By Ignite Excellence

By the time you have read this newsletter, your in-box will have new mail. Some of it will be for you, some of it won't, some of it won't be clear if it's for you or not, some of it will be important, good chance most of it won't. All of it has to be read, noted, forwarded, deleted, answered and filed. It all takes time.

Used well, email can be rewardingly effective and efficient. Used poorly, it can be the source of more miscommunication, discord and wasted effort than a family Christmas.

As the presentation unfolded, something was going wrong. The villain was becoming victorious. I recognized his skills as a masterful influential presenter.

Here are some practices that can aid productivity, efficiency and effective communication.

Your recipients (“CC” and “Send”)

If you are cc'ing someone, they shouldn't feel the need to do anything other than read the mail. If you are "sending" the email to someone, they should expect to have to do something as a result of getting the mail. If you expect everyone to do something (e.g. submit ideas for dealing with a shifting deadline), avoid "cc" altogether and include them all on the "send" line.

Subject lines

Make it specific to the recipient. Nothing makes an email less appealing than generic subjects like "important information" or "Today" or "you’ll should read this".

Outcomes and Deliverables

Make it crystal clear what the recipients are expected to do with the mail and when it should be done by. Keeping emails short, succinct and clear is paramount if you want people to read, understand, and act on what you write. One theme per mail is a good rule of thumb. Use bullet points to drive efficiency and brevity.

Tone and Clarity

Email is one-way communication; once we insert opinion or subjective content into an email, it becomes more likely that our recipient will misunderstand meaning and intention. As writers, we have to put down words so they will be clearly understood, so there is no room for doubt. The recipient is tasked with interpreting the written word as it was intended. Never an easy match-up. Stick to the facts wherever possible, and hold the opinion for the meeting.

Email, phone or face-to-face?

If you think that the content of your email is difficult to put in written format, or could be misunderstood, consider picking up the phone or holding a brief meeting first. This way, tricky issues can be discussed and agreed upon without the need for endless back and forth.

Forwarding

Unlike a conversation, email leaves a trail. The written record of what you wrote can end up in the wrong hands. Worst case scenario, it can be used in court (or in your office) against you. Be sure that you would be comfortable with anyone reading your mail, as you never know where it will end up.

Spell-check and Editing

They might not say it to your face, but people will judge you if your mails are littered with errors.

Summary and Clarification

Email is best used as a summation or clarification tool. After a meeting or a phone call, email is a simple and effective way of documenting deliverables and action items. This reduces the possibility of misunderstanding and provides a record of what was discussed.

So, what next? Take 5 minutes and critically analyse messages you send and receive. Are you saving or spending time? What could you be doing better?

We all use this method of communication so much, we owe it to ourselves to use it well!

Ignite Excellence is a training and development company specializing in influential verbal and kinetic communications. Ignite Excellence develops the skills of CEO members to win and maintain business, build stakeholder perceptions and strengthen internal communications so individuals can Influence. Differentiate. Engage.