There was a time when ‘telephone skills’ were essential in the workplace. Many employers asked for telephone skills in their recruitment adverts. Training organisations and big companies offered courses in ‘phone skills’: how to answer, ask, reply and negotiate on the phone. Language schools offered courses in ‘telephone English.’
Now, however, the skills necessary to communicate across long distances are different. The reason for this is the way telecommunications are changing.
From the speakerphone, to webcams, to text messages, internet forums and chat rooms, the growth of email and the BlackBerry, traditional telephones are no longer a part of our lives in the way they were before. There is a range of methods of communication now available that simply did not exist ten or fifteen years ago.
Videophones have not had the impact that many telecommunications companies wanted, but heavy promotion and marketing campaigns means that they are becoming more common.
Videoconferencing, however, has become a very popular way of organising international meetings. Now – thanks to webcams – colleagues from around the world can meet up almost as if they were in the same room. Most people who have used videoconferencing for business or academic purposes are very positive about it. Videoconferencing offers real time communication, the ability to see other people’s gestures and facial expressions (essential to help communication), while having also the ability to take a certain amount of time, and use an interpreter or a dictionary if necessary!
Now, email is not just limited to our computers. We can read emails on mobile phones, or on gadgets like the BlackBerry. Computers themselves can now use programmes like Skype to make cheap long-distance calls, and now it is much easier to carry a computer around because new laptops are so light.
It is now impossible to hide from our bosses! We can’t say that we are in bed with a cold, when you’re really lying on a beach somewhere.
However, working by phone, of course, is not finished. The call centre has been one of the work revolutions of recent years. Now that telecommunications are a much bigger part of our lives, big companies (banks, insurance companies, airlines, and so on) do not need to have expensive offices and branches in town and city centres. Everything can now be made possible via the phone or the web. Huge operations can now be carried out at a fraction of their previous cost. Call centres are also an area where outsourcing is highly significant. Now it is common to make a call from somewhere in Europe and end up speaking to a call centre operator in Bangalore or Hyderabad.
So, even though you may be glued to your Palm Pilot, those ‘telephone skills’ are still essential! And remember, when you are on the phone you can be comfortably seated in your own house, with your feet up on your desk. And as long as videophones don’t become too common, you can still pull a face at your boss.
