Workplace communication ...

melody921 · October 2013

sucks in most places, from what I've seen. As a PR director, it's kind of my job to get everyone talking effectively, but it's HARD sometimes. I got a request from a colleague who's undertaking a project with upper management to improve communication, and I'm supposed to meet with him tomorrow morning to give my input. What say you, S12, what are some critical things people should consider when communicating in the workplace? Here's what I have so far in my notes:

1. respond to people in a timely fashion (considering our CEO NEVER replies to email, this is a big problem here)

2. make emails professional

3. watch email tone (be polite in general)

4. you don't always need a million meetings to make a decision

5. do a little research to find out who can help you with a task before you dump it on them (it helps to have job descriptions or a workplace flow chart so people know what others do)

6. utilize the internal employee newsletter to disperse pertinent communication

hmp1 · October 2013

Pick up the phone. I feel like this is a big problem for the younger generation, newer to the workplace. I use emails for almost everything, but if I need a quick response, I call.

hmp1 · October 2013

Regarding email etiquette: don't use a background, use a standard font, have a simple signature (no quotes or pictures), keep your email short and to the point (while still being polite). The last one is more if you are sending emails to people that use their phone often for receiving emails. I hate scrolling through a long ass email on my phone that could have been a few sentences.

melody921 · October 2013

hmp1 said:

Regarding email etiquette: don't use a background, use a standard font, have a simple signature (no quotes or pictures), keep your email short and to the point (while still being polite). The last one is more if you are sending emails to people that use their phone often for receiving emails. I hate scrolling through a long ass email on my phone that could have been a few sentences.

OMG, we have a woman here who uses a fancy font on everything. It drives me nuts.

jenndub · October 2013

Spell my name right when you email me! Asshole new attorney, I'm looking at you.

Use please and thank you, even if you're the boss. Being polite motivates people to work hard for you, being a shit makes me not care.

melody921 · October 2013

jenndub said:

Spell my name right when you email me! Asshole new attorney, I'm looking at you.

Use please and thank you, even if you're the boss. Being polite motivates people to work hard for you, being a shit makes me not care.

And don't address me as Mr. People don't even try sometimes.

melody921 · October 2013

BunkinMama said:

jenndub said:

Spell my name right when you email me! Asshole new attorney, I'm looking at you.

Use please and thank you, even if you're the boss. Being polite motivates people to work hard for you, being a shit makes me not care.

And don't address me as Mr. People don't even try sometimes.
I got slammed for addressing a guy as Mr. instead of Dr. This is my 3rd week here, I don't know everyone yet and the address book only has first and last names, no titles...

That's different. But not figuring out the gender of someone who emails you ALL THE TIME, just from another campus, is lazy IMO.

MommaP12 · October 2013

I also believe that if an email chain goes back and forth more than 4 times you should move on to setting up a meeting instead of having a huge email chain going back and forth forever.

OceanLover26 · October 2013

I'm not in a professional environment yet but I did take a class on professional communication last spring to help me for when I do. The linguistics class I am in right now just handed out an assignment that said "explain how style guides suggest the usage of passive and active voice for professional communication and documents." Well, most of them said avoid so much passive use because it's wordy and in professional emails and documents you need to get to the point. Using a little isn't so bad, but a lot is frowned upon. (according to the style guide) Well about 10 people post to omit the usage in the class discussion board and ONE guy had to be that guy and say "I find it ignorant that the style guides suggest that. I find it poetic to use it and it sounds better." It just irrationally burned me up to read that for some reason. I mean, "ignorant?" I don't know if he didn't understand the point the style guides were making or if he just really thought it wouldn't be as frowned upon as they think it would. Either way I felt stabby after it.
I like that you posted this because I like to read up on everyone's input to prepare in any way I can for professional environment stuff.

willy_gert · October 2013

This may only happen to me, but I get emails where it is a chain between others and they just say "see below". I don't have time to read through your sixty emails to find out the decision that was made and the appropriate approvals that were sent via email. So, I much prefer when I get a synopsis and the person highlights the information I need in red or something like that. I understand that the decision is made without my "email presence" which is fine, but seriously, a synopsis would help....

I agree about the signatures, font, and background, drives me up the wall!

willy_gert · October 2013

Also, I don't think it hurts to use the "High Importance" marker on your emails when it is something urgent or needs to be looked at ASAP. Or even the "low importance" marker when it is a thinking email or something to that effect.

hmp1 · October 2013

willy_gert said:

This may only happen to me, but I get emails where it is a chain between others and they just say "see below". I don't have time to read through your sixty emails to find out the decision that was made and the appropriate approvals that were sent via email. So, I much prefer when I get a synopsis and the person highlights the information I need in red or something like that. I understand that the decision is made without my "email presence" which is fine, but seriously, a synopsis would help....

I agree about the signatures, font, and background, drives me up the wall!

This was a big thing for me when I was a manager. I told my staff to never fwd me an email that said "See below and advise". I directed them to send me a brief summary of the situation and what they thought we should do, and ask for my approval for their solution. I found it a great technique to get people to problem solve for themselves instead of passing everything along.

eshee8198 · October 2013

- Summarize actions and/or requests at the end of the email:
* make them clear and actionable - let people know what you want them to do.
* give a deadline for both action and non-action, and describe next steps (example, please let me know by [date] if you have feedback, otherwise I will xxxx.)
- If there is a timely deadline, include it in the email subject line.
- If there are more than three requests, points, or paragraphs, make it a meeting.
- If you can't keep your email to less than half a page, make it a meeting.
- If you make it a meeting, send out notes, including summarized action items, afterwards.

I also think a big part of office communication is project management - know who needs to be involved from an SME, decision maker, reviewer, approver role in advance, and have a timeline and workflow for the project. That way everyone is in the loop BEFORE action is required.

melody921 · October 2013

eshee8198 said:

- Summarize actions and/or requests at the end of the email:
* make them clear and actionable - let people know what you want them to do.
* give a deadline for both action and non-action, and describe next steps (example, please let me know by [date] if you have feedback, otherwise I will xxxx.)
- If there is a timely deadline, include it in the email subject line.
- If there are more than three requests, points, or paragraphs, make it a meeting.
- If you can't keep your email to less than half a page, make it a meeting.
- If you make it a meeting, send out notes, including summarized action items, afterwards.

I also think a big part of office communication is project management - know who needs to be involved from an SME, decision maker, reviewer, approver role in advance, and have a timeline and workflow for the project. That way everyone is in the loop BEFORE action is required.

Nice. Thanks, everyone!

Hyaline · October 2013

OceanLover26 said:

I'm not in a professional environment yet but I did take a class on professional communication last spring to help me for when I do. The linguistics class I am in right now just handed out an assignment that said "explain how style guides suggest the usage of passive and active voice for professional communication and documents." Well, most of them said avoid so much passive use because it's wordy and in professional emails and documents you need to get to the point. Using a little isn't so bad, but a lot is frowned upon. (according to the style guide) Well about 10 people post to omit the usage in the class discussion board and ONE guy had to be that guy and say "I find it ignorant that the style guides suggest that. I find it poetic to use it and it sounds better." It just irrationally burned me up to read that for some reason. I mean, "ignorant?" I don't know if he didn't understand the point the style guides were making or if he just really thought it wouldn't be as frowned upon as they think it would. Either way I felt stabby after it.
I like that you posted this because I like to read up on everyone's input to prepare in any way I can for professional environment stuff.

I love passive voice. In professional email, it was often the difference for me between "Bob forgot to include the due date in the email we sent to students. We need a redo" and "The due date in the email that was just sent was omitted. We need a redo." Finger of blame, averted. Thank you, passive voice.

Hyaline · October 2013

Include everyone in email who needs to be included. But no more. I should not be getting copied on umpteen emails that require no action or attention from me "just because."

If something has the potential to become contentious later on, send it in email so everyone looks at it in writing. Eliminates some problems up front by providing a base for people to agree or disagree, and covers everyone later to avoid "but I thought you said in that meeting that..." Nope. It's right there. In the email. That we all read.

Go to the person you need to go to. Not the other person in their department you like better or who is easier to talk to. Don't make other people be your go-between (I'm looking at you, IT guy who refused to talk to anyone in our office but me).

bosha711 · October 2013

Learn the difference between Reply & Reply All.

linzeek44 · October 2013

My pet peeve is ten million emails to nail down a meeting time.
Seriously. Doodle or other similar things can solve that and is a lot faster than clogging up the inbox.

LLBean2012 · October 2013

@linzeek44 -- what's doodle? I'm intrigued...

hmp1 · October 2013

linzeek44 said:

My pet peeve is ten million emails to nail down a meeting time. Seriously. Doodle or other similar things can solve that and is a lot faster than clogging up the inbox.

I use Microsoft Office Scheduling Assistant. It's impossible to get everyone free so I just say to send a proxy if they can't make it.

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