Gerry Reid's Professional Development Tip
"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you might could it."
-Ferris Bueller
Effective E-mail. Is Yours Read?Someone on my weekly distribution list sent me the above quotation along with a request to remove her ID from my list (which I did). As I have always said, "Life is what happens when you're not watching too closely." I this case I think she actually it.
by Guest Contributor, Jim Swann
Some thoughts about using E-mail, maybe worth one of your professional tips:
E-mail can be wonderful; creating it is quick and easy, whether sending a note or responding to one. Using E-mail, we can reach a new level of communication and communication is the key to both professional and personal relationships.
However, E-mail can be frustration in spades! Your thoughts are changed to electronic impulses and sent out into the ether. Were they received? Were they read? Why, oh why, haven't you received a response.
Once I almost lost a career because of a miscommunication via E-mail. One of my clients had a problem. I wrote long, detailed explanations of the situations to my manager. Nothing ever got done! Later, I learned that he never read passed the first screen of an E-mail note.
Because of the ease of using E-mail, the quantity found in a persons daily "in-mail" can, literally, be counted in the hundreds. Many people learn to scan the mail and follow the same practice as that manager of mine followed - they scan the first screen and, if nothing there is of interest, that note is trash.
Some guidelines for better e-mail:
- 1) Start with a statement or summary that defines the scope of the note.
- 2) On the first screen worth of text, tell the reader what type note it is:
- - - a) A request for information
- - - b) A request for a decision or some action
- - - c) A reply to a request for information
- - - d) A reply to a request for a decision or some action
- 3) Subject: Take time to compose a unique subject, one that is meaningful, not just cute. This is essential if you want the receiver to be able to retrieve or refer to the note later.
Finally, limit the note to a single subject. When a note is simple the receiver can respond quickly or forward it to someone that can complete the response.When a note is complex, the receiver must split it up in order to delegate tasks and that action may introduce additional errors or misunderstandings.
KISS becomes KESS - Keep E-mail Simple and Short!
Jim, I hope the inspiration for your note was not one of my poorly written e-mail notes or subject lines! <grin?> But, if it was, then we all gained from it! In any case, Thank you, Jim, for the insight and the ideas of how to make things better.