Besides providing a good reason to regularly reflect on the state of the industry, writing this column provides a way for me to also give something back by talking candidly about some of the things that might otherwise be left unsaid. As an editorial voice I can be frank and sometimes perhaps even a little irreverent when necessary to make a point about something important… this is one of those times.

This column is about a trend that I don’t like very much, and I suspect many of you may not like either, but so far almost nothing I’ve seen has addressed this topic head-on. That topic is Communications Etiquette. I’m really beginning to think that maintaining a civil and professional posture in the course of routine business communications – whether involving written or verbal interactions – may be fading into history as the appropriate and widely practiced code of conduct.

Please, leave a message after the beep…
Perhaps this problem started with answering machines. Remember the first time around with answer machines, those nifty gadgets that everyone hated because they just seemed so terribly impersonal? At the time, most people felt that the very concept of using an answering machine was at best an insult and at worst, a de-humanizing indignity. After all, why would any self-respecting person talk to a machine?

Your call is very important to me…
But then, along came voicemail with that polite invitation to leave a message so that your call – which was, of course, VERY important to the receiving party – could be returned at the earliest possible opportunity.

A lot of us liked voicemail at first because it seemed so friendly and beneficial. Heck, when a call came in and you were on the phone, at least the caller wouldn’t just get a busy signal or have to endure an endless ring that would never be answered if you were away from your phone. Instead, you – via an audio alter ego – could tell the caller you were on the phone, out sick, away on vacation or whatever, saving incalculable time and resources.

Coincidentally, that was probably around the time we first heard the term “right sizing.” In its early stages, right sizing meant your secretary got fired, since a human answering machine was suddenly deemed unnecessary. (Gee, who knew that all secretaries did was answer the phone and take messages?)

But then, something really bad happened: The now ‘secretary-less’ workers realized that they had to become even more efficient. Who had time to keep track of all those voicemail messages, especially without a secretary? Why not just use voicemail “like” a secretary – as a call screener? Not a bad idea initially, but not quite the same thing either.

Whereas your secretary could say, “Bob’s in a meeting right now, but he’ll be available in about 30 minutes if you’d like to call back then,” all the voicemail system can manage is: “Please, leave a message.” Obviously, the voicemail system couldn’t stop you on your way out of the conference room the way your secretary could, so if you forgot to check your messages, ignored them or simply received them too late, you’d miss things. (Remember, your secretary could usually figure out what was important and what wasn’t, apparently by just answering the phone! Pretty amazing, huh?)

Once the initial infatuation wore off, voicemail became pretty tedious for most of us. But then someone decided we needed additional assistance. And, living in the Information Age, what better to relieve the distress caused by overloaded voicemail than – you guessed it – more information!

Enter, the Automated Attendant:
Ostensibly intended to help us, automated attendants – those annoying pre-recorded message menus we’re all forced to navigate when all we really want is to ask somebody (ideally, a real person) a simple question – increasingly confound even the most skilled and patient among us. Some menus will take you a dozen or more levels deep and are changed regularly, allegedly to make the navigation process easier. Indeed, there are probably few if any among us that have not encountered the dreaded: “Please note that our menus have changed…” message, just when you think you’ve finally got the navigation figured out.

But instead of helping, what automated attendants really do is take us another step away from human interaction and add another layer of an all too pervasive do-it-yourself mentality, quickly turning our attempts to obtain information into a daily battle of man versus machine. While this might all sound sort of hypocritical coming from an automation person, the point here is that when we automate, the goal should be to enhance the human element… not eradicate it. But let me get to the really prickly part of the problem.

Until recently, most business people still managed to communicate effectively, using complete sentences and responding in a timely manner. Even with the inherent time limitations of what we now call “snail-mail,” costly long-distance telephone charges, the absence of video conferencing and other such amenities, we conducted business and went about our assigned duties with arguably far less stress and strain than we do today.

Moreover, as we have succumbed to relentless demands to do more with less, we’ve also been rapidly losing our ability to communicate with one another in a reasonable and mutually respectful way, the latter being something I believe is important to all of us as human beings. Ironically, with all of the technology designed to help us operate and interact more efficiently and more effectively, our ability to really communicate on a personal and professional level has become the ultimate casualty.

Even attempts to convey valuable information, a great opportunity or other types of beneficial communications routinely go unanswered for days, weeks or longer if ever acknowledged at all. The universal excuse is that people are just too busy.

And trying to communicate via email is worse yet. Most people (and/or their companies) have some type of spam filter that weeds out not only the unrelenting firestorm of email trash from Web-based drugstores, companies hawking pirated software and international financial scammers, but also snags any attachments and rejects anything that even looks like it might not be requested material.

Why? Because we’re all buried in so much junk mail that we can barely function! Yet problematic as it is, in my humble opinion, the greater evil is that even legitimate correspondence has been subordinated to ‘junk’ status. In our zeal to achieve efficiency, we have managed to throw the baby out with the bathwater, as my mother used to say.

One of the latest innovations in communications is IM (instant messaging). Short of an intravenous device, sending someone an IM, which may appear on any of a variety of mobile electronic devices, is the most recent weapon in the battle for human interaction. The trouble with IM is that messages tend to be cryptic, highly abbreviated and often unintelligible. After undergoing several levels of conversion, translation and other mangling before being displayed on a 2-inch screen, messages are often ‘read’ while the recipient is driving down the freeway at 70MPH. Sadly, this is what passes for effective, efficient communications these days.

I could carry on endlessly about how people react when someone won’t take the time to respond to a call or email, or how it’s almost impossible to have a meaningful conversation with anyone that lasts more than a minute or two, but I won’t. Just consider this a simple request on behalf of everyone who wants to communicate: Make an effort to recognize the difference between efficiency and neglect by not treating all communications equally, whether voicemail, email or any other medium.

Hey, we’re all busy, all of our time is valuable and we all have a full plate. But the next time you feel overwhelmed by phone calls and email, try to remember that when it comes to communications there’s a difference between steak and spam – a distinction worth noting.
- Mike

Behind the Byline
Mike Marullo has been active in the automation, controls and instrumentation field for more than 35 years and is a widely published author of numerous technical articles, industry directories and market research reports. An independent consultant since 1984, he is co-founder and Director of Research & Consulting for InfoNetrix LLC, a New Orleans-based market intelligence firm focused on Utility Automation and IT markets. Inquiries or comments about this column may be directed to Mike at MAM@InfoNetrix.com.

©2007 Jaguar Media, Inc. & Michael A. Marullo. All rights reserved.