A bit like a high performing sporting team, sometimes we get caught up in highly complex activities or even an extraordinary workload.  Sometimes you just have to make sure you are doing the basics right to be successful.  For example:  

We work in an environment whereby we are all pretty remote from each other most of the time.   It creates a massive reliance on getting the communication right.  Whether that be email, TXT, IM , phone or anything else – we must treat each other as a very high priority and ensure that we are using the right medium for the right purpose.  In our environment we all have the right tools in order to stay connected – in fact we have an equally important issue about when we can turn it off.  In general during business hours:

·         We do not encourage people to be online without starting Office Communicator.

·         We expect phone calls to be return on the same day the message is left. 

·         We expect that an email will be returned ASAP – and if it’s likely that it will be a couple of days before a clear reply can be sent then it is expected that a quick return email stating the date they will have a reply is a polite thing to do.

·         It’s not silly to follow up an email with a phone call.

·         If you are ‘off the air’ for an extended amount of time – announce it, leave an out of office reply, change your presence awareness etc.

The other area I think that we need to ensure that we have right centres around relationships.  As a management team we are constantly busy – what we find is that we can run out of time to ensure that we are finding time to:

·         Reach out proactively to our customers

·         Meet with our staff face to face

·         Attend and support community/industry related events

Seems so obvious that I’m sitting here wondering why I’d bother to blog about it.  I reckon, like a highly tuned sports person – sometime we forget to ‘watch the ball’.