1. The message shouldn’t be e-mailed in the first place.
Some people use e-mail as a buffer. If they don’t want to have a difficult or sensitive conversation with someone, they just drop an e-mail and figure that’s the end of it.
Not the wisest idea. Avoid this issue by being sensitive to the type of message and the person with whom you are communicating. A new hire is an ideal message to share with the team by e-mail. So are congratulations messages (awards, engagements, graduations, and promotions, for example).
Meanwhile, some other conversations—employee reviews, terminations, and transfers, for example—deserve and need to be handled face-to-face.
2. The message is LOUD.
Some people can be very expressive with their e-mails. When you see an e-mail USING ALL CAPS TO MAKE A POINT, with LOTS of exclamation points, you just KNOW the writer IS PUMPED about his subject matter!!! All caps are the equivalent of someone yelling at you.
Avoid this issue by avoiding the caps and extra punctuation. If it’s good news, the reader will get the writer’s excitement in the words themselves.
3. The message is muddled or confused.
Your writing must get to the point. Avoid this issue by:
- Limiting your e-mail to only one topic.
- Reading your work aloud—or silently, to yourself—to eliminate needless words.
4. The message is sent to the wrong person.
We’ve all seen situations where an e-mail says something harsh about someone…and that someone gets the note. It is embarrassing situation that can have further, more serious, consequences.
Avoid this issue by:
- Reviewing your message again. Should it even be sent by e-mail in the first place?
- Double-checking who is to receive your e-mail. The person (or people) receiving your e-mail can easily forward it to others, who can in turn forward to others…and it goes from there.
5. E-mails are checked so often that other work doesn’t get done.
Constantly checking our e-mail box takes our attention away from other work that should be done. Yet all of us know someone who, because of his or her position in the office, expect their e-mails to be answered immediately, regardless of your other deadlines. You’re not in a position to tell this person to take a number.
Avoid this issue by setting definite e-mail times, sticking to them, and letting people know those are the times you address your e-mails. Obviously, there will people or situations that require immediate response. But using these guidelines helps.
