Resolve to use e-mail and cell phones responsibly

By Andrea Kay

OK, you ambitious high achievers. It's time to look at how you can be even better in 2005. Nothing grand. Just some simple self-improvement to make you — and everyone you interact with — happier by resolving to be a more thoughtful user of the most abused and least understood business communication tool: technology.

Let's start with e-mail:

1. I resolve to use e-mail only to inform, schedule or send factual information. I will not use it to lecture people, issue orders, negotiate, nitpick, criticize or share sensitive personal information.

2. I resolve to not check or send e-mail while on the phone with someone or when a person is trying to talk to me in my office. Instead, I will stop and focus on the person.

3. I resolve not to send e-mail when I'm upset or angry.

4. I resolve to write in an e-mail only what I would actually say face-to-face to that person.

5. I resolve to use my work e-mail only for business.

6. I resolve to read over my e-mail before I hit the send button to make sure that what I wrote makes sense and that I don't waste the receiver's time in having to write me back to ask me what I am talking about.

7. I resolve to write messages that are businesslike, clear, spelled correctly and use a relevant subject in the subject line.

8. I resolve to talk to people I need to confront instead of hiding behind an e-mail.

Now on to cell phones:

1. I resolve not to hold cell-phone conversation within 10 feet of other people.

2. I resolve not to discuss sensitive subjects or company-related information that is no one else's business in a public forum.

3. I resolve to turn off my phone when going into meetings, theaters, museums, funerals and houses of worship.

4. I resolve to use a headset while driving and using my cell phone, so that I can pay closer attention to the road and cars around me.

5. I resolve not to shout into my cell phone.

6. I resolve not to use my cell phone for conversations that really need to take place face-to-face.

Half of you who resolve to do these things, as with any resolutions made in the next week, will fail within six months, experts say.

But it is possible to become a more thoughtful and effective business person if you're committed. You can't just say you're going to do these things. You have to be ready to do them. Also, you have to:

I Believe there is a benefit to doing things differently. For instance, you may have saved time by e-mailing someone feedback on how they handled a situation. But you also risk a lot — their feelings and misunderstandings, to name a few. The benefit to talking is that you have a give-and-take conversation, helping to keep the relationship intact and leaving the person motivated to do better work.

• Understand that you will probably have to work at changing your behavior. You may not get it right every time.

• Believe you can change.

• Track your progress. Ask someone to give you feedback on how you're doing.

Seem like a lot of work? Not if you really want to improve. As author Richard Bach said, "I find that the more I want to do something, the less it becomes work."

Reach career consultant Andrea Kay at andrea@andreakay.com.