Keeping Up With the Times
Email isn't new...
I come from a generation that didn’t grow up with computers in the household. I was around 15 years old when the first computer entered our home. An inheritance from my grandfather’s estate, it was an Apple IIC and ran off those big, old floppy discs that you inserted one after another until the operating system and program you wanted to use were all “installed” and you could then use the computer. It took a long time to figure out how to make it work and then more time to figure out how to actually use it.
After that, it became my job to teach everyone else in the house how to use it. My older siblings and I used it to type and print school papers. That was about it because it was too complicated and took too much time to do anything at all with it. The return on investment was poor for anything other than what was required.
Fast forward to now and we all have a computer in our pocket. The evolution from a desktop and monitor that could only function if you kept feeding it plastic instruction discs to laptops to smartphones connecting to an internet that floats through the air is quite frankly, astonishing.
When I was in massage school everyone had a cellphone. They were generally for emergency use only. Text messaging was new-ish, flip phones were everywhere, and the newest, hottest phone was something the size and shape of an extra-large candy bar. None of them could access the internet and forget about taking pictures or video.
But Apple, Blackberry, and Motorola were working hard to revolutionize the pocket-sized computer. iPhones and Androids are now ubiquitous. Every adult I know has one on their person, usually 24 hours a day. Which is why it’s baffling to me why so many people resist utilizing even the most basic of functions they offer.
In my estimation smartphones are now less of a phone and more a communication device. That means, most people are using them for more than just chatting on the phone. We’re actually using them for talking, texting, email, in-app messaging, website support chats, and video conferencing just to name a few.
Best Practices
There’s always someone with an opinion about the professionalism of each of these different methods of communication, but I’m here to tell you, it doesn’t matter what the social media pundits think. What matters is what your employers or business partners or clients think.
We should be communicating with our people using an agreed upon method of communication. For example, my existing clients know that if they can’t find an appointment on my online scheduler, they should text me so I can find them an appointment. They know this because I tell them that’s the best way to get an appointment on a schedule that appears to be full.
Some of them still call or email, but they know response times can be slower via those avenues because I tell them that’s how it works for me. I can quickly respond to a text, but I reserve email and other messaging methods for the end of the day or even the next day.
But what about for business that falls outside of client management? Communication from your state board and professional organizations, communication with your accountant or other service providers, communication concerning continuing education, and communication with employers/employees are probably going to be more formal. In this case we should fully expect to be communicating via email.
You may be thinking, but that isn’t agreed upon by me. Perhaps not, but it is the gold standard in business communication which makes it pretty much universally agreed upon even if you personally don’t want to use it. Email is trackable, large quantities of information can be easily conveyed and transferred, once received it can be viewed and operated on repeatedly, and it provides a collaborative environment wherein you can immediately reply to the conversation.
In short, even if you don’t want to use email, you’re going to be using email. If that’s still a nope for you, get ready to at the least be left out of the conversation and at the worst be fired from your job.
Fired From Your Job?
Yep, it happened quite recently to a massage therapist posting anonymously on social media who had just been fired from their job for not checking email and subsequently not showing up for the clients scheduled by their employer. This person openly admitted that they just didn’t check email. I’m hoping they learned their lesson and will, going forward, communicate with employers more clearly about expectations surrounding all aspects of communication.
Why it’s important
Communicating with your professional cohorts in an accessible and agreed upon manner is not just important, it’s critical.
Respect
Respecting other people’s time and energy and not making them chase you down to ensure that you have received the information on which they need you to take action is a matter of professional respect. Nothing will cool people’s attitude towards you faster than your inaction disrespecting their time and efforts. You really don’t want your next potential employer hearing, “They were a good therapist, but we couldn’t get them to communicate with us in a timely manner,” when they check your references.
Responsibility
As a business person and/or employee, certain responsibilities come with the territory. The world around us has adopted email as the de facto method for exchanging business-related information. It’s up to us to act responsibly and check email for critical information. Do you have to be available to your email 24/7? Nope, but you must check it at least once a day. Best practices suggest 2 to 3 times per day depending on your situation.
Professionalism
The massage therapy industry has historically been surrounded by a haze of irresponsibility and lack of professionalism. Many of us have been working for years to try and dig us out from under these stereotypes. When we see people getting fired for willfully ignoring something universal and simple like email, it reinforces these unsavory stereotypes. We all need to be actively working to repair and change the negative stereotypes within our industry.
But I don’t know how…
I was recently involved with a conference call where interventions were being planned for an individual who kept leaning into, “I don’t know how to do that.” Someone on the call finally said when you put yourself in a position of leadership you no longer have the option of choosing not to learn.
“Education isn’t something you can finish.” – Isaac Asimov
Maybe you don’t consider yourself to be in a position of leadership, but your clients do even if you’re employed and especially if you’re solo. So here are a couple of actionable tips to get you started checking your email on a daily basis.
Find a friend, preferably someone a bit younger than you who has the same type of technology you prefer and is more comfortable with technology than you are. These folks are usually glad to help set your phone up to receive email and can even teach you a few tricks you didn’t know you needed.
Set an alarm on your phone to repeat daily at a specific time to check and respond to email. Set aside 15 minutes in your schedule so when the alarm sounds you can take care of it immediately. After a while, checking email will become a habit and you won’t need the alarm anymore.
So long story short, what do the kids say? TL;DR: Keep up with the times or get left behind. Read your damn email!
We’ll talk about reading comprehension later…
I’d love to hear from you and what you think about Things I Should Have Learned in Massage School. And if you find what I’m sharing helpful, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or donating enough to cover a cup of coffee. For now we’ll keep TISHLIMS free, but I would appreciate it if you’d share my work with your friends and neighbors so we can make the world a better place to give and receive massage!
About the Author: Sharon L Bryant has been a massage therapist since 2008 and a massage therapy educator since 2014. You can read more about the TISHLIMS project, its history, and what brought Sharon to Substack.
THIS>>> "when you put yourself in a position of leadership you no longer have the option of choosing not to learn." FUCK YES! Preach. Step it up [[cough cough massage industry cough]] leaders!