We live in a world of he said / she said, where people will do anything to avoid taking responsibility for their actions and might make promises they don’t really intend to keep.
Short of wearing a body camera, [something I’m not above, but has been known to wreck an outfit] creating a paper trail is the single most effective way to hold people accountable, and make sure you have a clear case should you need to take an issue higher up.
Don’t have time / organizational skills to create a paper trail? You don’t have a choice.
It could be the difference between making change happen and not.
Here are five easy steps to end he said / she said for good.
- Keep all incoming emails – but not in your inbox! Reams of old emails in an inbox will not only cause clutter, but also increase anxiety. Rather, set your email server to save all outgoing emails AND always respond with the original email in the body of the text. All email servers should be able to do this.
- Reply to everything – even if it’s just ‘OK’. Your reply will let the other party know it’s received, as well as make sure you have bulked up your records so you can put the email out of your mind. [See above]
- Follow up every phone call with an email – outline what was said, what was agreed upon, and what action will be taken by whom. Then invite the other party to give feedback. This will avoid any ‘misunderstandings’ further down the line.
- Use that CC button – Carbon Copying will allow other people to see what’s going on, weigh in, and possibly make higher ups take action. That CC button is there, use it!
- Set deadlines for the other party – this can avoid the feeling of ‘maybe I should give them a bit longer.’ Make it clear when you expect a response and what will happen if you don’t get one. If in doubt the line ‘Please respond by XXXXX [date] or else I will take further action usually does the trick.
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