No Hello Policy: Say Hi And Launch Into Your Request

Imagine you’re hard at work on a task. You’ve been thinking about it for the past hour, and suddenly, you get a message from Ata saying “Hi.” Ata wants a response now. They won’t continue until you answer them. So you say, “Hi, Ata.” What comes next?

You see a message on your screen: “Do you have a minute?”

“Go ahead,” — you respond. Then, the other personality types out a message, and you see three dots indicating that they have been writing something for five minutes.

It would be helpful if Ata respected your time. Maybe they don’t even realize it. However, you’ve already been sitting here watching them type for too long, and now the idea you were thinking about has slipped away.

I know this happens to me, too. I must quickly remember that other people are busy and sometimes only available to chat. So perhaps we all need to be a bit more respectful regarding others’ time. And learn the no-hello policy.

The “no-hello” policy — we could always think of something else to do.

Instead of saying, “Hi” or “Hi, do you have a minute?” write your question immediately. Or compose an email with all the details. Then your colleague will respond when they have time for that. They won’t be intimidated by “do you have a minute? may I ask something?” messages. Instead, they’ll know there’s an inquiry waiting for them. And eventually, they’ll reach out. Your colleague will have a quick look at the message, and no puzzler goes away for that short period.

That’s all there is to it. Just don’t use “hi” as your opening salutation. Instead, send a message that means something. But, of course, you can still start with “hello,” not as an isolated word.

You may ask, “What if there’s something important?” Well, you can mark it as urgent. Most email applications have a flag for that.

Not getting upset when people send you “Hi” messages is essential. They might not have thought about it, and you can teach them how to value your time and their own.

How often does it happen to you? Do you have any strategies for dealing with that? Please comment and share your experience.