Modern World Communications – The Traditional Methods

Over the last decade the workplace has changed untold amounts. These changes are predominantly owed to our reliance on technology reaching new heights – this, combined with the ways we work not just benefiting from tech but relying on it completely, has placed technology at the very top of the list of business owners’ concerns in the modern workplace. We all know that technology evolves at a truly astounding pace, and its capabilities seem to know no bounds, but it doesn’t matter how capable a piece of tech is if you don’t use it to its full potential.

The workplace is flexible and easily changeable, but there is one element that must stay and be achieved to top standards at all times – that is communication. Communication is the lynchpin of every organisation in the world, and not just in regard to clients but, even more integrally, amongst our own teams. We all know a digital transformation is the way forward, but the difficulty is realising what is out there that will help you to solve the challenges you are having.

The technological advancements that we have all enjoyed over recent times have changed the way we communicate forever, but let’s not forget some of the traditional ways of communicating in the workplace.

Communication – The Traditional Methods

Email

Emails have played a central role in keeping us connected to each other and our client base since way back in the early 70’s. As you know, technology rarely has a life this long, but in regard to email its abilities were revolutionary. But, has this tool had its time in the limelight? Is it time to move aside for modern alternatives? Business owners are asking, “Is email good enough for the modern workplace?”

Spam – the biggest problem that comes from email. Spam filters are getting better, but, regardless, in most organisations these annoying communications make up the majority of the email traffic they are receiving on a daily basis. Traffic like this has literally no value to your business. Sorting through emails to find the ones that hold some sort of value takes far too long in the modern workplace – there isn’t time to think some days, let alone to scroll through an endless array of adverts and promotions.

Email itself is very time consuming, when conveying messages and holding a conversation can take hours. Hours that could be spent doing something more productive.

The Telephone

The telephone is just as important now as it always has been. Yes, the modern world offers many wonderful alternatives, but the phone still stands as the best form of communication for a personable conversation – well, closely behind a face-to-face meeting anyway. We all know the power our tone of voice, the language we use, and the mannerisms we choose to adopt have on the outcome of our conversations – especially when talking business. The phone, unlike email, allows you to adapt to the way the conversation is going – which is integral in business. As we said, there are many wonderful alternatives (like Microsoft Teams or Zoom, for example), but for an impromptu conversation that needs to be personable, the phone is the best choice by quite some way.

We aren’t saying to get rid of your traditional methods of communication, we are simply saying to update your current methods, and adopt an updated phone system capable of working in the modern age.

As we all know, now more than ever before – modern clients are fickle. In this world of instantaneous connectivity and contact they will simply move on if their demands aren’t met. If they can’t get in contact with you they will simply take their business elsewhere. The telephone is the main form of communication that keeps you in contact with the vital entities that enable your organisation to thrive. Be contactable at all times! We cannot stress this point enough – remember, modern customers don’t care about your reasoning for being unavailable and will simply take their business somewhere else.

Meetings

Meetings are no longer what they once were, when we used to all meet and sit around a cramped desk in a stuffy room. This way of conducting meetings was never productive, but we had no choice. This may be why meetings haven’t traditionally happened as often as they should have. Finding a date and time that suits your whole team can be impossible, but, luckily, in recent times, the right technology has allowed businesses to avoid wasting all of the time and effort that was previously involved.

In the next article we will explore modern communicative methods and see how these up-to-date solutions can revolutionise your workplace and, in the process, take you into the future with technology as a powerful ally.