fastlane
Conversation – the lost art
AS I WAS CONSIDERING SUBJECTS FOR THIS MONTH’S
column, I received an e-mail promoting a seminar on the use of
blogs, social networking sites, gated communities, and
microsites in consulting. Once again, I was moved to ask myself,
“Doesn’t anyone talk anymore?”
I wrote about this subject some 10 years ago, back before the
emergence of all the social media we have at our fingertips
today. Certainly, sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter
have opened new channels of communication for us. We can e-
mail, text, twitter, tweet, cheep, and peep. But what’s happened
to the art of conversation – the ability to socially interact with
live people?
We have lost our professional courtesy. We don’t answer our
telephones. We let calls go to voice mail, then
decide who we’ll talk to and who we’ll ignore.
Not too many years ago, one of the major
reasons for joining organizations like the
Council of Supply Chain Management
Professionals and the Warehousing
Education and Research Council was to meet
people you could then call or get together
with to discuss mutual problems. That doesn’t seem to be so much the case anymore.
Several weeks ago, I made 63 telephone
calls on behalf of a client. After the first five
or six, I realized this was going to be ugly, so
I started keeping score. The communication barrier started at
the front door of most of the firms I called. Telephones were
answered by automated systems that referred me to company
directories, which didn’t work in several cases. When I finally
worked my way through those, I reached voice mail in 48 out of
the 63 cases. Most of the people who knew me called back. Most
of those who didn’t, did not. I can go to Facebook and find out
what someone had for dinner last night but can’t reach them on
the telephone.
What has brought about this change in attitude? Certainly,
the economy has had an impact on behavior, as have recession-induced downsizing and the emergence of new technologies.
What is disturbing, however, is not all of the managers who
behave this way are casualties of tough economic times. They
simply don’t want to take the time to talk or choose to use other
messaging options.
I couldn’t help but recall a conversation I had last month with
someone I will call Bob. Bob, apparently having rediscovered his
telephone, called and said, “It’s been awhile,
and I just wanted to touch base.” Now, I
haven’t heard from Bob in eight or nine years.
Obviously, he is out of work and engaged in a
crash program to establish a network.
He might as well forget it. It won’t work.
Building relationships is a long-term, never-ending project and cannot be accomplished
overnight. Nor can it be accomplished, in my
opinion, without personal contact. As a
provider of services for part of my career, I
There’s an old story about
a group of boys who were
trying to walk a railroad
track but could navigate
only a few feet before losing
their balance. Finally, two of the boys bet the
others they could walk the rail without falling
off. Challenged to make good on their boast,
they each stepped up on a rail, extended a hand
to the other and walked the entire length of the
track without difficulty. Over the long run, we
will accomplish more by helping each other.
Am I against social media? Absolutely not. It
is great for certain things, but let’s not lose
sight of why God gave us the gift of speech and
hearing. ;
Clifford F. Lynch is principal of C.F. Lynch & Associates, a
provider of logistics management advisory services, and author of
Logistics Outsourcing – A Management Guide and co-author of The
Role of Transportation in the Supply Chain. He can be reached at
cliff@cflynch.com.
