Newly Corporate

Email has become the technology for intraoffice communication. Four years into my career I’m finding that mastering this medium is vitally important for both productivity and perception management. An email faux paux is just as bad as bombing your elevator pitch; sometimes it is worse because it can be copied and forwarded as a digitally perfect reminder of your mistake. Email can cause productivity headaches as well. How many times have you spent valuable time cleaning your inbox rather than getting real work done?

I propose these seven rules for better email in the office.

1. Walk, Meet or Call Before Emailing.

Remember, communication did exist prior to the advent of email. Those old standbys like walking to someone’s desk, setting up a meeting, or calling them on the phone are still viable options. I think it works best when you have a real conversation with someone and then, if a record is needed, summarize the conversation in an email. Some of the worst email train-wrecks occur when trying to troubleshoot, negotiate or problem-solve via email. These conversations are not suited for a medium with a built-in time delay.

2. CC With Care

There are no standards for email etiquette, but I can’t ignore the common practice of people filtering emails in which they are not in the TO: line. I live by this rule: if you expect someone to reply or take action, put them in the TO: line. If you put someone in the CC: line that means you need them to be aware of what is going on but don’t need them to do anything. To put it differently, don’t expect someone to take action if they are in the CC line.

CC’ing with care also includes use of Reply All. Very bad things can happen when you use Reply All. I’ve seen it result in insulting comments about customers being sent to customers. This is pretty much the worst thing that can happen if you are in sales. For example: Sales guy sends support request to support guy and CCs the customer to let the customer know support is now handling the issue, support guy then Replys All with a comments like “oh no, not this idiot customer again”. Customer sees the reply and all hell breaks loose.

Finally, be proactive in trimming the CC list. If an email eventually finds its way to you and you can actually fix it, send an email to the group letting them know that you are taking ownership of the issue and are reducing the CC list. If anyone really wants to stay in the loop, they’ll request it. Most will be happy to be relieved of the clutter in their inbox (especially executives).

3. Be Brief, Be Professional

An email at work is not a blog post. It is not a Facebook message. And it is certainly not your pulpit. Your job is to pack the most message into as few words as possible. People get hundreds of messages a day, and they don’t want to read some rambling approximation of the issue at hand. They want facts and they want clear, articulate responses. Lists and bullets are better than giant bricks of text. Here are some suggested formats:

Project status
- where we’ve been
- where we’re we are today
- where we’re going

Problem
- symptom
- possible cause(s)
- fixes tried so far
- next steps

4. Ask Yourself,  “Am I Forgetting Anyone?”

Messages have senders and receivers. Your message will fail if you don’t include all the appropriate recipients. Failing to do this can result in people being blindsided or sometimes having their feelings hurt; people can get that left-out feeling. Also, you may be stepping on someone’s toes. You may be doing their job and they might not like that.

5. Let Someone Else Handle It

Don’t be over-eager. If you know someone else in the email chain can handle the problem and is likely to be pro-active, don’t beat them to the punch. Let them reply. Whatever you do, don’t add to the problem by sending a message saying “I think Bob will reply, so let’s wait for his answer”. We need to fight the collective ADD that is sweeping the nation. Just wait a few moments and let the other players make their contribution.

6. Avoid Attachments

One of the biggest annoyances of corporate email is the size limitation on your inbox. I swear, they all seem to be less than Gmail. You don’t want to be the person who put someone else over their size limit, so take measures to avoid or at least minimize attachments. You can post documents to servers and then send links to them, or you can zip files before you attach them. You could also just announce the presence of a document and instruct recipients to email you if they want a copy.

7. Keep Your Signature Short

If your signature is longer than most of your messages, you have a problem. Here’s the basic format I recommend:

Name
Company, Title
Phone
Legal Disclaimer (only if absolutely required)

Photo Credit: Reesha Art