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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is that there are a great many things

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Speaker 1: that should not be communicated by email if you are

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Speaker 1: working from home, as many of us still are these days.

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Speaker 1: Email is often the easiest way to communicate with people,

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Speaker 1: but for certain topics picking up the phone, setting up

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Speaker 1: a video meeting, or even meeting in person might actually

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Speaker 1: save time In the long run. Email is a very

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Speaker 1: easy way to communicate. You send a message when you want,

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Speaker 1: and the other person can read it when they want. Brilliant,

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Speaker 1: but how many of us have experienced writing something that

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Speaker 1: is misunderstood or that creates drama where you didn't intend it.

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Speaker 1: You can spend days on doing the damage, or you

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Speaker 1: wind up sending half a dozen emails back and forth

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Speaker 1: to clarify what seemed straightforward to you at the time

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Speaker 1: but in retrospect wasn't. So here are a few guidelines. First,

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Speaker 1: emails should be short. Many people don't read past the

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Speaker 1: first few sentences. If some critical bit of information is

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Speaker 1: in the last paragraph, you might as well not have

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Speaker 1: written it. So in general, if you find yourself writing

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Speaker 1: more than five to six sentences, call or set up

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Speaker 1: a video meeting instead. Second emails are easily forwarded accidentally

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Speaker 1: in many cases when new people are added to email chains.

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Speaker 1: But this is still true even if you haven't personally

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Speaker 1: experienced the embarrassment of the wrong person seeing a snarky comment.

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Speaker 1: I am sure you know someone who has. So if

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Speaker 1: you are sharing anything that you wouldn't want shared broadly

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Speaker 1: or with particular other people, then it needs to be

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Speaker 1: shared in a way that isn't so subject to taking

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Speaker 1: on a life of its own. And third, emails are

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Speaker 1: perceived more negatively than the spoken word. That means that

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Speaker 1: even neutral messages can come across as being harsh. So

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Speaker 1: if you have any tough feedback to deliver, don't spend

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Speaker 1: time agonizing over the words you are going to use

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Speaker 1: in an email. Don't send it as an email. Get

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Speaker 1: the person on the phone where they can hear your

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Speaker 1: positive vocal cues, or, better yet, set up a video

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Speaker 1: meeting so they can see you smile as you say

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Speaker 1: words that are tough but are ultimately meant to be

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Speaker 1: motivating to bring about a good result. Together. Yes, all

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Speaker 1: of this takes more time when you have an idea

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Speaker 1: or you want to share feedback. It is so easy

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Speaker 1: to dash off an email. It seems more convenient for

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Speaker 1: the recipient too. You don't have to interrupt what they

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Speaker 1: are doing, whereas a formal conversation takes time. But when

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Speaker 1: someone quits his job because he thinks you hate him,

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Speaker 1: when in fact you are just trying to steer the

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Speaker 1: project in a different direction, well you have a big

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Speaker 1: problem on your hands, one that is going to take

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Speaker 1: a lot more time to fix then setting up a

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Speaker 1: video meeting. So don't rely too much on email. You

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Speaker 1: can send an encouraging email after the tough conversation. That's

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Speaker 1: a great use of email, But email is not for everything.

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Speaker 1: Use it a bit less frequently and you will probably

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Speaker 1: save time in the long run. In the meantime, this

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Speaker 1: is Laura. Thank for listening, and here's to making the

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Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear

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Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number four,

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Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at i heeart Media

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Speaker 1: dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i

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Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows yet