As our world opens up with technology, it gives us more options for communicating with everyone. In a business setting, within your team that means you must take care to choose the most appropriate communication technique for each person you must communicate with. You can email, text, send a voice mail or talk with face to face; it is imperative however that you choose the most effective way. (Stolovitch. N.d.)
I felt that the communication delivered by way of email was the most effective way to pass this information along. It was clear concise and effectively brought across the importance of getting the information forwarded. There was no need to check for tone or make sure you were showing the correct body language, because this was not a situation where it was warranted.
The voice mail was also an effective means of communicating the need to forward the information in a timely manner, but I would suggest that the tone be more urgent to express the timely manner of the request. The other thing I would take into consideration is the fact that there is not paper trail to record the interaction. If this person has missed a deadline perhaps they are not the most responsible or reliable team mate. I would not only leave the voice mail, but tell them you are sending them an email as a further reminder of the request.
Even though face to face interaction is often the preferred form of communication, I didn’t feel in this particular case it was very effective. There was no expression of immediacy in the body language, facial expression, or tone of the speaker. I did not interpret this to be anything more than one coworker gabbing with another. I didn’t feel this was appropriate given the situation which was fairly serious.
References
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Stolovitch, H. (n.d.). Communicating with stakeholders. [video]. Lecture presented for Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved March 19, 2013 from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2652514_1%26url%3D
