What is the dominant method of communication in your organization?

Our reader poll today asks: What is the dominant method of communication in your organization?

• Meetings: 14%
• Phone calls: 3%
• Texts: 2%
• Emails: 76%
• Presentations: 0%
• Memos: 0%
• Videos: 0%
• Smoke signals: 5%

Email reigns supreme… but is it effective? Email is clearly the dominant mode of communication. Are you being as effective with yours as you can be? Do you have a clear subject line that lets readers know immediately what they’re going to read? Are you deliberate about who you’re sending it to and who you’re cc’ing or do you cc everyone? Are your messages simple, clear, and well-structured or do you turn the message into a stream-of-consciousness data dump? Do people respond to your emails? A little extra time upfront in crafting a well-structured and clearly targeted email reduces inbox clutter for others and gets people to respond because they know what you’re asking for. If you end up in a ping pong match of emails, pick up the phone or go see the person after the third volley. It’ll resolve things more quickly.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.