Just Learn to Type... PLEASE!!!

So, a bit of a hobby-horse this one. Why don't companies make it a pre-requisite to have at least a reasonable level of typing and Office suite capability? Or, at the very least ensure that the new essential recruit has some relevant training.

Eh?

Ok, let me explain myself. I have what I consider the massive fortune of being able to touch-type at 60wpm. PAs shudder when they see me touch type because it's certainly not classical touch-typing, but it's still very effective. I can even do what many men can't - I can type and listen at the same time! I scared my CTO the other day with that one!

I can type an email, review it, cogitate on it, edit it and send it in about 1/3 the time that the majority of senior managers/directors can. This gives me more time to do other things, to think, to lead, gaze at my navel, whatever.

I had one manager who if you received an email from him any more than 2 lines long meant he had put his heart and soul in to it because it would have been painful and long to create. I never took his emails for granted! But he spent so long typing that it left him very little time for anything else.

However much we like it or hate it, typing and the ability to use the basic office suite effectively and efficiently is critical to a senior manager's success.

Surely if everyone could type fast, everyone would just write more? Possibly, maybe it would generate more emails, but I still believe they would be more effective overall.

As for office suite knowledge, I think I can illustrate that very easily: I had a call from a function the other day demanding Office 2007 because Office 2003 just wasn't letting them edit their documents the way they wanted to. I went and had a look. As I suspected it was a lack of knowledge of their existing toolset that was the problem, not Office 2003 letting them down.

Yes, you can see it bothers me. But if we senior leaders don't sort it out, before long Generation Y or whatever they're called now will come in and trounce all over us because be assured they will be able to type, and type fast and they'll have been using the Office suite since Year 1 at school. You can't survive in the on-line world if you can't type fast and that will come to the office without a doubt.

And no, voice recognition is not an option. Face up to reality, Go and find Mavis Beacon's Typing Tutor and learn to type, you will never regret it.

Oh, this post written and published in about 20 minutes.