Optimal Solutions Consulting - Current Mission Matters

Tip of the Month

Check out www.snopes.com to read about the most common urban legends being circulated by e-mail. You might be amazed and intrigued by all the misinformation that makes its way around the world via e-mail. I know I was.

Mission Matters — Current Edition

September 2007

Mission Matters is a monthly eZine from Optimal Solutions Consulting filled with concise, relevant and practical information and tips on building a high performance organization. The eZine covers topics such as leadership development, supervisory skills, meeting management, customer service, teamwork, diversity and more.

The current edition of Mission Matters is available to all visitors to our web site. We hope that after reading this sample, you will decide to subscribe and receive future editions.

Oops, I Did It Again

by Nicole Young, MSW

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“If you wouldn’t say it face-to-face, don’t say it in cyberspace.” – Denise Smith, Ed.D.

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I must have some kind of mental block about the month of August. If you’ve been receiving this newsletter for over a year or have been keeping track of when I release my newsletter, you probably noticed that August came and went without an issue of Mission Matters…again. The same thing happened in August last year. Thus, my admission that, “oops, I did it again.”

I won’t bore you with elaborate excuses because I don’t have any. I’ve just been extremely busy, which is great for my business but bad for my writing. However, as usual, I have found a way to turn my own life lessons into tips for high performance organizations.

As I reflected on the circumstances that kept me from writing my August issue of Mission Matters, I couldn’t help but notice the overabundance of unnecessary e-mails in my Inbox. Now, I have to say that I love e-mail. I rely on e-mail. I would be lost without e-mail (or at least less efficient). But like anything else, e-mail is only an effective tool for communication when used properly…and there are plenty of people who are not using it properly. On top of that, there are people who are “repeat offenders” – the ones who keep making the same mistakes and either don’t realize it or don’t take the time to correct themselves before pressing the “Send” button. Unfortunately, this tends to make people (like me) resent e-mail or treat it as a nuisance, which makes things more difficult for people (like me) who rely on it for everyday business.

So, on behalf of all those who have ever been annoyed, slowed down or paralyzed by poor e-mail etiquette, here are 5 ways you can avoid having to say “oops, I did it again” when communicating by e-mail.

Check your spelling and grammar before sending the message. It not only makes it easier for your reader to understand your message, but decreases the chances of your message being misunderstood. E-mail becomes a less effective method of communication if your reader has to request clarification due to spelling and grammar errors. Taking the time to check your spelling and grammar also sends a message that you care about the professional image you are projecting when communicating by e-mail. Organizations become high performers when the people in them remember the old saying, “You only have one chance to make a first impression” and make an effort to communicate professionally via e-mail.
Refrain from forwarding chain e-mails to colleagues that instruct you to share them with anyone you’ve ever met. I see no problem with sending these e-mails to friends and family during your personal time. Some are funny, while others are inspirational. In fact, I’ve been known to get teary-eyed by some of those inspirational messages and have passed them on to friends and family. However, I have known people who forward multiple messages per day to everyone they know using their work e-mail addresses on company time, which has always led me to wonder, “Don’t they have anything better to do?” Organizations become high performers when the people in them understand that their time is one of the agency’s most valuable resources and then use it wisely.
Check the accuracy of e-mails that urge you to take action. So if you absolutely cannot envision yourself refraining from forwarding e-mails containing those urban legends that urge you to take some kind of action (e.g. don’t use plastic in microwaves, forward a missing child alert, read a dying child’s last poem), then I encourage you to check www.snopes.com before you press the “Send” button. There is not only an increasing threat to workplace productivity when people circulate and respond to some of these urban legends, but there is an increasing threat of identity theft and viruses that can be caused by tainted e-mails. Besides that, your credibility may be at stake when you forward these urban legends to others who do check their accuracy. The snopes.com website can help you determine whether the content of an e-mail is too good to be true, someone’s idea of a funny joke (again, don’t they have anything better to do?) or something to take seriously. Organizations become high performers when the people in them understand that the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the information they convey to others impacts their credibility.
Remember that the way you write your messages may not be the way they are understood. This has to do with the fact that you don’t have the benefit of body language and tone of voice to help you convey your message when communicating by e-mail. In the absence of hearing your tone of voice or seeing your body language, your reader might assign a negative meaning to certain words and interpret your message in a way that you never intended. To avoid this potential problem, take care in choosing your words. Read your message out loud to yourself to see if it comes across as rude, abrupt or overly critical. If you’re still not sure, ask a colleague to proofread your message to see how s/he interprets the message. Organizations become high performers when the people in them make the effort to ensure their messages gets across as intended.
Remember that e-mail messages are in writing. Forever. Your words may leave your mind as soon as you press “Send,” but in fact they become an historical artifact and in some cases legal evidence of whether or not there was any wrongdoing. The chances of your e-mail messages becoming legal evidence are probably (hopefully) pretty slim, but why take any chances? On a more practical and realistic note, if you haven’t followed the previous four tips, then your reader is likely to feel annoyed, angry, hurt, resentful, disrespected, etc. by your e-mail and hold on to it as evidence of your rudeness, unprofessionalism or uncaring nature. Worse yet, you may find that your e-mail message has been forwarded, printed or otherwise shared with people that you never intended to be readers. The point is that you never know what might happen to the e-mails you send out, so it's wise to take the time to think about how your messages might be interpreted by other audiences. Organizations become high performers when the people in them adopt high standards for effective communication and apply them consistently, no matter who they are communicating with.

Why This Matters For Your Mission: Organizations become high performers when the people in them know how to communicate effectively, whether it’s verbally, non-verbally or in writing. In today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving work environment, organizations can’t afford to lose time, money, relationships and credibility due to poor e-mail communication.

Your opinion matters. Please take a few minutes to tell me what you thought of this month’s edition of Mission Matters. Go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=E9IIWu3k7ygqeOTnCJDCHg_3d_3d and fill out this very brief survey. Thank you!

Until next month,

Nicole M. Young, MSW
Optimal Solutions Consulting - "Building High Performance Organizations"
(831) 594-1498
nicole@opti-solutions.com
www.opti-solutions.com

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