When and Why You Should Stop Emailing and Pick up the Phone

Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

Email has fundamentally changed the way we interact. But, it cannot replace live conversation. This especially applies when resolving a conflict or communicating an important business decision. Far too many people try to do sensitive business via email.

• This is problematic because tone and context are easy to misread. In a live conversation, how one says something is as important as what they are saying. Without inflections and intonations, it’s hard to understand the feelings behind the words.

• In fact, email-based conflict often escalates because you aren’t forced to be as thoughtful as you would be in a one-on-one conversation.

• Next time you have a delicate or complex issue to discuss, take your hands off the keyboard and pick up the phone.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “Don’t Send That Email. Pick up the Phone!” by Anthony Tjan.

To read that article and join the discussion, please click here.

Also, you may wish to check out the new book, Management Tips from Harvard Business Review, based on HBR’s Management Tip of the Day by clicking here.