It’s estimated that in an office of 30 employees who are all hooked up to the Internet an average of 2,500 e-mails a day shoot back and forth. With that much “communication” going on, it’s easy to imagine that there’s plenty of opportunity for miscommunication.
Recently an HR manager at a financial firm was copied on an e-mail regarding the pronunciation of another employee’s name. Throughout the day, e-mails concerning this subject were being bounced from one department to another. After becoming frustrated with all of the messages, the HR manager hit ‘REPLY TO ALL’ and responded with “What is the Russian translation for get your butts back to work?!?” Though the message was sent in jest, the manager later discovered that through the course of the day that comic e-mail’s “send-to” list grew to include the entire company and several clients. Needless to say, the HR manager and other company employees were very embarrassed by the incident.
In retrospect, there were several unprofessional areas of behavior that led to this unfortunate incident.
The first misstep occurred when department heads started discussing another employee via their e-mail. When communicating information related to employees, it is much better to meet face-to-face than to send e-mail. Additionally, only those who absolutely need to be copied on an e-mail should be. Always ask yourself if it is absolutely necessary to “carbon copy” anyone. If the answer is “yes,” pay close attention to who you add. Many times employees will “cc” the entire company, thinking that only employees for whom the message is intended will actually read it. In the case of the HR manager, this assumption obviously proved to be wrong.
Ask yourself how others will take the message you’re sending. Many times we try to communicate information in a certain manner, only to find that others have interrupted our writing in an entirely different way. It is best to leave emotional language and apparently light-hearted comments out of your e-mail. Bold and capitalized letters should also not be used. Reading the e-mail aloud or simply re-reading it silently before you send it will help ensure you’re saying what you really want to say. Doing this will aid in keeping the lines of communication smooth in your work environment.
Focus on the facts and be brief. Yes, you may be a literary genius akin to Shakespeare, but your readers may not have the time to savor every tantalizing turn-of-phrase you’ve composed. Those who receive your electronic missive are busy professionals just like yourself. This means that you should respect their time. Limit the content of your e-mails to simply saying what you need to say. This will ensure that your readers get the essential information.
Finally, be wary of what you are writing. Are you comfortable with others seeing that e-mail you just wrote? If the answer is “no,” either edit it or don’t send it at all. People tend to be less inhibited when they write and more reserved when they speak. Whatever you need to say via this electronic medium always be professional.
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