How To Write A Email

There is an art form to most. Having principles are important. If you are a person who suffers from social anxiety so debilitating that you cannot pick up the phone to chat with people and you rather opt out of talking by sending emails as your mode of communication then your emails should be top tier almost masterpieces! All of your emails should read with ease, clarity , intent, action and comprehensively captured. This means that your first email should land. I can't tell you how many times I've received emails and it made no sense what the request was for, who the person was talking too and most of all I'm not the correct recipient of this request . "But it has words so I thought it went to the legal department"....Do you know what this tells me about people who work this way ?

They are relying on others to do their jobs. People who throw task over the fence are not as naive as they want you to believe (that's another blog topic for another day). We have all worked with a work damsel in distress. These people are truly resourceful and aren't as silly as they act. If you are top tier talent, everyone around you becomes well aware of this and they learn this quickly! If you allow them, they will intentionally cause confusion and unnecessary work for the unintentional party, YOU. Do not fall for this trick! Sometimes for the sake of time, we just do it for people. Six (6) months later, you are stressed, burned out needing to go out on some sort of medical leave due to stress and you won't know why intentionally! The gag is, you do know why so stop doing it! You stop causing undo stress by setting boundaries. Realistic boundaries!

It's not always about giving the answer(s) right away. Ask, discover and explore, what are your working principles (journal prompt for you)? Understand the intent of the email communication before you send it. This blog post is to empower you to get what you need in a timely manner on the first attempt . In order for you to get what you need from people on the first attempt, you must break this down philosophically. If you understand philosophically how things work, you can proceed scientifically. Lets break this down:

The Purpose Of A Email

In context we are discussing the use of emails professionally.

High level most work emails intent is too:

A. Request/Communicate Information

B. Send/Receive Documents

C. Confirm Record

Consider emails to be long form unlimited text messages. If your goal is to get in and get out (based on your preference to email vs call), your communications should offer the same at the onset. I have a magic number and that is three (3). If you are sending me over three (3) emails about a subject that I know I'm being very clear, I am going to pick up the phone to discuss with you eliminating all of the back and fourth communications. Swiftly, I am able to deduce that you did not communicate effectively within the email that you initiated hence you are an inefficient task master attempting to check another task off your list hastily. When you work this way, you risk wasting more time than necessary.

Lets Explore Some Email Basics

Addressing People Properly (Email Etiquette) :

Always address the person via their First/Last Name if its internal (depending on the relationship) i.e Hello/Hi Denise , if I am communicating with a third party that so happens to be a physician i.e Hello Dr. Wealth , I hope all is well...Approach all email communications respectfully and conscious of peoples time. I can tell you from experience, if I have to spend more than a few minutes on trying to translate your email, I will put your email to the side, revisiting later. Based on how you communicate, I can determine how much time it will take to handle your request.

The Subject Line, Who, What , Where & Why :

The Subject Line determines the velocity of response. Read that twice!

Put your call to action in the subject line (this is what the intent of the subject line is for). i.e For your review _ redline(s) response from Dr. Wealth , Request for status update on the Michael Myers Case (if you don't have access to contract repositories) ,

Meeting request_redline review for the indemnification clause section 2.3 - Acceptance Paralegal Services LLC.

Consider the who prior to you sending your email. Who/Where Are you writing, sending or forwarding this email and is it to the correct person ? Are you knowingly sending this email to the wrong person because you do not know where the email goes? There is a lot of the latter in todays work environments. If you are unsure of where a email goes which should be a deal breaker in the email communications moving foreword (hard stop), instant message your peers or manager asserting a little due diligence to ensure the emails goes to the rightful owner the first time. Aim to understand everyone's job responsibilities around you so you can be efficient.

If you are a person who hands task off due to the nature of your job role or you are just doing this handoff as a one time deal, provide the same considerations that you would want especially when you are at work and you work at high volume.

What/Why if you landed the correct person on the first go, refer to the tips previously provided above. To add to this, if you understand the goal, you are better equip to write, forward or send appropriate emails. It only takes a few moments to organize your thoughts, communicate with clarity and provide a one (1) to two (2) line recap in the email. Again, I can't tell you how many emails I receive at work that ONLY says "see below". I have email rules set up just so these sort of emails go into a folder that I check once a week so please be mindful especially if you'd like actions returned within a timely manner. Just consider others may be doing the very same thing with such half baked email communications.

When writing emails of any kind, before you attempt to hit send, please proof read . Make sure your grammar and spelling makes sense. Most of us have been guilty of misspelling words especially if you use auto-correct. Mistakes happen! However when you go beyond a word or two, grammatically making no sense and your context is missing and the attached document you mentioned is actually missing from the email and you have "refer to attached", "Molly Girl" we have a problem. Slow down, it's ok to save emails in draft mode and return later for review. As many documents and contracts I review in a day my eyes/brain will sometimes adjust. There are times when I have to just leave a drafted email to the next day before I can respond so I get it right. Get to know yourself and evaluate how you work, revisit those work principles I encouraged you to discover for and about yourself (above)!

Reply to emails!

I didn't think I would have to say this but I do! No reply is an answer. Believe me, you do not want the person who sent you the email to come up with a reason to why you didn't reply. You could cost your company business and tons of profit if people feel unacknowledged. You never know who is truly on the other end of emails so do not chance it. You don't want to have to apologize for such carelessness, the person on the receiving end could hold a grudge forever. People have encountered job loss as a result, so don't think it can't happen to you! Learn how the Undo Sent Email action work. With some applications i.e Outlook, they send the email anyway however, the person still receives the email but, you tried to recall it, will notify them as well. The Undo at least shows that you attempted to make a wrong right.

Be aware, be kind and most of all, treat people like you would like to be treated!