“But, I sent you the mail in the morning” howled my colleague on the cell phone.
“I am sure you did, but I haven’t had a chance to look at it. I have been busy preparing for tomorrow’s client meeting.”
“But, this is urgent. How can you not check your mails for 3 hours?” he continued. I could visualize the expression of agony on his face as he spoke.
“I generally don’t check emails when I am busy with something. It tends to distract me. Besides, if it is so important you can always call. That’s what mobiles are meant for.” The grunt at the other end of the line gave me a feeling that my ideas are not being received well.
This is a conversation that I have with a colleague almost every week. I believe a number of readers may not appreciate the opinion I have on this subject. So let me take an opportunity to explain my point of view in greater detail.
Two developments in the world of communication have changed the way we work and live our lives in the last 15 years – Emails and mobile phones. Both the means allow us to reach others at a pace which was the stuff of science fiction just 30 years back. Yet, there is a key difference between the two. One is an Asynchronous means of communication while the other is a synchronous mode. So when you send out an email there is no way to make sure that your intended recipient of the email has actually received the email and is working on the same unless the recipient chooses to inform you. In fact you can never be sure as to when he will actually look at the email. And this could be due to a variety of reasons. He could be ill and not at work, he may be travelling or he may be simply too busy to check emails. There is usually more to work than just responding to emails. A lot of us seem to have forgotten this simple fact. There are cases where you want an immediate response and fret over the fact that the recipient has not done so. Well, guess what? The recipient is on a flight across the Atlantic and will not be able to check mails for five hours and you are not even aware.
There is no doubt that emails have changed the way in which we communicate for business or personal reasons. However, they have also resulted in increased stress faced by executives who make the mistake of treating it as a synchronous mode of communication. A mobile phone is a better tool to use when you want to get in touch with people instantaneously.
It’s interesting to look back and see how life was without a mobile phone till a few years back. One could get in touch with people only when they were either in office or at home. I remember I would fix up a meeting with my girlfriend on weekends and then reach the destination at the appointed time and wait there for her. There are times she would be late by almost an hour. I had no choice but to wait.
Now, I tend to get irritated if my wife is a few minutes late and does not pick up her mobile when I am calling to check. Most people consider it reasonable to expect people to pick up their mobile phones at any time of the day when. I have seen people flood their acquaintances with continuous calls if there is no response. It’s become difficult to imagine staying away from the phone even for few minutes. In a recent meeting at our office most team members were wary of switching off their mobile phones for a workshop lasting a couple of hours.
I am not trying to run down the benefits of that these devices have obviously brought in our lives. The attempt is to present different view of the impact they have on us. I have seen people get highly stressed up when they do not receive an immediate response to their email or in a situation when their colleague does not pick up the mobile. One tends to build up a whole lot of anger within oneself and form opinions on the other person’s reasons for not responding. I have even seen bosses getting offended when subordinates do not pick up their phones. I am sure that is the kind of stress we all have been through at some point in our life while using these devices.
Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind while using emails or mobiles based on my experience
Allow the receiver of the email sufficient time to respond. This depends on his/her work schedule. If it’s very urgent call up and ask for a quick response.
Try to explain things in sufficient details for the receiver to respond effectively. It reduces too much of email exchange on the same subject
Do not send too many emails to the same person. Try and consolidate everything that you need in a single email.
If out of office for a long time try and configure an auto responder to your email for people trying to get in touch with you
Everyone has a right to not pick up the mobile when in a meeting or in middle of something important.
If its very urgent leave a voice mail or send a SMS
Configure a voice mail on your mobile number so that people trying to reach you have some way to let you know how desperate they are.
Pick up that phone if someone is calling repeatedly at any time in the day. It must be important.
Let me conclude the post with the mention of the only person I know who works in an administrative position in a company but does not bother to keep a mobile phone. He says “I have an office job. I don’t need to travel much. So I can be reached either at home or at office phone numbers. The only time I am not reachable is when I am driving to home or work. I don’t need a mobile.”
Well, he is one of the happiest and stress free persons I know and he is doing fairly well in life.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
The Great Will of China
The Olympics are over and China has not only emerged as the new sporting superpower but has also managed to organize arguably the most impressive Olympics show in recent times. A few years back the Chinese had declared that they will win the largest number of gold medals in the Beijing Olympics. China has won the largest number of gold medals by any country in any Olympics in the post soviet Olympic era.
A nation that was labeled a third world country a couple of decades back has emerged as one of the key players in the global economy and politics and now has also demonstrated a similar capability in the sporting arena. The world has been speaking of India and China as the emerging super powers of this century and with this Olympics China has truly arrived at the world stage.
So where does that leave India? I am afraid the answer to that question will not please most Indians. India has a lot of catching up to do if it wants to be spoken about in the same breath as China in the international arena again.
The first time this thought struck me was when I arrived in Beijing and Shanghai 2 years ago on a business trip. The impression I had in my mind of China was formed based on media reports of its rapid economic growth and modernization and I was quite prepared to see a reasonably modern nation and not the kind which you see in the typical Chinese Kung Fu movies. Yet, I was taken aback on seeing the level of development in the two cities. There has been talk of making Mumbai the next Shanghai, well its going to take a few years for Mumbai to even come anywhere close. Shanghai is in the league of global cities like New York with its beautiful high rises and cosmopolitan culture. As a foreigner I felt as comfortable in Shanghai as I would feel in any city in my country.
I visited China for a couple of years on a regular basis and what impressed me the most was there single minded determination to succeed. This determination is seen in an average citizen of the country. He wants to succeed in whatever he does for a living. I always felt that this will to succeed in spite of odds is perhaps the key reason why China has gone so far ahead of India.
I also discovered that the origin of this quality has some interesting factors behind it. In the middle of the last century, China came under communist rule and all aspects of religion were abolished from the life of its citizens. The nation was the only religion and the party leaders were the priests. Everything was decided by the party including where you lived and what you did for a living. All decisions were taken for the common good of the country, or so the citizens thought. But as it happened in other communist countries, the people started becoming disillusioned with the party and its leaders. The leaders were after all mortals and fought for power and the riches that being in a powerful position brings and corruption became a way of life. By the mid eighties the common public had realized that all that the party was preaching about socialism was a farce and the leaders themselves were after money. So why should the common man stay behind? Gradually earning money and living a good life became the key mantras for most Chinese citizens.
At the same time the party decided to start opening up the economy to the world and more money poured into China. This drove further growth and there were huge opportunities for the average Chinese people. And there was no religion, and no value systems apart from the communist value system which the people did not believe in anymore. In most societies, religion plays the role of building the value system of its inhabitants. Forty years of communist rule had destroyed the religious systems in China that had been there for centuries and the current generation had no exposure to the same and the ancient value systems.
Success had become the new religion the success was measured in terms of money and career growth as well as a good lifestyle. These were the values passed on to the children by their parents who were completely disillusioned with the communist system and wanted their kids to have the good life that they could not.
The strong Chinese will comes across in everyday life when you deal with them. Chinese will typically negotiate hard in any business deal especially when working with another partner from a different country and usually end up with a deal on their terms. This is also demonstrated in all their negotiations in the international trade and political arena.
I would like to close this post with a key thought that I often have about the Chinese. At this point in time the nation is riving full steam towards development and most Chinese want to focus on being economically successful. In the next few decades the Chinese will achieve this dream. What will they strive for then? With no value systems that most societies have will they decline and degenerate or try and rediscover religion?
A nation that was labeled a third world country a couple of decades back has emerged as one of the key players in the global economy and politics and now has also demonstrated a similar capability in the sporting arena. The world has been speaking of India and China as the emerging super powers of this century and with this Olympics China has truly arrived at the world stage.
So where does that leave India? I am afraid the answer to that question will not please most Indians. India has a lot of catching up to do if it wants to be spoken about in the same breath as China in the international arena again.
The first time this thought struck me was when I arrived in Beijing and Shanghai 2 years ago on a business trip. The impression I had in my mind of China was formed based on media reports of its rapid economic growth and modernization and I was quite prepared to see a reasonably modern nation and not the kind which you see in the typical Chinese Kung Fu movies. Yet, I was taken aback on seeing the level of development in the two cities. There has been talk of making Mumbai the next Shanghai, well its going to take a few years for Mumbai to even come anywhere close. Shanghai is in the league of global cities like New York with its beautiful high rises and cosmopolitan culture. As a foreigner I felt as comfortable in Shanghai as I would feel in any city in my country.
I visited China for a couple of years on a regular basis and what impressed me the most was there single minded determination to succeed. This determination is seen in an average citizen of the country. He wants to succeed in whatever he does for a living. I always felt that this will to succeed in spite of odds is perhaps the key reason why China has gone so far ahead of India.
I also discovered that the origin of this quality has some interesting factors behind it. In the middle of the last century, China came under communist rule and all aspects of religion were abolished from the life of its citizens. The nation was the only religion and the party leaders were the priests. Everything was decided by the party including where you lived and what you did for a living. All decisions were taken for the common good of the country, or so the citizens thought. But as it happened in other communist countries, the people started becoming disillusioned with the party and its leaders. The leaders were after all mortals and fought for power and the riches that being in a powerful position brings and corruption became a way of life. By the mid eighties the common public had realized that all that the party was preaching about socialism was a farce and the leaders themselves were after money. So why should the common man stay behind? Gradually earning money and living a good life became the key mantras for most Chinese citizens.
At the same time the party decided to start opening up the economy to the world and more money poured into China. This drove further growth and there were huge opportunities for the average Chinese people. And there was no religion, and no value systems apart from the communist value system which the people did not believe in anymore. In most societies, religion plays the role of building the value system of its inhabitants. Forty years of communist rule had destroyed the religious systems in China that had been there for centuries and the current generation had no exposure to the same and the ancient value systems.
Success had become the new religion the success was measured in terms of money and career growth as well as a good lifestyle. These were the values passed on to the children by their parents who were completely disillusioned with the communist system and wanted their kids to have the good life that they could not.
The strong Chinese will comes across in everyday life when you deal with them. Chinese will typically negotiate hard in any business deal especially when working with another partner from a different country and usually end up with a deal on their terms. This is also demonstrated in all their negotiations in the international trade and political arena.
I would like to close this post with a key thought that I often have about the Chinese. At this point in time the nation is riving full steam towards development and most Chinese want to focus on being economically successful. In the next few decades the Chinese will achieve this dream. What will they strive for then? With no value systems that most societies have will they decline and degenerate or try and rediscover religion?
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