Tiff’s In A Tiff With Constant E-Mailers
February 28, 2010 by Ian Hutchinson
A chat with Tiffany Gordon is always an enjoyable experience considering the gregarious nature of the Alberta PGA president and noted GNN blogger, but she’s particularly fun to watch when she’s on a roll about a pet peeve.
Such was the case last week when she got going on the joys of modern communications. It seems Tiff is in a tiff with those who are chronic e-mailers and text messagers. You can read her blog today by clicking here.
Don’t get her wrong. She understands that such instant communication tools have made life far easier than when she entered the business, but her point is that there’s still something to be said for good old face-to-face communication, or even a phone call.
So, the question isn’t whether texting and e-mails are necessary. It’s more a question of are we using such tools too much?
It’s a topic that Ping president and chief executive officer John Solheim brought up about a month ago when I sat down with him at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando. While he says he understands the necessity of e-mails, it’s not the same as face-to-face contact with someone like his son, vice president of engineering John K. Solheim.
“Some of the modern technology hurts us,” said Solheim. “Me and my dad, it was always us talking. E-mails tend to send the wrong messages and not get the feeling of the face-to-face. John and I are working on much more face-to-face contact, rather than e-mails.
“Right now, we’re spread out all over the place (at company headquarters) and we don’t have that bumping into each other in the hall discussions going on and I want to see that happen because I think it will add so much to the company.
“John’s office and my office are a long way apart and we need to be where we’re bumping into each other,” he added.
You can read that entire blog here.
I agree with both Gordon and Solheim and, believe me, e-mails and computers have made life so much easier in media than when I first started in this racket almost 32 years ago.
I do wonder, however, if such tools are overused these days. For example, I’ve received e-mails in which I thought the person at the other end was ticked off.
More times than not, it turned out that everything was fine, so there’s something to be said for the tone of the conversation, rather than just the words, which is what you get in an e-mail.
I’ve also had people I wanted to interview shoot me an e-mail and ask that I just send them the questions and they will answer them. The trouble with that is that, quite often, another question spins out of something that was said, but you lose the give and take of a conversation when it’s done through e-mail.
I suppose I could go on, but now, it’s you’re turn to voice your opinion in this week’s GNN Poll:
Do we rely too much on e-mails/text messages for communication in the golf industry?
Drop by the GNN Poll to cast your vote and, as many readers are doing these days, feel free to expand your thoughts in the comments section below this blog or inside the GNN Forum.
Ian Hutchinson is a veteran Canadian golf writer, whose history in the game includes an extensive background with Canadian golf trade publications. A golf columnist with Sun Media, Hutch is also a regular contributor to publications and websites in Canada and the United States.
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Email is way overused. I have been in offices where you have six people sitting within 15 feet of each other and rather than calling a quick meeting to discuss something, a flurry of emails goes back and forth. If you don’t check your emails for a couple of hours you can have 12-15 emails that you have to read before making your own response, which has to address perhaps a dozen different concerns. It’s an absolute waste of time because what could have been solved in a quick five minute discussion becomes a laborious task of several hours
Well written Ian. Email like blogging is a tool to interact and engage in a conversation. The intent of both is to lead to a phone call or face to face interaction.
Which I believe just happened.
I am a teaching and playing professional and find email and text messages are very handy to my business. In the days of high mobile phone bills, and with my plan, text messages are free to use in Canada, I find it easier to text and save rather than call and pay. I use email and online bookings through my website, which I find much of my clients using rather than the phone. I have one client who doesn’t have an email account. I believe face to face is important, but I also know strategic use of the email systems can promote voice and face to face conversations which lead to sales.