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The Keyboard Is Mightier Than The Sword
How many e-mails leave your employees' mailboxes on a daily basis? According to yedda.com, the average per day stands at 71.51. Do the calculation.
Multiply that number by the number of your employees. The total should give you pause, as each e-mail has the potential to build or to implode your business.
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SIERRA PACIFIC APPAREL
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TOP SHELF TIP NO. 29
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."
Robert Frost, American poet, 1874-1963 | |
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Even small business owners should take stock of e-mails they send out on a daily basis. You may be surprised at how sloppy or careless you've become.
Now, no one is asking you to inspect each and every message leaving your employees' sent folder. Naturally, you expect everyone in your employ to use common sense and courtesy when communicating with the public, whether they are customers or colleagues.
Or do they? Consider these real life stories:
Damaged: A Fortune 1000 company fatally damaged its relationship with a significant Japanese firm based on an e-mail from the accounting department. In response to a query, the company's account representative answered with a two-word lower case message.
Resolution: Do a communication audit. Take a random sampling of your employees' e-mails and see what it reveals. From there, begin a dialogue, offer training and develop some parameters around acceptable messaging.
Fired: "I am a very busy person. I'm just too slammed to follow any writing rules," said the human resource director of an international consulting firm. Her disrespect for her colleagues and a truculent attitude got her fired. Can you just imagine how she treated the firm's clients?
Resolution: Craft an e-mail style guide. First, facilitate a discussion among your teams about how they will treat clients and peers through the written word. Topics might include greetings and closings, signature block content, and time allowed before returning e-mail messages. Then, determine the standards to which you can all agree regarding writing style and tone. This guide will reflect your expectations around the care and treatment of all.
Think Before You Write
These stories should drive home the point that managing your risk is paramount. With e-mail now the single most important communication vehicle today, you must mitigate the damage of destructive messages that can destroy careers, opportunities and reputations.
Do you know what your employees are writing? Have you reviewed what you write? Do you know how much money you are losing each year by ineffective or inappropriate messages?
Think about developing an action plan for improving e-mail through training and coaching. And, think publishing a style guide along with an e-mail protocol.
Remember e-mail now extends your company's brand.
Source: Dr. Julie Miller, founder of Business Writing That Counts, is a national consultant and trainer. She and her team work with executives who want to hone their writing skills and professionals who want to advance their careers. Some of her clients are: Microsoft, Washington Mutual Bank, Verizon Wireless, and Cisco Systems. | |
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