It’s time to face a new reality: voicemail is dead, killed by Millennials. We all hate to check it and we rarely leave messages. When we see a missed call on our smart phone, we return the call. If we see that a voicemail was left, we probably don’t listen to it if we recognize the phone number.
Why am I bothering with this observation in a leadership blog post? Because if your leaders want to engage their people, they shouldn’t leave voicemails. Explaining this should be part of basic leadership training, in fact onboarding. If not, then otherwise impressive leaders will come across to Millennials as lacking executive presence.
You may ask: what about calls on business land lines where missed calls are not visible so easily as on a smart phone? The answer is the same, don’t do it. Instead, leave a text on the Millennial’s smart phone, or — weak second choice — send an email. Or, leave a message with an assistant if there is one.
How arrogant these Millennials, killing voicemail! Really? We Boomers killed snail mail. Do our parents think we are arrogant? Well probably, but not for that reason.
Comments welcome.