It was just a lack of one phone call

Business communications sure can get out of hand fast!

Take the case of two co-workers. One based at HQ. One based at a field office. Right off the bat you know that there is opportunity for strain due to lack of proximity and face-to-face interaction. This team of two has a solid working relationship and respects each other's hard work and talents. However, one day, the teammate working at HQ placed a call to the field teammate to discuss an upcoming meeting. Not connecting directly, the inside employee left a voice message about the meeting and then followed up with an e-mail. The outside representative, who was working with Clients until late in the evening heard the message, read the e-mail and began to work the assignment. Great news, right?

OOPS!!

What got missed? The outside teammate never returned the call or the e-mail. Now the HQ employee has confusion and lack of certainty that the work is going to get accomplished on time. What ensued was blame, accusations, argument, hurt, you name it. In the end, leadership had to get involved to iron it all out and get the team moving back in the right direction. Much time was lost by all parties and both teammates ended up looking bad to their boss.

It was just a lack of one phone call...