#10. Start your email with the person’s name followed by a comma. “Dear” is not necessary. End all of your emails with a closure. It can be simply your name or just your initial(s) or it can be something like “Regards,” followed by your name. Just make sure you’ve indicated an end to your email.
#9. Keep your emails as courteous, concise and focused as possible. Make sure you include personal concern and brief friendly content in your email communications just as you would if you were speaking directly to a business associate, colleague or client. Respond to email promptly.
#8. Keep your business email professional. Use complete sentences, correct spelling and proper language for business email. Avoid using your business email to receive or distribute dirty jokes or X-rated photos. Once you hit “send” your email is out there and can come back to haunt you at a later time.
#7. People often attribute unintended tone and attitude to email communications. Monitor your email carefully and communicate directly with people to avoid the possibility of misinterpretation.
#6. Make sure that you’re not using email to avoid a face-to-face or direct communication with someone. Conflict avoidance often escalates a situation or can bite you on the backside down the road.
#5. Remember that anything you send via email can be forwarded to others without your control. Ask yourself before you send it if you’re comfortable with the potential of your email being forwarded.
#4. Be highly selective when choosing to copy others on a business email. When appropriate, use the blind cc feature to protect people’s privacy and to avoid exposing people’s email addresses when you are sending email to multiple recipients. If you’re sharing the contributions of others or helping others to get recognition, copying key people is a positive action. It’s bad practice to use email to expose someone who has made a mistake, whom you don’t like, or who you think is stupid.
#3. Use email when you need to communicate written dated proof of factual information; otherwise
communicate all other necessary negative feedback or views through personal verbal spoken communication.
#2. Never send email in the middle of an emotional reaction. Give yourself at least overnight to calm down before firing off an email response about something or someone that has upset you.
#1. The company you work for owns your email account and all of its contents. Make sure you’re aware of this and that everything you send and receive through your work email account would be appropriate for your boss to read.
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#7. People often attribute unintended tone and attitude to email communications. Monitor your email carefully and communicate directly with people to avoid the possibility of misinterpretation.
It’s striking how often I hear my clients attribute negative emotional intent to an email they’ve received, and I can find none of the same emotional intent when I read that email. What’s the reason for the vast difference in interpretation? Certainly when we speak to one another directly, facial expression and voice tone are major contributors to how communication is interpreted and received. The Second Fundamental of Good Communication in SPEAK EASY, The Communication Guide for Career and Life Success states that:
The non-verbal portion of communication exceeds ninety percent of how communication is received.
Since there's actually no tone of voice or facial expression in email, what occurs is the reader creates an imagined tone and interpretation based on past communications between the writer and the reader as well as on the individual values, perceptions and sometimes insecurities of the reader. Email can take readers down paths that are far removed from the intention or goals of the writer. In the workplace, direct communication is often neglected or abandoned altogether even though it's essential for smooth operations, efficient product delivery, leadership influence, strong project management, and especially superior customer relations. As we become more and more dependent on text and email, we get farther and farther from two-way mutually respectful dialog where there is better opportunity to build rapport, verify intent, answer questions and ensure understanding.
Here are alternative options to avoid these pitfalls of email communication:
1. Get up from your desk and walk down the hall to someone’s office or work station to have a direct conversation.
2. Pick up the phone to speak directly or leave a voicemail message, asking for a return phone call.
3. Write an email with a brief topic description, requesting a return call or face-to-face meeting to discuss something important.
Until next time,
The Wordsmith
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