Picking up the phone instead of texting is a small risk most people avoid. That’s why it works.

A call is riskier than a message because there is no editing and no delay; you have to think while another person is listening. That is why most people avoid it, and it is exactly why a call still gets things done faster. Questions that sit in a thread for three days get settled in ninety seconds. The awkwardness is real and it is also over quickly.

Make one call this week that you would normally type. Write your first sentence on paper, dial it, and accept that the opening ten seconds will be clumsy.