How to choose the right communication channel

In today's episode, Mattias talks about the various ways he communicates with others and how he determines which one is the right medium for what occasion.

Communication channels

There are many different communication channels Mattias uses daily. He primarily interacts with others via phone calls, emails, slack messages, and face-to-face.

When it comes to deciding how to get in touch with someone, Mattias always let's the "why" determine the medium. Different kinds of conversations require different forms of communication.
If a conversation has a more emotionally important character, he always chooses to talk to people directly. This can be face-to-face or in a phone call. Often, written forms of communication can be interpreted very differently, which can be counterproductive, especially when the topic might be emotional.

Reaching out immediately

Mattias adds that he also never waits to reach out to people when there's something on his mind. He explains that we live in a time where there's absolutely no need to wait to contact someone. The problem with waiting to address something is that you will probably have a discussion with that person inside your head without giving your counterpart the chance to say something themselves. This will only lead to frustration and isn't fair towards the other person.

Indirect communication

A situation when Mattias prefers written communication is whenever something needs to be documented for later. He could have a face-to-face meeting with someone where both parties might agree on something. After that meeting, he usually writes a summary of the conversation and its outcome in an email. He made the experience that sometimes people have different ideas about what was discussed some weeks later, and in these situations, a summarizing email is very valuable

💡 EPISODE TAKE AWAY
Let the "why" determine the way of communicating and don't wait when reaching out to people!

How do you choose your communication channels?