Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is that there are a great many things
Speaker 1: that should not be communicated by email if you are
Speaker 1: working from home, as many of us still are these days.
Speaker 1: Email is often the easiest way to communicate with people,
Speaker 1: but for certain topics picking up the phone, setting up
Speaker 1: a video meeting, or even meeting in person might actually
Speaker 1: save time In the long run. Email is a very
Speaker 1: easy way to communicate. You send a message when you want,
Speaker 1: and the other person can read it when they want. Brilliant,
Speaker 1: but how many of us have experienced writing something that
Speaker 1: is misunderstood or that creates drama where you didn't intend it.
Speaker 1: You can spend days on doing the damage, or you
Speaker 1: wind up sending half a dozen emails back and forth
Speaker 1: to clarify what seemed straightforward to you at the time
Speaker 1: but in retrospect wasn't. So here are a few guidelines. First,
Speaker 1: emails should be short. Many people don't read past the
Speaker 1: first few sentences. If some critical bit of information is
Speaker 1: in the last paragraph, you might as well not have
Speaker 1: written it. So in general, if you find yourself writing
Speaker 1: more than five to six sentences, call or set up
Speaker 1: a video meeting instead. Second emails are easily forwarded accidentally
Speaker 1: in many cases when new people are added to email chains.
Speaker 1: But this is still true even if you haven't personally
Speaker 1: experienced the embarrassment of the wrong person seeing a snarky comment.
Speaker 1: I am sure you know someone who has. So if
Speaker 1: you are sharing anything that you wouldn't want shared broadly
Speaker 1: or with particular other people, then it needs to be
Speaker 1: shared in a way that isn't so subject to taking
Speaker 1: on a life of its own. And third, emails are
Speaker 1: perceived more negatively than the spoken word. That means that
Speaker 1: even neutral messages can come across as being harsh. So
Speaker 1: if you have any tough feedback to deliver, don't spend
Speaker 1: time agonizing over the words you are going to use
Speaker 1: in an email. Don't send it as an email. Get
Speaker 1: the person on the phone where they can hear your
Speaker 1: positive vocal cues, or, better yet, set up a video
Speaker 1: meeting so they can see you smile as you say
Speaker 1: words that are tough but are ultimately meant to be
Speaker 1: motivating to bring about a good result. Together. Yes, all
Speaker 1: of this takes more time when you have an idea
Speaker 1: or you want to share feedback. It is so easy
Speaker 1: to dash off an email. It seems more convenient for
Speaker 1: the recipient too. You don't have to interrupt what they
Speaker 1: are doing, whereas a formal conversation takes time. But when
Speaker 1: someone quits his job because he thinks you hate him,
Speaker 1: when in fact you are just trying to steer the
Speaker 1: project in a different direction, well you have a big
Speaker 1: problem on your hands, one that is going to take
Speaker 1: a lot more time to fix then setting up a
Speaker 1: video meeting. So don't rely too much on email. You
Speaker 1: can send an encouraging email after the tough conversation. That's
Speaker 1: a great use of email, But email is not for everything.
Speaker 1: Use it a bit less frequently and you will probably
Speaker 1: save time in the long run. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thank for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number four,
Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at i heeart Media
Speaker 1: dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.
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