productivity, and it creates more time and energy for focusing on priorities. Finally, it reduces the annoyance and frustration that comes with telephone tag.

for Overcoming Telephone Tag

• Restrict your availability for receiving calls to certain times in a day.
• Have someone, like a secretary, set up appointments for you.
• Use voice mail or E-mail, if available.
• Leave an alternate number where you can be reached via a secretary, voice mail, pager, or cellular phone.
• Carry a pager or cellular phone to communicate with whomever wants to talk to you.