Episode 95 - Just Pick Up The Phone

<h2 data-pm-slice="0 0 []"><strong>Summary</strong></h2> <p class="">Picture this scenario. You need to make contact with someone that you haven’t spoken to in quite a while. Do you call or just send them a text or email instead? It turns out that our chosen communication method is often driven more by fear than effectiveness.</p> <p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true"> </p> <h2><strong>Transcript</strong></h2> <p class="">Hello and welcome to episode 95 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we tackle one of today’s biggest leadership challenges. Picture this scenario. You need to make contact with someone that you haven’t spoken to in quite a while. Do you call or just send them a text or email instead? It turns out that our chosen communication method is often driven more by fear than effectiveness.</p> <p class="">To explore this, researchers asked 200 people what they thought it would be like to reconnect with an old friend via email and phone. </p> <p class="">Even though people thought a phone call would lead to great connection, they feared a call would be more awkward. People were far more inclined to use email than pick up the phone. In that moment they performed a quick cost-benefit equation. Is the better connection worth the awkwardness? Apparently not.</p> <p class="">They then divided the group randomly into an email group and a phone call group and had them actually contact that old friend using that method.</p> <p class="">So was the preferred choice of email the right one? Those who were forced to use the phone found their calls actually went far better than they predicted. The phone call led to an even deeper connection, and was far less awkward than anticipated. So using the phone is the better option.</p> <p class="">“But wait a second” I hear you say - “Doesn’t a phone call take longer?” That’s a fair question to ask. If a phone call takes longer than an email, then maybe the email is better after all.</p> <p class="">Indeed, researchers found that participants also thought an e