E-Mail Communications

What would we do without e-mail?  I can think back to a time in my business life when we did not have e-mail or voicemail.  (I will discuss voicemail in another blog)  Life was different when we actually talked to people a bit more or used “snail mail” for important written communications and documentation.  Business communications was an art form using scientific templates depending on what form of document you were writing.  For the past 30 years, we have gradually reduced our need for professional communications and in some way have adopted e-mail and ‘texting’ as our “go to” form of “documented” communications.

Email first started in the mid 1960s and evolved massively with the ARPANET computer network.  Messages often got lost and could take as long as a week to reach their destination. They were often sent at night to minimize the cost of long-distance telephone calls. In the early 1980s, SMTP was developed to provide a more efficient protocol. SMTP allowed a single message with more than one addressee to be sent to a domain. A local server copied the message to each recipient.  In the late 80’s, CompuServe was first to go widespread with e-mail and in 1993 AOL connected their system and e-mail was worldwide!  A recent report said that last year over 7 TRILLION e-mails were sent. 

Most companies have strict policies in place regarding e-mail communications from company equipment and e-mail accounts associated with the business.  Despite these guidelines, mistakes are made with e-mail that could be grounds for immediate termination or perhaps millions of dollars in costs to the company in legal fees.  

There are so many issues that can arise from inappropriate usage of e-mail.  Here are a few to ponder:

v  Be clear. Be brief. ~ Write short email messages with a crystal clear point. Do not write long winded confusing paragraphs that leave room for misinterpretation.

·         Consider using bullet points for clarity.

v  Proofread. ~ Proofread your message multiple times. If the email deals with touchy subject matter, you may not want to communicate via e-mail or at least have a third-party read it over as well. This will give you another perspective on “understanding the message”.  Always check for spelling and grammar errors as well as “mis-used words” Be careful of homonyms which sound the same but have different meanings. Don’t rely just on “spell-check”.  It will not pick up these errors.

v  Always use appropriate “subject” headers.

v  When you are upset ~ do not use e-mail.  Take a breath, wait 24 hours!

v  Don’t Yell at your addressee by using ALL Caps.

v  Keep a continuum on the message. ~ Recognizing that we all receive hundreds of e-mails weekly, it’s dangerous to sometimes veer off the road when continuing communication on a particular subject.  This can lead to confusion and tactical errors.  Suppose you were discussing two different things with a particular employee and responded:  “Sounds great”…go for it!  How is this interpreted?  Make sure that you reference or cut and paste a particular point of the original message…You wrote…”I am concerned about hiring XYZ.  He had a felony conviction 2 years ago….”your response was….“Sounds great”…go for it! 

v  Once e-mailed, you and everyone else will always have it. ~ If you don’t think that your mother would approve of your message, do not write it and certainly do not e-mail it!  In the same vein do not forward inappropriate messaging, pictures video etc…

v  Use Proper Vocabulary ~ In the last several years, texting has become the most used form of communication amongst the younger generation.  This form of communication has also begun to enter into the business world.  Be very careful and avoid shortcuts that are common in the “texting” generation.  I am not sure if I am alone but I always thought LOL was “lots of love”.  I was corrected by my teenage children that people were actually “laughing out loud’ at my ignorance. 

Finally do not lose touch with personal communication.  If you cannot meet the person at the very least Pick up the phone! ~ While email can be a convenient communication channel, certain discussions need to be handled in person or over the phone. If you notice that the situation is starting to deteriorate, don’t send another email, it’s time to pick up the phone or arrange a face to face meeting.