World Colleges Information

Whether it is that firm click on the mouse or the soft touch on your laptop or the gentle push on your smartphone, sending emails is part and parcel at any white-collar work. The frequency of the routine may vary, the number of mails handled may differ each day and the time span of reception or sending may remain inconsistent, but you just can’t walk away from the act or rather the inevitable responsibility. Whether interacting with your manager, or communicating with your colleague, or taking up a matter with the human resource personnel, or dealing with day-to-day clients, emails have become the norm. Emails have turned to be the indispensable ingredient that tacitly complements your job profile. Still, many don’t realise the significance or sensitivity attached to emailing and just go through the motions, approaching the vital communication aspect with the same casualness of sipping morning coffee.

Like many of the cut-and-dry things in our life, emailing will remain an smooth, mundane, effortless procedure unless you commit hara-kiri and things go horribly wrong following which the reality dawns on you that emailing is not that simple as you had though. The must-have realization, which would serve you better in the future, is that emailing has to be learned and with a little bit of caution, with the aid of a more professional approach, you could master the drill too.

JUDGMENT FACTOR

The content of a mail is probably the most vital part of emailing. Right from the subject handled to tone of the language to probable grammatical or spelling errors, emails demand an eye for detail. Content judgment is the tricky part here. What to exclude becomes as crucial as what to include in the mail. For example, salary-related issues should better be discussed only with your manager or human resource staff. It is ideal to keep a safe distance from any sensitive issue. So the golden rule is when in doubt, stay away from it.

And, if the issue is so tempting to be put in to the mail, a feasible choice is to discuss it with a trusted colleague.

Being a communication tool, you need to comprehend that there is a recipient or multiple recipients for every email you send and to put the persons at the other end at ease should be a top-most objective. Hence, easy readability of the mail is a must. In order to ensure that idea conveyed is not lost among long paragraphs, it is better to break up the content. Effective use of bullets, numbers and lists can help to split the content. Effective usage of subject line too is equally vital because it is the first thing the recipients will notice. An attractive, to-the-point subject line can make all the difference whether a recipient will open or delete the mail. If your mail requires urgent attention, mention ‘important’ or ‘urgent’ in the subject line.

Proofreading is a sine qua non which should be given first priority. Typos, wrong punctuation, poor grammar and careless use of cases can damage your name as well as make the reading more cumbersome for the recipient. If you are inattentive to details and mistakes creep in, you and your work will be branded sloppy. On the other hand, a precise, perfect mail can create a magic feeling. Brevity is a necessitous asset to have while handling emails and if you spend more than 10 minutes to key in an email, chances are high that your mail is long and winding. You must understand that more people have no time for your long mails. Sweet and short – these are the key facets of good emails. Be direct with your writing and state the message in a non-convoluted manner so that the reader should not be dragged to read the mail from start to end to understand its gist. Always try to be courteous in your writing as a ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ can have wonderful effects in the response of the recipient. The use of too much first person in the mail too can be avoided.

THE OTHER END

Deciding on whom to send the mail when there are multiple recipients involved is vital. Here too, seeking advice from a trusted colleague is the preferred option. If you are in doubt about who should be receiving your emails, ask your manager for guidance. Do wait till the very last minute before you key in the list of names in the recipients’ list. That is the deterrent as an accidental hit before completing the mail can lead you to trouble. Write the mail first and keep the addressing part as the penultimate step, before sending. You need to be extra cautious while using the ‘reply all’ button and send the mail only to those required. If you are unsure whether everyone who needs to be addressed are not mentioned in the address list, then conclude your message with a polite request to forward the mail to those you have been missed by mistake. If you feel that there is scope for misinterpretation of your mail, fi le it in the drafts folder and go through it multiple times before ensuring a delivery with a stamp of clarity on it. Do not copy people in your mail but for a valid reason to do so. Follow hierarchy or alphabetical order depending upon the situation at hand while keying in the recipient list and be consistent with the order followed.

Also, be careful while sending attachments as many prefer not to open an attachment which is unfamiliar rather than risk any virus or such harmful elements. It is more likely that the recipients will read the matter if you put a hyperlink to the document in the body of the mail than an attachment.

The use of weird fonts, distracting colours and heavy graphic should be skirted. Skip the usage of all caps as it is suggestive of rudeness or impoliteness. Utilising lowercase alone can bit you back as it sensed as a casual way of communication, devoid of any seriousness and purpose. To highlight key words, employ asterisk or exclamation mark.

It is preferable not to send personal mails using the company server. Use your office infrastructure and hours for work-related mails alone. Refrain from sending mails with strong emotional taste as such mails will do more harm than good and may affect your reputation.

Forward mail is another issue that needs to be managed well. You may get loads of forwards, sometimes harmless jokes and cartoons, but stay away from further circulating them among your colleagues. A cool joke may hurt someone whom you might not even have thought about at that instance and even if one of your colleagues have forwarded it you, don’t entertain others to send such materials to your mail in the first place and refrain from sending it to a wider audience. In case where a mail snowballs into an embarrassing, controversial issue, you might be held responsible for forwarding the matter and fingers will be pointed at you as well as the original sender.

ON THE RIGHT SIDE

Understanding the general cyber laws of the land and specific rules at your workplace besides the company policies is needed. A basic understanding will ensure that you are on the right side of the law each and every time.

For someone in a managerial role, email should not be used as a tool for training your team members and should not be a substitute for face-to-face meetings. Mails do have tones, that are mostly very subtle, and it may be difficult for at least some to grasp the tone.

Just like sending, responding to an email also requires a guarded approach. Besides periodic, regular search of your inbox, you need to reply to the mails on time. Delay you response only if there is a good, rational reason. Missing a mail sent by your manager can be embarrassing, particularly if it was related to an important task to be taken up on a time-bound manner. Assigning folders with set rules for your higher-ups as well as for different categories can make the screening and filtering of your inbox more comfortable.

BUDDING MANAGERS

FEBRUARY 2015 ISSUE