Only communicate in order to enable action.
If you’re about to communicate for anything other than action, stop and wonder why. Even informing or making someone aware of something enables action as long as the information is useful.
Communication which doesn’t enable action is likely an intrusive waste of my fucking time. And time is my only limited resource.
Face to face communication is the best form. There are loads of physical and emotional cues that are exchanged (read this).
Understanding is best achieved face to face. Understanding enables action.
We email so much. Stop emailing. Email is for bitches. Do this exercise: Can I talk to the person face to face? No? Can I call them? No? Can it wait? No. Then email, only as a last resort.
Do you have to email? If so, follow these rules. From SMA Daley, never (NEVER) do anything negative over email.
You think you need PowerPoint? You likely need a whiteboard instead. If not a whiteboard, maybe you 2 or 3 need large printed slides that you can talk about (discuss). We all whine and complain about PowerPoint and then lazily and hypocritically default to it ourselves. Let’s be better together and kick it to the curb.
Are you leading a discussion (formerly called a meeting)? Follow these rules.
Everything starts with communication, and nothing happens until you do. Get smart, you have to be your organization’s expert.
