To Text or Not To Text

So, this past week I was fortunate to work with a group of very talented people during a two-day workshop. During the time we spent together I noticed that numerous participants would often pick up their mobile phones and connect with colleagues and peers through text message. This got me thinking...at what point did text messages align to effective work related communications?

Now I do appreciate that different work environments have nuances which may allow for more informal type communications, geography being one, and a lot of those choices are also due to the convenience of having our mobiles more accessible for the most part. Does this more time efficient method of communication outweigh the 'less formal' perception I have?

Should I begin texting colleagues with quick messages rather than relying on my default setting of email?

Personally, I've always aligned text message communication to something short and sweet. Which in effect, continues to find a fitting home for me within more personal communications than those messages I would share with colleagues. The process of sending an email always allowed me to think through my written messages, effectively a review and editing process, within a preconceived formal environment. Sending a 'text' always seemed a little too informal. Am I simply behind the curve on using text messages or is this still an area which hasn't been fully adopted for the majority?

During a further discussion with a colleague we started to discuss the impact of not sending, but receiving this method of communication. How would my colleagues feel about having to keep an eye on yet another communication device to ensure they are kept abreast of things? Would this simply adopted when used, or would there be resistance?

Is being connected to my emails/skype/IM simply not enough?

My gut instinct tells me that I would I have to build a greater level of rapport with my colleagues before I could simply fire off a text messages asking for a quick progress update or some data points. I am confident that this is due to my thoughts on text messages as a communication option but also on my experience of succinct communications. Often, in my experience, my correspondences become shorter the greater level of rapport I have with the recipient. I find that a greater foundational relationship and level of rapport offers me a curter response option. My concern is how that would be reflected in the first instance when building that level of rapport.

 Throw into the mix the current, and growing, trend of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) adopted by numerous companies and we continue to blur the lines. This process of allowing colleagues to use their own communication and collaboration devices to better aid their own work flows leaves little surprise when those very devices are being used for communication. We are positively inviting a change in how we communicate with our colleagues. Which given the amount of email traffic we all receive, that’s a plus right?