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E-mail Tip #6 - E-mails are Permanent Documents

Guest post by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: In the hubub of everyday interfaces, we often forget how dangerous e-mails can be because of their permanance. If we write something, we better be prepared to defend it for all time. Here are some tips that can help protect you.

E-mail Tip #6 - E-mails are Permanent Documents

By now, most people realize that you cannot ever erase material in an e-mail. There is no shredder either. With great effort, you can retrieve a note that was incorrectly sent, but you cannot ever get back the forwarded notes that may have gone out. So, what you write today will be available to haunt you for all your tomorrows. Even though most people realize this intellectually, they forget the impact with they dash off an emotional note in a hurry. We have all been guilty of writing things we regret in e-mails. One aspect of the permanence may not be obvious to readers. It is that leaders need to use e-mail for praise, but verbal input for coaching. Reason: When a leader sends out a note of praise, it gets read many times. It may be printed out and tacked to a bulletin board. It may be taken home to show the family. It could be saved for years as a source of inspiration or as data if it is ever needed in the future. So, the positive impact of online reinforcement actually amplifies the deed. This is different from verbal praise that tends to be forgotten after a few days.

On the flip side, a reprimand should usually be given by voice. This is because you do not want the negative feelings to be remembered long after the sin has been forgiven. A nasty note to an employee can be great fodder for break room jokes at your expense. Keep this in mind if you ever are tempted to put criticism in writing. People will read every word and pick the note apart for possible hidden meanings.

There are countless legal reasons to watch your wording in e-mails. Many a lawsuit rested on the content of an ill advised e-mail. The lawyers use a standard disclaimer tacked to the end of all notes, but I do not think it really offers much protection.

What you write today can be used to indicate what you have said. There will be conditions that change over time making your current words of wisdom sound pretty dumb. Keep that in mind as you write things. You can apologize and explain the changes but you can never take back what you have written.

Suffice to say here that we must be acutely mindful of the permanent nature of e-mail and act accordingly.

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Article Tags: coaching, Email, leadership, permanent, reinforcement



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Re: Awesome Resource: Instapaper - So far the only thing I use the filters for is to send all the safelist emails I get to a folder. It currently has over 386,000 emails in it. This is a really good tip though. I need to start utilizing it. Emails eat up too much of my time right now.
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Re: Awesome Resource: Instapaper - [quote="billgelwick":3jk3d6mn]This is a really good tip though. I need to start utilizing it. Emails eat up too much of my time right now.[/quote:3jk3d6mn] It's probably the biggest single productivity issue for most entrepreneurs!
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