Happy & Healthy

THIS IS THE NEW COMMUNICATION RULES

Calling is the new face to face, texting can also be business

Some time ago I had to tell someone that I would be using their services a bit less. I did this by calling that person. I announced the call via WhatsApp to let them know it wasn't a casual chat and to give them the opportunity to choose a moment when we could talk calmly.

Still, that person held it against me that I hadn't arranged to meet face to face. To be fair, it wasn't about someone who had been employed for ten years, but about a modification of a freelance agreement. Anyway. Never too shy to hold a mirror up to myself, I wondered if I should have arranged to meet.

“Of course not,” said a good friend. “You don't have time for that, do you?” “Moreover,” she continued, “you did call her, right? Calling is the new face to face meeting and texting: something we used to only use for private chit-chat, we now just as easily use for business.”

“It's about taking the time and properly substantiating why you came to a decision”

That same friend just had a crazy construction project behind her and once arranged to meet with the contractor to then do everything via the app. It worked perfectly.

Her conclusion: let's not attack each other too much on the form and the communication medium. It's about taking the time and properly substantiating why you came to a decision. Email would have been easy and cowardly, but now you are in conversation at the same moment and you don't take the easy way out.

Aside from the fact that it saves both of you at least three hours. Hours that you both can spend on much more enjoyable things. Having lunch together when everyone is a bit calm and then making plans for things that make you both happy, for example...