If we want employees to do great work, we have to stop expecting them to respond to every email or message instantly, for which they have to constantly interrupt themselves and check their phones/laptops.
It is almost like having to open the door of your house every 5 minutes to check if any visitor is standing outside. Nobody does that! Instead, we install doorbells.
When you want an immediate response, pick up the phone and call. As simple as that. That is what I do at my startup.
Human beings can either focus and do quality work, or they can constantly check email/slack and end up scatterbrained — they can’t do both.
Why would you hire top talent and then destroy their focus, make them stressed, and get sub-par work from them? Just so someone gets an instant reply to messages?
Does that make any sense at all?
It is time companies seriously revisit how their teams interact and create protocols for the same. Else, some bosses might say, “Be as efficient as possible, but first respond to my emails quickly.”
– Rajan