TRUE CONFESSIONS 2
5 MORE E-MAIL SINS AND HOW TO STOP BEHAVING BADLY
In our April issue, we highlighted five top e-mail blunders that can waste time, cause embarrassment, invite viruses, or drive away customers. This time, we focus on bothersome e-mail behaviour and tips for positive change.
You are in an important all-day meeting to develop strategies for targeting a critical new market segment. Team leader George has set BlackBerry to vibrate instead of ring. He's trying to focus on the meeting, but surreptitiously checks for e-mails every few minutes. Several times, he ducks out to make calls or send messages. At lunchtime, he's e-mailing on his BlackBerry constantly. At the end of the meeting, he's voting on marketing strategies that he doesn't fully understand because his mind has been elsewhere. And he's lost our respect because he didn't give the team or the topics his full attention.
While e-mail is an invaluable business tool, it can wreak havoc with employee behaviour and productivity - and reflect badly on your company. Here are five sinful behaviours and ways to change those bad habits.
- Addiction. With mobile devices, ubiquitous wireless access, and pressure to increase productivity, employees can become addicted to electronic communications. They can also become distracted and less productive. Some psychologists see this phenomenon as a new form of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).
Tips: Treat your e-mail like a tool, not a boss. Shut off your auto-check or set it to something reasonable, such as every hour or half-hour. Set aside two or three chunks of time in a day for reading and responding to e-mails thoughtfully instead of skimming them and dashing off replies. Control personal distractions - do you really need to list to iTunes all day? - Hiding behind e-mail. E-mail is handy for avoiding personal contact. But using it to relay emotional messages, deal with uncomfortable situations, or cover up mistakes can come back to bite you.
Tips: Remember the value of face time and voice communication. If you have a problem with someone, speak with that person directly since the tone of an e-mail can easily be mis-interpreted. In addition, complex conversations - positive or negative - are better in person, since such e-mails can become lengthy and time-consuming, and lead to misunderstandings. - Bad response habits. If you don't respond to an e-mail, your sender might wonder if you received it and resent it unnecessarily. If you only respond to part of an e-mail, you can cause confusion or generate more questions. And how many times have you cc'd people without knowing if they want the information?
Tips: Practice e-mail etiquette (netiquette) when responding to messages. Put yourself in your recipient's shoes - ask yourself if your behaviour could be seen as insulting or annoying. If you cannot reply to something for a couple of days, send a short note to let your sender know. Read e-mails all the way through before responding so you're not answering the wrong question, or missing some requests. - Poor subject lines. Blank subject lines or those containing insufficient information such as "Hi" or "From Sabina" or "Bill Wilson" can look like spam, confuse your recipients, or encourage readers to ignore them. Overly long subject lines may have the same effect: "Hello. I was wondering if you could tell me where the July 12 team meeting is being held and how I should prepare."
Tips: Keep the subject line short to quickly indicate the content and purpose of the message (e.g., "July 12 Team Meeting Agenda - need input"). To help file and track related e-mails, your team may want to agree on standard acronyms or other identifiers to flag priorities or create an easy-to-follow trail. For example, the subject lines of all e-mails related to the Monthly Status Report could begin with MSR (e.g., "MSR June 2008 - question about item #3"). In an e-mail exchange, if you change the subject, change the subject line, too. - Laziness This unprofessional habit is reflected in a variety of behaviours that can annoy recipients. Writing in all lower case, and pressing "send" or "reply all" before thinking, or simply sending to the wrong addresses are some examples.
Tips: Use good grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure. Use the various e-mail functions carefully, and check every detail of your message before sending.
Both employees and employers can play a role in cleaning up unacceptable e-mail behaviour. Employees can have fun with informal e-mail patrols to flag each other's missteps, organize e-mail Lunch ‘n Learns, or post e-mail tips on bulletin boards. Employers may want to implement guidelines or policies for e-mail usage that help employees manage this resource effectively. And by consistently reflecting "good" behaviour, your e-mail communications can shine in a positive light on you company's image.
E. Lisa Moses is a founding partner of The Mallard Group (www.mallardgroup.com), a marketing and communications firm serving the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. In addition to writing, editing and communications consulting services, The Mallard Group delivers business-writing workshops to groups of employees (www.mallardgroup.com/ebBWSWorkshop.htm). To book a workshop for your organization, contact Lisa at 905-768-9190 or lisa@mallardgroup.com
