Inside ASI-AP

I believe we can still make significant improvements in the way that we communicate. Email usage continues to grow and to be perfectly honest, I would rather have a voice conversation than an email one. I would like to have phone first Friday's every day of the week, but it seems like my views on this are at odds with everyone else.

A year ago it was easy to say that email or messenger is cheap, but a phone call had to be paid for. That is not the case today - we have free mobile to mobile calls and free calls to ASI offices all over the world.

Secondly, there is the question of productivity. A recent Day-Timers survey confirmed that instant-communications technology is making it harder, not easier, to get things done. The number of people who report feeling very productive has dropped from 83% in 1994 to just 51% today. It is very hard to perform in a 24x7 environment that constantly disrupts focus and feeds an epidemic of false urgency.

So in addition to phone first Friday's, I have some other ideas to help encourage people to communicate without being dependent on email. I know this is hard - studies on human behaviour show we have a limitless need to be wanted - and the chaos of email and messenger plays right into this!

1. No emails longer than 2 paragraphs. If you have to type up that much, for most people it is going to be faster on the phone.

2. Do not assume that people always have access to email just because our systems allow it. "I sent George an email about that" is in most cases a poor excuse for non-communication.

3. Setup email/messenger contact free zones. Logout of email and quit messenger. Focus instead on work you have to get done today.

4. Have a go at phone first Fridays.

5. Write up a daily task list and plan your day.