Timing is everything

Barclay and AlisaMy girlfriend and I frequently joke that if we’d met in high school or even college the likelihood of us getting together would’ve been relatively small. The reasons are vast. I would argue most of the issues belonged to me. You see, I was all about hanging out with my boys (and apparently not looking directly into cameras) causing trouble and partying until the cows came home.

Although in all fairness she had some issues of her own. I went way back in time on her Facebook page to dig up some dirt. Based on the pictures I found she had a thing with ducky face. That for sure would have been a deal breaker. College Barclay One

I think it’s safe to say timing is everything. An awesome relationship may have never happened if the timing wasn’t just right. It’s the same in the business world. Imagine picking up your managedIP Hosted phone, TDS’ business VoIP system, to call an important business associate or prospect in Moscow and forgetting to adjust for time zones. It may be 3:20 in St. Louis on Thursday afternoon for you but 12:20 a.m. Friday for them.

Alisa College Picture 3

You could really end up with egg on your face if you accidentally called during one of your comrade’s major holiday’s like Defense of the Motherland Day when most public buildings and shops are closed! Imagine the embarrassment.

That’s why our friends @WashULaw came up with this handy info graphic to help you maintain your reputation as a savvy business person. The graphic includes information like what time zone some of the major economic centers are in around the world, the average commute time for workers, recognized national holidays and how long/when people break for lunch.

Working Across Time Zones

Chelsea Wilson, Community Relations Manager for Washington University School of Law, says their students came up with the idea for the info graphic. In an email Chelsea shared with me, “The graphic was meant to be a tool for working across time zones. It shows that globalization is a reality and many professionals are working across time zones on a daily basis.” Wilson adds, “Our goal was to add information that the typical professional would find helpful and could use on a regular basis.”

So again the point here is timing is everything. Call on the wrong day or at the wrong time and you may end up looking like a fool or, worst case scenario, you may end up missing out on the duck of your dreams!

So what do you think? Do you have other suggestions? I would love to hear what works for you. Leave your comments below or reach out to us Twitter and Facebook.

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Guest bloggers for the TDS Business Blog.

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2 Responses to Timing is everything

  1. kris September 20, 2013 at 10:56 am #

    This is a great idea! I used to work with a company split between Madison & Auckland, New Zealand. You had to come up with some tricks to remember when your coworkers were actually in the office. Most of the year (daylight savings wrecked havoc on things), I knew that 3 pm Central Time was 8 am the next day in New Zealand. The trickiest things to remember were that our Friday was their Saturday and their Monday was our Sunday, so we really only had 3 days in the workweek together. That and all of the Queen’s various holidays. It made me think maybe Americans are missing out on some of the perks of royalty 🙂

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