Time Management And The Telephone

One of the few unexpected drawbacks of modern technology is that we have more and more ways to communicate, never more so than the telephone. There used to be days where once you left the office, it was unheard of to contact someone at home - the only way to do that was to knock on an employee's door: an impossible thought in today's world, unless you're absent without leave.

The telephone has become a time management blessing and curse. Use it properly, and you'll save yourself time. Use it unwisely, and you'll find that it can eat into your day like no other piece of equipment you own. We're not just talking about the landline phone on your desk - the cell phone or smart phone is even more of a bane on your time management life. Here are a few times when the phone is a bad thing:

Answering when you shouldn't

If you're in a meeting, then turn your phone off. No matter what your seniority, nothing disastrous is going to happen if someone can't reach you for an hour. Unless, of course, you are involved with business continuity - but in this case you should ask for a separate, emergency phone so that you can differentiate on whether it's an emergency call before you pick it up, not after.

If you're not available to take a call, make sure that potential callers know this. You may have told your colleagues around you, but would a caller know? Sometimes thirty seconds spent recording a message saying you can't answer for a couple of hours can save you many minutes in answering unwanted calls.

Making calls when an email will do

A good point was once made by a manager who always asked for prospective employees to write and not call him. Why? Reading through a CV takes five minutes and could be done in his own time. Answering the phone and chatting politely takes at least double that time, and it's unscheduled and therefore disruptive. Some things are better clarified in writing. If you find yourself saying "put the details in an email" over the phone, then skip the phone phase all together - it's only wasting your time.

Not using voicemail

Voicemail isn't just a tool to use when you are genuinely unable to answer - it can be used, as in the above example, for when you can't answer and want people to know - this way, they don't keep attempting to call back to catch you, either. Simply leaving a recorded message saying you can't answer now but will get back to anyone who leaves a message also gives you the advantage of you being able to plan your time to answer those calls.

Using your business phone outside work

Although it's great that we can reach people when they are "on the go" in business, sometimes this can be a drawback. If you find yourself stopping the car on your way home from work to take a work call - this is damaging to your time management and putting you behind schedule, especially if this happens on the way to work, too. The same goes for lunch breaks and so on - claim the time as your own and don't let work encroach on it, or you'll be playing catch up for the rest of the day.

Overall, the phone is a business necessity - don't forget the ways it can save time (remember having to send letters instead of instant emails? Well, it's like that with texts and memos). However if you apprise yourself of the flip side of telephones, then you can recognise the time management traps to avoid when it comes to this particular piece of technology.