Take the Time to Say It Right
The folly of gotta-go communication
Gotta-go communication strikes again
“By the way,” Amy said to Bryce as she dashed out the door, “I need you to stop using my name as a reference. Gotta go. Talk to you when I get back next month.” Bryce felt baffled and eclipsed as he watched Amy race away.
Eric’s email from his boss had a subject-line-only message that read: Edit this report for me before the meeting tomorrow. Eric opened the attachment hoping it would contain some indication of what his boss meant by “editing.” It didn’t. Eric had a thousand questions about the task, but his boss’ phone went to voicemail, his email returned an out of office message and his boss was nowhere around. Eric was left to guess what kind of editing his boss wanted.
Leslie went out of her way to help Chandra when Chandra was new to the company. It made Leslie feel good to share what she knew and to provide Chandra with an advantage she herself did not have. Her enthusiasm dimmed as the months went by. Chandra did not reciprocate Leslie’s generosity or take the time to acknowledge it. Chandra had plenty of time for Leslie when she (Chandra) needed help, but had one foot out the door when she didn’t.
Gotta-go communication: dump and run, drive-by delegation and reckless relating
When someone explains their side of an issue in the same breath as they make it clear they don’t have time to listen to a response, I call it dump and run. When a manager assigns a task with minimal explanation and can’t find the time to clarify, I call it drive-by delegation. When a colleague neglects to reciprocate, I call it reckless relating.
Have you ever been a victim of these gotta-go communication tactics?
Have you ever been guilty of practicing these gotta-go communication tactics?
Who’s got the time?
Who can blame you for gotta-go communicating? You have to dump and run because you’re busy, and they need to hear your opinion so they don’t intrude on you again. You do drive-by delegation because if you had to spend hours explaining what you want, you might as well do it yourself. And as far as your reckless relating goes, it’s all you can do to keep your head above water – how could you possibly find the time to nourish a professional relationship when your life demands squeeze every ounce of life out of you?
Gotta-go communication is understandable in our busy worlds, but that doesn’t make it effective. Responsible communication takes time, but so does anything worthwhile.
A BFO (blinding flash of the obvious)
I remember well the words of a neighbor speaking to his son about yard work. He said, “Take the time to do it right.” Somehow it was like I was hearing great wisdom of life for the first time. When you take the time to do things right, it saves clean-up work later. In the case of communication, when you do things right the first time, it also saves relationships.
Any communication worth having is worth having well. Take the time to say it right. Don’t practice drive-by relating.
Reprint/Reuse Policy:
You have permission to use any of these articles in your newsletter, publications, or on your web site. Please:
1. Let us know when and how you are using the article via email:
2. If it is a web posting, please link back to this article
3. Place Meryl’s tag line at the end of the article with all her contact information. If on-line, please make certain that her web address links to her site. Thanks!
Tag line
Meryl Runion and Speak Strong (SpeakStrong) provides Power Phrases (PowerPhrases) and other tools to help you improve communication skills at work and at home.
She is the author of the books PowerPhrases!, How to Use PowerPhrases, Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors and How to Say It: Performance Reviews. She can be reached at 719-684-2633 or by email:
