Email Business Communication Is Convenient, But Still Demands Carefully Honed Writing Skills

  Greetings. If, like me, you're on the north side of, let's say, 40 or 45, you recall the days when one-on-one business communication was something you did largely with a telephone or a fax or a conversation -- planned or spontaneous -- in a meeting room or hallway saunter or casual visit to someone else's office or cubicle. The same thing went for dealings with partners or suppliers or vendors or those high-stakes letters to and discussions with customers, potential and existing.

  But now email has changed things drastically and I'm not so sure we've adapted wisely to this marvelous tool. In fact, I think many of us, including the relative youngsters who have grown up with email, are taking such greedy advantage of the speed and convenience of email that they look like idiots.

  Sound a bit harsh? Not to me, not when I get electronic mail from "writers" who don't bother to capitalize, check spelling, edit themselves for internal contradictions, and think through the points to make and then lay them out via the handy devices of paragraphs or bullets -- in other words the basic rules of the common language that that blue-haired English teacher worked so hard to help us understand, and that we somehow lost as we stuffed ourselves with specialized knowledge on our separate career paths, up to and including lawyers and PhDs. 

  The shame of it is that email offers so much in the way of clarity. Just think what it means when your boss or a customer asks for something electronically. You have the opportunity to actually think about a response and then word it carefully, instead of blurting out something in an unanticipated phone conversation that you may come to regret, forcing you to call back and repair the damage, real or imagined.

  Meanwhile, you look indecisive, while email, which rarely demands a truly immediate response, lets you be analytical, creative, insightful, even humorous. It also allows you to organize your thoughts in draft form, outline them roughly in logical sequence, and then set the whole thing aside for a fresh look a few minutes, a few hours, even a day or so later. Eventually, if what you write is so cogent and concise that it makes your original correspondent's job easier, you've established yourself as a professional and responsive communicator.

  Remember: E-mail, saturated though it may be with highly expendable spam and lightweight personal messages, will be saved or printed out and retained when it gets someone's attention. In other words, your writing, good or bad, can leave a permanent impression of you.  

  So it all starts with proper respect for the language. But there's much more to consider when it comes to using e-mail wisely. Over the years, I've fashioned a few tips:

  • Be considerate -- Don't write when you're angry and don't be sarcastic. That might make you feel better, but why make the recipient feel like a victim?

  • Slow down -- Hitting "send" without careful self-editing can leave the kind of language mistakes that make the reader wonder: What else is wrong with this e-mail? Is it accurate? The same goes for the attachment. If you announce it, then forget to attach it, you look sloppy and frazzled.

  • Make your points -- By forcing yourself to keep the whole message to a screen or less, you can make your points or action items in bulleted form. Don't ever forget that your readers are busy people.

  • Manage your email -- Handle incoming stuff two to four times a day, instead of interrupting your other work every time you see a "you've got e-mail" message.

  • Be empathetic -- Try to answer e-mail the same day. Being thorough and attentive can increase respect for the way you do business.

  • Be efficient -- In the subject line, use keywords like "new meet time Tues 7/10" rather than generic terms like "update" or "FYI." That kind of phrasing will encourage people to actually open the email. 

  • Be careful -- Nothing sent by e-mail is truly private.

  Ultimately, and to repeat myself, it all comes back to taking pride in your work, even if it's "just" a brief memo. Consider the following examples of rushed business communications, and ask yourself what they say about the writer:

-- In an office: "After tea break, staff should empty the teapot and stand upside down on the draining board."

-- A sign in an office bathroom: "Toilet out of order. Please use floor below."

-- In an office: "Would the person who took the step ladder yesterday please bring it back or further steps will be taken."

-- Notice distributed during a conference: "For anyone who has children and doesn't know it, there is a day care on the first floor."