A former Mastery of Execution student sent me the link to a great blog article posted by Fast Company entitled “2010: The Year of Saying ‘I Got It’ “. The focus of the article, written by Lynette Chiang, is how companies, as well as individuals, have gotten into the habit of not responding to inquiries – they don’t tell you “I got it”. Telling people you received what they sent you, or that you got their message, is a closure conversation and it completes something for them. As Chiang points out in her article, when we don’t know if the person we are corresponding with received what we sent them, it creates uncertainty, leads to resentment, a loss of trust, and damages your reputation. The student sent me this article because one of the things I stress in both my execution and core management classes is how important it is to let people know “I got it”.
Most of us have experiences similar to those reported by Chiang. I once order some electronic marketing materials online with a “money back guarantee”. When I downloaded it and found it did give me what I wanted, I emailed and called the seller – multiple times. At no time did he respond (sorry, I don’t remember the seller’s name), so I finally contacted my credit card company, went through their processes, and eventually got my money back. Interestingly, even though I don’t remember the seller, I do remember one of the people who endorsed him (whom I also contacted and who didn’t respond) and I will no longer consider his products either. Unfortunately, not only do the people who “don’t respond” hurt themselves, they cast a shadow of doubt over everyone else in the business.
But “no response” is not limited just to businesses. How many people do you send replies to when they send you something important? How many people tell you when they got the report, the email, the proposal, or any number of other things you invested in providing them? Is your opinion of them higher or lower as a result?
I, like most people, get plenty of emails. Some are simply “fyi”, whereas, others want me to do something. In each case, I read the email to determine if it is something they need to know “I got it” and, if so, respond accordingly. I am not yet 100% reliable, but I am working on it because I think it makes a difference to the other person. I like knowing when people get what I send them, so I assume they would like to know as well.
I like the “I got it” concept and those at that company are fortunate that their company puts that kind of emphasis on communication. It is a nice and polite way to interact and that appeals to me. Unfortunately I do not work for that company, and so I have built up a compensator for this conversation.
I have noticed, especially after taking the Mastery of Execution course from you, that there is rarely a demand for an “I got it.” response.
I always demand a response in the form of:
Please confirm that you can meet the deadline set for this deliverable.
If the answer is “I might have some trouble” I take the time to figure out why and come up with alternative solutions to meet the objective before going a layer higher and asking for support. It is much easier to get one of several solutions approved than it is to say “I can’t meet that deadline and I don’t have any ideas.”
Prof Ford, thank you for sharing my piece. Together, hopefully, we can put a curve on this growing tendency to ‘non-respond’ and consequent drift into a kind of global ambivalence. By the way, I did finally get a response – and a refund – without having to resort to pyromania:
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/lynette-chiang/247-customer-evangelist/they-got-it-plus-how-fire-customer-and-keep-them-coming-