August - September
2001
 To
Email or Not to Email — And If So, How?
by Cheryl Reimold
When our company leads
communication skills classes, we conduct an informal survey to
determine some of the greatest problems with communication today. In
those surveys, e-mail gets mentioned every time.
Indeed, our newest form of communication might best be described by the
words of an old song:
It's the wrong time…Translation:
"I don't have time for all this stuff."
And the wrong place…
Translation: "People keep copying me on e-mails that I don't
need."
It's the wrong song…Translation:
"There are occasions when another form of communication would be
much better."
In the wrong style…Translation:
"I have to wade through streams of consciousness to get to the
point — if there is one!"
Like most inventions
that have caught on, e-mail can be great, if used properly. As
e-mail users, how can we overcome the obstacles and turn e-mail back
into the tool it was meant to be?
Be Sure Your
Message Is Worth the Time It Takes to Read
People don't have
time; they're overloaded. You are, aren't you? Send an e-mail to people
only when you are convinced that they will feel it was absolutely worth
the five minutes of their workday it took them to read. Before you
start typing, ask yourself:
- Do they really need
this
information?
- Is this something
they would want/need to know about?
- Does this require
action on their part?
- Do I need their
response?
If your answer to any
of these questions is "Yes," go ahead and send the e-mail, but
if not, you might want to reconsider.
You Send It, and
They Send It, and So On, and So On
One person sends out
an e-mail to, say, 35 others. Many of the 35 then respond to all 35.
Soon, as with Mickey Mouse's broom in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the
original message has spawned hundreds. Is this necessary?
Typically, e-mailers hit
the "Reply to All" box for one of four reasons:
1. They meant
to reply only to the sender and didn't notice the box said "Reply to
All."
2. They know
that not everyone in the group needs the information but want to show
them all how hard they are working.
3. They think
someone in the group might be interested in their thoughts on the
matter.
4. They know
others in the group will want to know and possibly act on their answer.
If Number 4 isn't your
reason, just hit the "Reply" box. Your response will go only
to the sender, and he or she can then choose whether or not to share it
with the rest of the group.
Time and Speed
Aren't Always Everything
The greatest advantage
of e-mail is its speed; you can bang out a message and get information
to recipients quickly. At the same time, however, the greatest
disadvantage of e-mail is its speed; recipients know messages don't take
a lot of effort on your part to compose. If speed is not critically
important to your message, e-mail may not be the best vehicle. Consider
these examples:
- A thank you note or
other message with emotional rather than textual significance might
mean more when the writer takes the time to write an actual note and
then stamp and mail it. But this is not always the case; sometimes
the writer's need to communicate pleasure or sorrow immediately can
make e-mail the perfect choice. You have to be the judge.
- Lengthy reports are
easy to attach to an e-mail message but can be fairly cumbersome to
download and print at the other end. Again, if speed is not vital,
consider sending lengthy documents in other ways.
Don't Beat Around
the Bush
There is only one good
style for a business e-mail, and it isn't stream of consciousness.
Provide a concise main message followed by backup information. Consider
this "stream of consciousness" e-mail:
| I
was looking through the minutes of the meeting yesterday and was
struck by the fact that we discussed problems on the project in
many ways but never came to a conclusion on any of them. For
instance…(followed by a list of the problems that were never
resolved). On thinking it over, I have an idea for one of these… |
Recipients might hit
"Delete" before ever getting to your idea! Instead, try the
main message-plus-backup approach. Start with your idea for solving one
of the problems raised at the meeting. Then explain why it might work.
Then stop.
Cheryl Reimold is
Editor-in-Chief of IEEE-USA News and Views and president of PERC
Communications, a consulting firm that provides writing services and
offers courses on writing, presentations, meeting management, and other
communication skills to businesses and associations. Visit her web site
at www.allaboutcommunication.com.
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