This week’s Leadership Challenge asks to not answer the phone while talking face to face with someone else.
I think it is important to be „non-dogmatic“ with every rule.
What is important to me is to show respect to people, no matter if they are in front of you or trying to call you. I believe, answering the phone during a f2f conversation can be ok, but key is how you moderate it.
E.g.
– „my dear friend in front of me, please excuse me for a second, I just have to arrange a time with the caller, to clarify an important issue“.
Or:
– „My dear friend in front of me – this call is of extreme importance for me and won’t be easy to reschedule – can I come back to you at a later time, because I need to talk on the phone now.“
Of course there are other occasions, where just
putting the phone silent or
rejecting the call with a template message like
– „I’ll call back“ or
– „please try later“
are ok and the best choice.
I believe by showing respect and reasoning once decision, any personal relationship will not suffer. In contrast I see an opportunity for it to even grow trust from the transparent reasoning offered.
Background and Links
– Leadership Challenge #LDSC19 is an initiative of employees of Siemens EM TS to support development of awesome leadership.
– Follow the Twitter Account @LDSC19 to receive weekly challenges for your leadership
– use #LDSC19 on Twitter or LinkedIn, or your favourite Plattform to exchange on your experience with the challenges.
– Join the Group LDSC19 on LinkedIn