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Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
How you express your thoughts in written communications has always been an important asset
in the business world. With today's technology-enhanced communication, such as e-mails,
virtual-teams, and collaborative e-space, our writing skills are even more important in affecting
how others perceive us and our organization. Therefore it is important that we make our emails
effective.
DOCUMENT
SPIDER AUDIENCE
PURPOSE
Internal Team
Inform?
Team members?
Invite? Peers?
Immediate manager?
Update? Executives?
Apologise?
External Team
Bring to attention/notice?
Vendors?
Clients?
It is important to consider the purpose and also the level of the users before we compose any
mail.
Activity: Choose any scenario from work, preferably a challenging one and create a Document
Spider
Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
a) For mails to be read: possibility of your mails going to the trash without a subject line
d) Be neutral
e) Be specific
Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
1) You had informed your team that the meeting with DCS client had been postponed. Now
the meeting is going to take place as first planned
Sub Line:_____________________________________________________________
2) A colleague located elsewhere has not sent a critical update. The DPE is pressurizing you for
it. This is not the first time the colleague has delayed sending important information.
Sub Line:_____________________________________________________________
3) Your DPE demands an explanation for certain accounts persistently being in RED.
Sub Line:_____________________________________________________________
4) You have recently been the Business Development Officer and have been asked to get in
touch with one of your prestigious clients, who hasnt off late been giving substantial
business.
Sub Line:______________________________________________________________
5) Off late there are several Customer Satisfaction issues with one of the competencies that
you work with. You are conveying your frustration over this scenario.
Sub Line:______________________________________________________________
Salutations are an effective way of setting the atmosphere of the email. It allows the
readers to get into the right frame of mind, preparing them for your message. Including the
receivers name in the salutation, personalizes the email.
Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
E.g.: This is to give you an update on the meeting that our team had with the Sending
Geo DPE
E.g.: The agenda of the meeting was to develop strategies to turn the Red accounts
into Green
E.g.: Therefore we have decided to follow all the action points generated with
immediate effect across all accounts.
4) Use a pre sign off: E.g.: Do get back for any clarification
Use to add another thought and, or, nor, also, moreover, furthermore,
indeed, in fact, first, second, third, in addition
Use to add, illustrate, or expand a or instance, for example, for one thing,
point similarly, likewise
Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
Writing, like speaking, requires an organizational flow. The simple structure that we could
confirm to in our writing is:
b) Tell them
In addition to ensuring that we structure information appropriately, we could use the following
suggestions to make our writing more readable:
a) Use the bullet symbol to create a list of items where sequence is not important
Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
One of the ways to make our mails effective is to keep it concise. Clear, impactful writing uses
only as many words as needed to convey thoughts. Unnecessary words add clutter and distract
from the intent of your message. When you eliminate clutter, the text that remains becomes
much stronger.
a) Wordiness:
It means using more words than necessary. In business situations, people do not have the
time to wade through extraneous words. The following table shows some examples of using
concise words to replace wordy phrases:
b) Redundancy:
Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
It refers to a phrase that conveys the same meaning twice. The following table shows some
examples of concise words that replace redundant phrases:
c) Intensifiers:
d) Inflated Language:
Some of us have the temptation to use pompous words to impress a reader. It is important
that we use simple language for the benefit of a diverse audience. If the inflated word is the
best choice for your intent, use it. But if a synonym is simpler and says the same thing, use
it instead. Use a thesaurus when necessary. The following table shows some examples of
clear words that replace inflated ones:
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Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
beauteous beautiful
differential difference
requisite required, needed
deleterious harmful
e) Delayers:
It refers to sentences that begin with words and phrases that postpone your main idea. Use
of delayers leads to the information losing impact, as it is pushed back and use of too many
words in the sentence.
1) There is
2) There were
3) There are
4) It is
5) It was
6) It had been
Example:
With Delayer: There are helpful hints in this Participant Manual that can improve writing
Without Delayer: The Participant Manual has helpful hints to improve writing
By enhancing the impact of our writing, we ensure that our mails are effective. The different
ways to make our mails more impactful are:
Negative ideas are as legitimate as positive ones, however negatively worded sentences
are usually less emphatic than positive ones. They also make for wordiness and result in
a slight loss of readability. For example:
Claudette did not do well on the test. Claudette did poorly on the test.
Gerry was not convicted. Gerry was acquitted.
Luis has no trust in facilitators. Luis distrusts facilitators.
Sandy's bonus was not significant. Sandy's bonus was insignificant.
Lee did not arrive on time. Lee arrived late.
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Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
Our sentences can be strengthened and also made concise by the use of Active voice, as
passive voice renders our sentences long and also separates the actor from the action.
For example:
Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
However passive voice has its own application especially to construct diplomatic
sentences.
One of the ways to make your writing impactful is to use strong verbs rather than use a verb with
a modifier. This will ensure that the right impact is conveyed and you express using a single
word. For example:
E.g.: With modifier: Khalid asked lots of questions of the class during the breakout
session
Strong Verb: Khalid quizzed the class during the breakout session
A Flame mail is a mail sent to ridicule, complain or chastise the recipient. It is important to
note that we dont respond to a Flame with another Flame. We need to look beyond the
Flame and look to fighting it fair.
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Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
2) Write as directly and clear as possible- Consider how the other person might
misinterpret your language, and take more time to explain thoughts that might easily be
misinterpreted
3) Establish an empathic resonance- first agree to or join the receiver in their thoughts
or feelings, before moving away and further explaining your point of view. Don't start by
putting them on the defensive. Let them know you listen and understand what they are
saying.
4) Beware of pre conceived notions- you may misinterpret his or her message. If
you're not sure about his or her meaning or intent, communicate your confusion. ASK
before you make assumptions which may not be accurate, and before you treat
those assumptions as if they are fact.
5) Take responsibility for your part in the conflict- Apologize honestly and sincerely
6) Take time to work through your raw feelings- Take time to clarify your reactions
and thoughts or to feel ready to communicate openly with the other person
7) Do not get lost in the content of the argument- Stay close to how you feel and
how the other person feels. Aim to heal the hurt or angry FEELINGS rather than change
the other's perception of reality. He/she may not be able to see your point of view
Remember: Know when to LET GO. You may not be able to change another person's
perceptions or interpretations of a situation, and may have to validate yourself or look for
validation elsewhere if the other person can't fully grasp your point of view
When communicating through emails, it is important that we make the right choice of words
or use the right vocabulary that will provide for clear communication of our ideas and
thoughts. It is important that the type and level of our audience and adjust our vocabulary
accordingly. It is worthwhile to constantly work at improving our knowledge of words.
Some tips to remember about the choice of words that we make are:
Avoid slang
Avoid jargon
Avoid colloquialism
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Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
Avoid idioms
Tone in writing refers to the writer's attitude toward the reader and the subject of the
message. The overall tone of a written message affects the reader just as one's tone of
voice affects the listener in everyday exchanges. Ultimately, the tone of a message is a
reflection of the writer and it does affect how the reader will perceive the message.
Fortunately, we can use the same kind of tone for most business messages. Ensure to
Be confident
Be courteous and sincere
Use contractions
It is especially important to consider tone when you are writing a negative message. In a
negative message, be sure to assume a tone that is gracious and sincere. Thank the reader for
their input or involvement and carefully state that you cannot comply with their wishes. Follow
this response with an explanation as necessary.
It is best not to draw attention to the person performing the action that will likely displease the
reader.
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Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
Therefore
a) You may want to avoid using active voice when delivering negative messages.
b) You might also avoid stressing the reader benefits unless there are clear benefits to the
negative message. It can sound insincere to stress reader benefits in a negative
message.
In some negative messages, you may need to address faults or issues concerning an individual.
When writing messages such as this, maintain a professional tone that does not attack the
individual but that makes your position on the issue clear.
E.g.: Not -I do not understand why you made such discriminatory remarks.
But -Discriminated remarks are not tolerated in this organization
3) Those who read information that has been translated from English into their primary
language.
Remember to use unbiased language in your information as that also affects the
tone. Avoid making assumptions about gender or race in your writing
It is important to note that it is not only important to get our content right in our emails,
but also pay attention to how we sign off with the appropriate tone, close with the
intended meaning getting across..
a) Spell out the meaning of the abbreviation or acronym in the text, at the first occurrence
E.g.: The Service Level Agreement (SLA) has to be reviewed every quarter to suit the
ever changing facing of business or it will lead to several SLA breaches.
Organization Development
Enhancing Email Etiquette
E.g.: Could you please send across the document so that the case can be closed please?
c) When dates are written, spell them out so that they are understood across cultures
E.g.:
http://learning.atlanta.ibm.com/hr/your_career/learning/employee_learnin
g/eli01.nsf/Content/85256CAD%3A0070F510
1) We can able to send across the project schedule.- Incorrect
We can send across the project schedule or We will be able to send across the project
http://www.britishcouncil.org/professionals-lesson-downloads-business-writ
schedule. - Correct
ing-homepage.htm
2) As you know that we have completed the task. So we will dispatch it- Sentence
fragment- Incorrect
http://www.businesswritingtips.com/
As you know that we have completed the task, the dispatch will be sent. Correct
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/category/business-writing/
If you have the habit of setting all your mails on high priority level, irrespective of their
nature, then people may not take your mails seriously and may turn a blind eye on your
priority level.
http://www.editorialservice.com/11ways.html
http://www.word-mart.com/html/business_writing_tips.html
http://www.businessballs.com/writing.htm
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Organization Development