WEBVTT - How To Email and Slack Like A Man 0:00:06.610 --> 0:00:10.650 You're listening to a Mom with Me podcast. 0:00:13.690 --> 0:00:18.010 Hello, and welcome to biz your work Life Sorted. I'm 0:00:18.130 --> 0:00:21.130 m Vernon and today we're diving into something that's probably 0:00:21.170 --> 0:00:24.690 been flooding your TikTok feed. It's the email like a 0:00:24.689 --> 0:00:25.369 Man trend. 0:00:25.810 --> 0:00:26.410 So you know that. 0:00:26.410 --> 0:00:29.050 Moment when you're crafting what you think is a perfectly 0:00:29.130 --> 0:00:32.490 professional email and then suddenly you realize you've used five 0:00:32.530 --> 0:00:35.849 exclamation points, three emojis, and apologized twice for something that 0:00:35.930 --> 0:00:38.650 isn't even your fault. Well, this trend speaks to so 0:00:38.770 --> 0:00:41.290 many women who do this and are trying to unlearn 0:00:41.370 --> 0:00:44.970 this way of emailing. And today our career coaches Michelle 0:00:44.970 --> 0:00:48.250 Battersby and soph Hurst are breaking down why women tend 0:00:48.290 --> 0:00:51.930 to soften their communication at work, and more importantly, how 0:00:51.970 --> 0:00:55.810 to strike that perfect balance between being direct and maintaining 0:00:55.810 --> 0:00:59.410 your authentic voice. Michelle's actually lived both sides of this, 0:00:59.690 --> 0:01:03.090 from the super direct world of investment banking to emoji 0:01:03.090 --> 0:01:06.850 friendly culture at Bumble and Soap's Go. Some fascinating insights 0:01:06.850 --> 0:01:09.690 from her time at Google about how the most effective 0:01:09.690 --> 0:01:13.689 communicator is actually right. Plus, they're sharing their top seven 0:01:13.770 --> 0:01:17.209 email mistakes We're making, yes, even the executives are making these, 0:01:17.250 --> 0:01:19.490 and trust me, you're gonna want to take notes on 0:01:19.530 --> 0:01:22.770 their practical swaps. For those cringe worthy corporate phrases we 0:01:22.850 --> 0:01:23.370 all use. 0:01:24.890 --> 0:01:29.369 It's given baby, never ever play me like I'm a I'm. 0:01:29.530 --> 0:01:31.929 Twenty twenty four is the year we email like man. 0:01:31.929 --> 0:01:33.929 If you're a corpora goody like me, you know how 0:01:33.929 --> 0:01:39.089 we subconsciously add exclamation points, emojis, kisses, and kindness because 0:01:39.089 --> 0:01:42.089 that's just who we are, But we rarely receive. 0:01:41.770 --> 0:01:44.009 The energy back from men by email. 0:01:44.209 --> 0:01:45.890 So here's two not apologizing. 0:01:46.209 --> 0:01:49.370 Here's to only putting one exclamation point in a paragraph 0:01:49.490 --> 0:01:52.249 instead of five, And here's two not asking people if 0:01:52.290 --> 0:01:53.410 that's okay with them. 0:01:53.770 --> 0:01:55.650 They will. 0:01:57.530 --> 0:02:01.450 So as I was thinking about this topic, I realized 0:02:01.490 --> 0:02:06.290 that I started my career writing like a man because 0:02:06.930 --> 0:02:10.810 I entered the workforce at an investment bank in an 0:02:10.930 --> 0:02:16.370 environment that I guess was designed by men and led 0:02:16.450 --> 0:02:20.490 by men, and so I therefore think the default communication 0:02:20.690 --> 0:02:26.410 style in the organization was written like a man. And 0:02:26.490 --> 0:02:29.010 I think, especially when you're earlier on in your career, 0:02:29.050 --> 0:02:32.290 you just model what's around you. So I would just 0:02:32.330 --> 0:02:35.370 receive these emails think okay, that's how I email, you 0:02:35.450 --> 0:02:38.810 match their tone, you match their vibe. And then I 0:02:38.850 --> 0:02:42.450 transitioned into working at Bumble and was met with a 0:02:42.490 --> 0:02:44.050 million exclamation marks. 0:02:44.370 --> 0:02:45.570 Did you change the way? 0:02:46.010 --> 0:02:49.490 Yes, yes, but I remember thinking, oh my god, this 0:02:49.570 --> 0:02:50.330 is so fun. 0:02:50.530 --> 0:02:54.810 You know, I get to use emojis, exclamation marks, kisses, 0:02:55.610 --> 0:02:59.810 felt very casual. It was just complete opposite ends of 0:02:59.850 --> 0:03:00.690 the spectrum. 0:03:00.770 --> 0:03:02.530 In a way, I think you're actually lucky to have 0:03:02.610 --> 0:03:03.770 had that experience. 0:03:04.130 --> 0:03:05.490 I wanted to look up if they're. 0:03:05.610 --> 0:03:08.530 Actually a difference between how men and women communicate, and 0:03:08.690 --> 0:03:10.490 there are a bunch of studies that show that there 0:03:10.730 --> 0:03:14.890 is obviously generalization, but women typically do use more indirect 0:03:14.970 --> 0:03:18.290 language and men will be more direct. For example, women 0:03:18.330 --> 0:03:21.330 can use more hedging language like just or I think 0:03:21.410 --> 0:03:23.810 or perhaps one of the most simple things you can 0:03:23.850 --> 0:03:28.850 do to make your emails stronger or to come across 0:03:28.890 --> 0:03:31.050 as more confident, there's a few words that you should 0:03:31.090 --> 0:03:34.130 just cut from your email vocabulary, and then there's some 0:03:34.170 --> 0:03:36.450 really simple phrase swaps that you can actually do. So 0:03:36.530 --> 0:03:38.250 I'll tell you just what a couple of I remember 0:03:38.290 --> 0:03:40.530 when someone taught me this. It was like quite early 0:03:40.530 --> 0:03:42.810 on in my career, and this amazing woman was like 0:03:42.970 --> 0:03:45.450 you know, you use these two words quite a lot, 0:03:45.490 --> 0:03:47.250 and if you just cut them out, you'll notice that 0:03:47.290 --> 0:03:49.450 you sound a lot stronger. So the first word is 0:03:49.650 --> 0:03:51.450 just so, you just don't need to say that, I 0:03:51.570 --> 0:03:54.250 just but so instead of you know, just checking in 0:03:54.410 --> 0:03:57.010 or just following up, just say checking in or following up. 0:03:57.050 --> 0:03:57.890 So just cut the word just. 0:03:58.610 --> 0:04:01.130 And then I think as well, so instead of saying 0:04:01.170 --> 0:04:03.610 you know, I think we should just say we should. 0:04:04.050 --> 0:04:05.890 There's a couple of others that I really like. So 0:04:06.050 --> 0:04:09.250 instead of sorry for the delay, say thanks for waiting. 0:04:10.130 --> 0:04:12.090 You know, if you've made a mistake on something, instead 0:04:12.090 --> 0:04:14.570 of saying sorry for missing that, say thanks for letting 0:04:14.610 --> 0:04:18.490 me know. And then the classic could per my last email, 0:04:18.490 --> 0:04:20.530 which is just so passive aggressive. I think that used 0:04:20.570 --> 0:04:22.930 to be fine to say, but now, just like so 0:04:23.010 --> 0:04:25.570 many people use it, I think it sounds really passive aggressive. 0:04:25.610 --> 0:04:27.969 So I prefer to just say, like, do you have 0:04:27.970 --> 0:04:29.890 any more questions on this? Or is there anything else 0:04:29.930 --> 0:04:32.130 I can help you with? To like reply kind of 0:04:32.130 --> 0:04:34.650 thing or respond to reply. But I do think the 0:04:34.690 --> 0:04:37.850 one thing that you really notice the difference between when 0:04:38.090 --> 0:04:40.290 you look at the way people who are more junior 0:04:40.530 --> 0:04:43.170 starting out in their career email versus people are getting 0:04:43.210 --> 0:04:44.529 more senior is just the length. 0:04:44.610 --> 0:04:44.810 Man. 0:04:44.930 --> 0:04:48.330 It's like, when you're starting out, you just I think 0:04:48.370 --> 0:04:50.810 a lot of young people just write these really long emails, 0:04:50.890 --> 0:04:53.330 and I think as you get more senior, you start 0:04:53.410 --> 0:04:55.810 to figure out that you don't need all that information. 0:04:56.650 --> 0:04:59.490 I will say, though, I love this TikTok that we 0:04:59.570 --> 0:05:02.330 will put in the newsletter. The caption is time to 0:05:02.330 --> 0:05:04.969 write emails like a CEO who earns forty times my 0:05:05.010 --> 0:05:07.490 salary and he has a whole bara cup of text 0:05:07.730 --> 0:05:10.089 which he then just deletes and in the subject line 0:05:10.090 --> 0:05:12.970 he writes, send the presentation. And the thing I talk 0:05:12.970 --> 0:05:14.730 to young people about this all the time, and they're like, well, 0:05:14.730 --> 0:05:17.130 that's fine for CEOs to write that way, but if I, 0:05:17.210 --> 0:05:19.690 as a junior person, wrote that way, that wouldn't be cool. 0:05:19.730 --> 0:05:20.610 And that's true. 0:05:20.850 --> 0:05:23.010 So I think, like we'll often say to young people like, 0:05:23.050 --> 0:05:25.650 you need to write shorulder emails. But then I actually 0:05:25.690 --> 0:05:28.690 have a bone to pick with execs in terms of 0:05:28.690 --> 0:05:30.450 the way they write emails. So we'll get into that 0:05:30.490 --> 0:05:32.810 a little bit later in the episode. Michelle, I want 0:05:32.810 --> 0:05:35.730 to know, so you had this experience of emailing like 0:05:35.730 --> 0:05:39.210 a man and then emailing like a woman fumble. 0:05:39.610 --> 0:05:40.250 How do you email? 0:05:40.290 --> 0:05:40.530 Now? 0:05:40.810 --> 0:05:42.529 So I do think my style is now more of 0:05:42.530 --> 0:05:45.570 a blend, and I actually do comb through my own 0:05:45.570 --> 0:05:48.450 emails and remove words like just because I've seen the 0:05:48.490 --> 0:05:51.450 research I've heard, you know, the kind of discourse on this. 0:05:51.610 --> 0:05:51.810 Yeah. 0:05:52.290 --> 0:05:55.970 But I also weirdly like reread my emails like three 0:05:56.010 --> 0:05:59.290 times before I send them. And I also once I 0:05:59.370 --> 0:06:02.610 send something, especially like a high pressure email that I've 0:06:02.650 --> 0:06:04.650 read through like five or six times before I've even 0:06:04.690 --> 0:06:07.570 pressed send, and then go into my scent folder and 0:06:07.610 --> 0:06:10.850 I read it again and I'm like, oh, did I 0:06:10.930 --> 0:06:12.810 do that well? And I'm like, is that just me? 0:06:13.170 --> 0:06:13.730 Do you do that? 0:06:13.930 --> 0:06:14.050 No? 0:06:14.170 --> 0:06:14.930 Yeah? Absolutely. 0:06:14.970 --> 0:06:17.090 I think the more senior or like, the more important 0:06:17.130 --> 0:06:18.810 the person is that you're emailing, and the more times 0:06:18.850 --> 0:06:19.570 you're going to read it. 0:06:19.770 --> 0:06:19.890 Yea. 0:06:20.050 --> 0:06:22.770 There is that function on Gmail where you can set it, 0:06:22.810 --> 0:06:24.810 so there's like a unsandal as. 0:06:24.810 --> 0:06:25.170 I do that. 0:06:25.290 --> 0:06:27.330 Yeah, because there's a psychological thing that happens in your 0:06:27.330 --> 0:06:29.130 brain the second you send it you're like, oh my god, I. 0:06:29.090 --> 0:06:30.010 Didn't put the thing in. 0:06:30.170 --> 0:06:30.410 Yeah. 0:06:30.450 --> 0:06:31.570 I think that's totally normal. 0:06:31.690 --> 0:06:33.410 But if you were doing that when you were emailing, 0:06:33.450 --> 0:06:35.810 like your co founder, then that would be kind of weird. 0:06:36.210 --> 0:06:37.210 Yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:06:37.290 --> 0:06:51.130 No, so so you have worked on tips for anyone 0:06:51.210 --> 0:06:55.330 listening things that might be undermining your email or slack style. 0:06:55.970 --> 0:06:58.610 I just cannot wait for these because I've also received 0:06:58.610 --> 0:07:02.450 your emails and they're really good. Like I've started modeling you. 0:07:03.210 --> 0:07:04.650 I just want to say for the record that I 0:07:04.690 --> 0:07:06.570 was never good at this stuff, so it's definitely something 0:07:06.570 --> 0:07:08.490 that you just get better out of time. I think 0:07:08.490 --> 0:07:11.290 it's so interesting, like we started writing more emails so 0:07:11.330 --> 0:07:14.010 we could have less meetings, and then we started using 0:07:14.050 --> 0:07:16.650 Slack more so that we could have less emails, and 0:07:16.690 --> 0:07:19.690 now we're even kind of lazier and more careless in Slack. 0:07:20.050 --> 0:07:21.850 So I do think it's really hard. I actually read 0:07:21.890 --> 0:07:25.130 the other day that a third of emails that we 0:07:25.210 --> 0:07:29.330 send at work that need a response go completely unchecked 0:07:29.410 --> 0:07:31.170 kind of thing. So I just think that we are 0:07:31.250 --> 0:07:33.690 completely drowning in text and we all need to help 0:07:33.730 --> 0:07:37.010 each other. So yeah, I think, just before I kind 0:07:37.010 --> 0:07:39.690 of get into the seven things, I will just say, 0:07:39.690 --> 0:07:42.930 with communication, we live in our own heads, right, and 0:07:42.930 --> 0:07:44.370 it makes sense like we're in our bodies, we're in 0:07:44.370 --> 0:07:47.170 our head, so so much about communicating is we sit 0:07:47.210 --> 0:07:49.970 there thinking, you know, what do I want to say 0:07:50.010 --> 0:07:51.570 to this person? What do I need to say? And 0:07:51.570 --> 0:07:54.450 we're kind of in our own heads. The best communicators 0:07:54.530 --> 0:07:56.410 get out of their own head and they think about 0:07:56.410 --> 0:07:58.730 the other person. And so the trap that we get 0:07:58.730 --> 0:08:00.410 into is we'll go to sit at our keyboard and 0:08:00.450 --> 0:08:02.570 we'll either be reacting to something that someone has said 0:08:02.570 --> 0:08:04.810 to us or we'll be thinking, okay, like what do 0:08:04.890 --> 0:08:07.050 I want to say? Really, you need to be thinking 0:08:07.090 --> 0:08:09.650 about the other person. What do they need to hear? 0:08:09.730 --> 0:08:11.290 What do they need to know now? And what can 0:08:11.330 --> 0:08:14.170 they maybe know later? What kind of situation are they 0:08:14.250 --> 0:08:16.250 going to be in when they receive your email or 0:08:16.250 --> 0:08:18.810 your plack message. Just like, think about them more, And 0:08:18.850 --> 0:08:21.290 I think the quickie you can learn that muscle memory 0:08:21.290 --> 0:08:23.970 of doing that all the time. It honestly takes ten 0:08:24.010 --> 0:08:27.490 seconds before you start typing. Just spend ten seconds thinking 0:08:27.530 --> 0:08:30.610 about the person or people that you're sending. 0:08:30.290 --> 0:08:33.170 Your communication to. I feel like I'm being a teacher now. 0:08:33.329 --> 0:08:36.969 No, I love it, But I know this sounds like hectic, 0:08:37.090 --> 0:08:37.650 extra work. 0:08:37.690 --> 0:08:38.530 I promise you it's not. 0:08:38.730 --> 0:08:40.370 And like, if we all get better at this, it's 0:08:40.370 --> 0:08:41.890 going to make everyone's lives easier. 0:08:42.410 --> 0:08:43.850 So did you learn to do that? 0:08:44.010 --> 0:08:46.329 So I was really bad, and I will say I 0:08:46.450 --> 0:08:49.010 can't actually type properly, so I type with three fingers. 0:08:49.410 --> 0:08:49.570 You know. 0:08:49.610 --> 0:08:50.450 I was never good at this. 0:08:50.530 --> 0:08:53.330 So I joined Google, and I think that's really where 0:08:53.330 --> 0:08:57.010 I learned because the engineers are very good at written communication, 0:08:57.170 --> 0:09:01.170 I have to say, so, same just like learning through modeling, modeling. 0:09:01.050 --> 0:09:02.370 Exactly, I learned through modly. 0:09:02.530 --> 0:09:02.890 Yeah. 0:09:02.970 --> 0:09:05.730 Yeah, if you are sitting there thinking is this email 0:09:05.770 --> 0:09:08.569 too long, the answer is yes. And even if you're 0:09:08.610 --> 0:09:11.330 not sitting there thinking that your email is still too long. 0:09:11.730 --> 0:09:14.130 So the shorter your email, the faster you're going to 0:09:14.170 --> 0:09:16.530 get a reply. And if someone can actually see if 0:09:16.570 --> 0:09:18.450 you think about your email on a like a mobile 0:09:18.450 --> 0:09:20.490 phone screen, if someone can actually see the end of it, 0:09:20.650 --> 0:09:22.290 they're way more likely to respond to you. 0:09:22.410 --> 0:09:23.530 This is such a good point. 0:09:23.690 --> 0:09:26.890 Yeah, So, honestly, when you're emailing, especially when you're emailing 0:09:27.010 --> 0:09:29.170 up to sort of seeing new people but really just anyone, 0:09:29.450 --> 0:09:32.610 you might be better off having a few short exchanges 0:09:32.650 --> 0:09:35.010 of like short things, rather than trying to put everything 0:09:35.050 --> 0:09:37.449 into one email. But it is a trade off, right, 0:09:37.490 --> 0:09:40.050 You can't put everything into a single email. You have 0:09:40.090 --> 0:09:43.770 to decide would I rather someone actually read these three 0:09:43.850 --> 0:09:46.210 points or risk trying to send them an email with 0:09:46.610 --> 0:09:47.890 fifteen points and know that. 0:09:47.890 --> 0:09:49.449 They're actually just not going to read it. 0:09:49.770 --> 0:09:52.090 So that's the first thing, is your email needs to 0:09:52.090 --> 0:09:54.130 be shorter, and just a couple of tips like it 0:09:54.210 --> 0:09:56.370 does really help to you can just put the text 0:09:56.450 --> 0:09:59.210 into chat, GPT or whatever your company's allowed to use 0:09:59.610 --> 0:10:03.209 and just say, reduce this by fifty percent. Obviously read 0:10:03.250 --> 0:10:04.850 it because it can cut out information you need. But 0:10:05.490 --> 0:10:08.010 the main trap people get suck in is you can't 0:10:08.010 --> 0:10:10.809 write a concise email unless you're clear about what you. 0:10:10.770 --> 0:10:11.290 Want to say. 0:10:11.370 --> 0:10:14.530 So back to my point before, just spend ten seconds 0:10:14.930 --> 0:10:16.810 thinking about what you actually need to say to this 0:10:16.890 --> 0:10:18.610 person before you start typing. 0:10:18.850 --> 0:10:21.250 I think when you receive an email and it looks 0:10:21.490 --> 0:10:24.530 fucking massive, you also can just take a quick glance 0:10:24.530 --> 0:10:27.010 at it, think oh my god, that's huge, mark it 0:10:27.050 --> 0:10:29.570 as unread, and then it just gets buried in your 0:10:29.610 --> 0:10:33.250 inbox and you've mentally marked it as it's in a 0:10:33.250 --> 0:10:35.209 bit of a too hard basket. It's going to take 0:10:35.210 --> 0:10:36.930 me some time, so I'm not even going to bother 0:10:37.010 --> 0:10:39.490 until I've got that time, which might not come around 0:10:39.610 --> 0:10:41.050 for another few days exactly. 0:10:41.330 --> 0:10:43.050 And I think the thing is, like, there is a 0:10:43.090 --> 0:10:45.250 difference between sort of internal emails that we're sending all 0:10:45.290 --> 0:10:47.330 the time. And maybe you're emailing a client or someone 0:10:47.330 --> 0:10:50.370 that you don't email a lot. But if you're emailing 0:10:50.370 --> 0:10:52.530 people a lot, you should be having a conversation. Like 0:10:52.570 --> 0:10:54.610 I used to say to my team, I'm going to 0:10:54.770 --> 0:10:57.650 send really short direct emails. But that's just because it's 0:10:57.650 --> 0:10:59.170 going to save us all time, and please do that 0:10:59.210 --> 0:11:02.090 back to me. But that's because we have a relationship. 0:11:02.570 --> 0:11:04.450 Back to what I said earlier, I have a bone 0:11:04.490 --> 0:11:08.010 to pick with executives. Can emails be too short? And 0:11:08.050 --> 0:11:10.890 the answer is yes, because it's like all the execs 0:11:10.890 --> 0:11:13.410 in the world got together and agreed, let's all send 0:11:13.490 --> 0:11:16.010 three word emails. And the thing with that is I 0:11:16.090 --> 0:11:20.010 sit there sometimes I get emails from execs and I 0:11:20.050 --> 0:11:21.850 sit there for ten minutes trying to figure out what 0:11:21.930 --> 0:11:23.929 they are actually trying to say because they've given me 0:11:24.090 --> 0:11:27.290 no context. So, like, your point is to send an 0:11:27.290 --> 0:11:30.050 email that is clear, and sometimes to send a clear 0:11:30.090 --> 0:11:32.770 email you need to give the right amount of context. 0:11:32.970 --> 0:11:35.170 So it's not just about the shortest email you can 0:11:35.170 --> 0:11:35.810 possibly write. 0:11:36.010 --> 0:11:40.250 I also think if you receive a really short, brief, 0:11:41.250 --> 0:11:44.530 sometimes cold in tone email from an exec, if you're 0:11:44.530 --> 0:11:46.490 a junior person, you can also sit there thinking do 0:11:46.530 --> 0:11:47.050 they hate me? 0:11:48.050 --> 0:11:50.010 And I also feel as an exec. 0:11:49.930 --> 0:11:52.090 You need to be aware of the fact that you 0:11:52.170 --> 0:11:55.170 might not even realize that you're intimidating someone. Simply just 0:11:55.210 --> 0:11:58.410 the title that you have might intimidate someone. It's nothing 0:11:58.450 --> 0:12:00.929 about you, and you need to be conscious of that. 0:12:01.330 --> 0:12:03.130 And as an exec, I don't want to sit there 0:12:03.570 --> 0:12:06.610 and scare someone just because I can't be bothered to 0:12:06.770 --> 0:12:09.330 like I think at it as an exec. Maybe sometimes 0:12:09.410 --> 0:12:12.050 they need to do that have a great weekend, you know, 0:12:12.490 --> 0:12:14.290 so the person on the other side just feels a 0:12:14.290 --> 0:12:15.770 little bit better about dealing with them. 0:12:15.810 --> 0:12:18.330 Michelle, I totally agree. I was getting a little bit 0:12:18.370 --> 0:12:20.010 too enthusiastic when you were talking. 0:12:20.530 --> 0:12:22.330 That's the thing, right back to the point I said, 0:12:22.330 --> 0:12:24.730 before thinking about the person your email in. So the 0:12:24.810 --> 0:12:27.410 average rate of emails that an executive get today is 0:12:27.450 --> 0:12:29.090 like seven hundred, and at Google it was more like 0:12:29.130 --> 0:12:31.730 a thousand. I know sometimes you need to send one 0:12:31.730 --> 0:12:35.010 word emails for sure, but there is a level of 0:12:35.530 --> 0:12:38.010 think about the people you're emailing as well. And so 0:12:38.330 --> 0:12:41.090 I think sometimes yet like yeah, approved one word. Fine, 0:12:41.290 --> 0:12:43.210 But there are times when you you know someone's worked 0:12:43.290 --> 0:12:46.209 really hard on something and give them one extra sentence. 0:12:46.410 --> 0:12:49.449 Or even saying I loved this email, like really appreciate 0:12:49.490 --> 0:12:50.650 the conciseness of this email. 0:12:50.850 --> 0:12:53.530 Answer, just help them out of it, give them something 0:12:53.850 --> 0:12:56.090 you need to write a dear executive's letter. 0:12:56.250 --> 0:12:59.250 Yeah, okay, So point number one was your email's too long, 0:12:59.290 --> 0:13:01.570 and then point number two is your emails upside down, 0:13:01.890 --> 0:13:04.570 so measure I wonder have you heard of this bluff 0:13:04.570 --> 0:13:05.490 bottom line up front? 0:13:05.850 --> 0:13:06.450 No method? 0:13:06.490 --> 0:13:09.250 Okay, so it's a method used in military communication. And 0:13:09.330 --> 0:13:11.290 you know how we at work we kind of joke 0:13:11.330 --> 0:13:13.730 around like, oh, guys, we're not saving lives. Well, in 0:13:13.770 --> 0:13:15.810 the military, they actually are saving lives. So the way 0:13:15.810 --> 0:13:18.970 that they email and communicate is really important. And the 0:13:19.050 --> 0:13:22.730 basic principle is that we think and want to communicate chronologically. 0:13:23.090 --> 0:13:26.290 So most people it's like this happened, then this happened, 0:13:26.290 --> 0:13:28.970 then this happened, and what that means when you are 0:13:29.010 --> 0:13:33.930 emailing it, you'll often say explanation, explanation, Can you review 0:13:33.930 --> 0:13:35.970 this doc and then send me feedback by Friday? 0:13:36.210 --> 0:13:38.170 But what you actually want to do is completely flip it. 0:13:38.210 --> 0:13:40.410 You want to put that part right up the top 0:13:40.770 --> 0:13:44.450 and then put the context and the explaining points underneath that. 0:13:45.010 --> 0:13:48.650 So the method it's bottom line upfront, which literally means 0:13:48.650 --> 0:13:50.930 what is the bottom line for this person? Usually that 0:13:51.130 --> 0:13:53.850 is in the form of a request that you're asking, 0:13:54.370 --> 0:13:56.770 or like a critical update or a recommendation you're trying 0:13:56.770 --> 0:13:57.090 to give. 0:13:57.250 --> 0:13:59.370 So ask yourself, what if the bottom line for this person? 0:13:59.690 --> 0:14:00.490 Put that up the top. 0:14:00.530 --> 0:14:03.410 I often just bold it, so often just say like hi, Michelle, 0:14:03.730 --> 0:14:08.130 bolded statement, and then you say context or like this 0:14:08.170 --> 0:14:10.730 is why I've said this, and you put a couple 0:14:10.730 --> 0:14:13.569 of bullet points underneath. And then sometimes if you need 0:14:13.610 --> 0:14:16.450 even more information, you can link out. I often under 0:14:16.490 --> 0:14:18.730 my signature will often do like a little appendix almost 0:14:18.770 --> 0:14:21.570 that has like more explanation if they need to get 0:14:21.610 --> 0:14:22.010 into it. 0:14:22.490 --> 0:14:24.010 But yeah, if you want to. 0:14:23.970 --> 0:14:25.570 Know more about that, by the way, you can just 0:14:25.610 --> 0:14:28.170 ask chat to teach you teach me more about the 0:14:28.170 --> 0:14:30.570 bottom line upfront method. I'll actually do it before and 0:14:30.610 --> 0:14:32.330 after example, because I think that's the easiest way to 0:14:32.370 --> 0:14:34.810 understand it. Actually, let's say this is a Slack message, 0:14:34.850 --> 0:14:37.410 because this is about Slack two, right, before example would 0:14:37.410 --> 0:14:39.610 be so, let's pretend you're having a Slack conversation with 0:14:39.650 --> 0:14:43.450 someone and your manager is asking you this. So they say, hey, 0:14:43.490 --> 0:14:47.090 so did the project launch yesterday? And you say, ah, 0:14:47.130 --> 0:14:49.730 so the approval went through to the webtam but they're 0:14:49.730 --> 0:14:51.370 out of office, so we had to log a ticket 0:14:51.370 --> 0:14:53.410 with the support and now we're waiting to hear back 0:14:53.450 --> 0:14:57.770 and the new ETA is Wednesday. The after example would be, hey, 0:14:57.810 --> 0:15:01.410 so did the project launch yesterday? The project didn't launch yesterday. 0:15:01.730 --> 0:15:04.770 The new ETA is Wednesday, nine am. Reason for the 0:15:04.770 --> 0:15:08.050 delay web teams out of office. I escalated it via 0:15:08.090 --> 0:15:10.090 the support team. I'll stay across it. We'll let you 0:15:10.170 --> 0:15:12.930 know if I need anything. So that's the difference between 0:15:13.410 --> 0:15:15.570 putting the point of the email right at the top 0:15:15.610 --> 0:15:17.530 and then explaining the context later. 0:15:17.730 --> 0:15:20.650 It actually is a little bit of a marketing exercise 0:15:20.730 --> 0:15:22.210 when you think about it. Like I was writing a 0:15:22.250 --> 0:15:24.970 job description the other day and it was a really 0:15:25.050 --> 0:15:27.810 good financial offer, and so usually I kind of put 0:15:27.810 --> 0:15:29.250 that at the bottom, but I thought, no, I'm going 0:15:29.290 --> 0:15:30.930 to pull that up to the top because I want 0:15:30.970 --> 0:15:33.130 to get more eyeballs on this. I'm going to lead 0:15:33.210 --> 0:15:35.130 with like the gold. Then I'm going to make the 0:15:35.170 --> 0:15:37.650 job sound quite easy. So I pulled like the deliverables 0:15:37.690 --> 0:15:39.290 up from the bottom, and then I kind of got 0:15:39.290 --> 0:15:41.690 more into the detail underneath, because I felt like the 0:15:41.770 --> 0:15:45.130 detail might make people just tune out and then they're 0:15:45.170 --> 0:15:47.170 not saying, oh, hey, this is actually a pretty easy 0:15:47.210 --> 0:15:48.410 job and they're going to pay really. 0:15:48.290 --> 0:15:50.210 Well, did you see exactly what you just did there? 0:15:50.690 --> 0:15:53.250 What just thinking about the audience and maybe you're like, 0:15:53.650 --> 0:15:55.810 to your point around is it normal and is it 0:15:55.850 --> 0:15:57.290 okay to reread my emails? 0:15:57.410 --> 0:15:59.250 Yes, and like we actually should be doing that more. 0:15:59.290 --> 0:16:01.330 Obviously we don't want to do it to every Slack 0:16:01.370 --> 0:16:04.370 message in every email, but if we actually just once 0:16:04.490 --> 0:16:07.930 read through, will often find that we hide the point 0:16:07.930 --> 0:16:09.530 of the email at the bottom, and you just want 0:16:09.570 --> 0:16:10.930 to bring that up to the top. I will just 0:16:10.930 --> 0:16:13.730 say again, caveat. This is like you know a lot 0:16:13.730 --> 0:16:16.210 of internal emails. If you're emailing clients, you're probably not 0:16:16.210 --> 0:16:21.530 going to write like that. 0:16:26.610 --> 0:16:28.810 So let's get into number three. 0:16:29.090 --> 0:16:31.170 If you are sending someone an email where you're going 0:16:31.210 --> 0:16:34.490 to ask them for something, and you put how are 0:16:34.530 --> 0:16:37.770 you at the top of that email, you're already asking 0:16:37.810 --> 0:16:40.930 them for something that they have to answer, so you're 0:16:40.970 --> 0:16:44.570 better off instead of saying how are you, just saying 0:16:44.890 --> 0:16:46.890 hope you're well or hope you had a good weekend. 0:16:47.050 --> 0:16:49.010 Make the one thing you ask them in that email 0:16:49.090 --> 0:16:53.610 the thing you actually want. If you are emailing senior executives, 0:16:53.890 --> 0:16:56.410 you don't need to put that at all. How are you? 0:16:56.490 --> 0:17:00.050 Hope you're well? Just completely cut it. They will not 0:17:00.130 --> 0:17:03.570 think you're rude. They will thank you for respecting their time. 0:17:04.730 --> 0:17:07.770 This goes into the debate of like warm versus directness, 0:17:07.810 --> 0:17:09.889 And I do think you know, you do need to 0:17:09.890 --> 0:17:13.209 have a balance of warmth versus direct But the mistake 0:17:13.210 --> 0:17:15.210 a lot of people make is thinking that being warm 0:17:15.250 --> 0:17:16.450 is putting a bunch of small. 0:17:16.250 --> 0:17:17.050 Talk at the start. 0:17:17.330 --> 0:17:20.410 Yeah, so yeah, I'm not saying don't have any small talk, 0:17:20.450 --> 0:17:23.090 and again, think about who you're emailing. But I think 0:17:23.090 --> 0:17:25.250 people get pretty lazy with the how are you? Hope 0:17:25.250 --> 0:17:27.570 you're well and you don't actually care how someone is. 0:17:27.930 --> 0:17:30.250 If you genuinely aren't wondering how someone is, or you 0:17:30.290 --> 0:17:31.810