Good Practices for Project Emails and Letters

 

Project communications have evolved with technology at breakneck pace.    But in the process, business communications have been degraded to social media type content.    As a result, managers and team members need to sift through endless Tweeter/Instant Message- like communications, which overwhelm inboxes and challenge recipients to read large numbers of Emails.    Businesses and projects do not need to know every feeling and thought generated by Email recipients nor should recipients simply delete Emails to keep the system from clogging and locking communications.  

Business communications always relied heavily on letters that were delivered by post office and messenger services and expedited with facsimile equipment.   The letters were written and often reviewed several times before being issued to the addressee and copied to appropriate parties.   Gradually, letters were replaced by Emails, which offered the advantage of instant communication with a format that replicated the format and content of standard communications including address, salutation, body, closing and generator name and contact information.

The overarching tenant of measuring the effectiveness of a communication is for the message generator to complete the phrase  -  The purpose is  “_______”, so the reader will “________.”    

With the use of instance messages, the business communications are now competing with numerous Emails and with non-business related dialogue that clogs Email inboxes.    Emails acknowledging “I got it”, “Will Do”, “Will take care of tomorrow”, “When do you need”, ”I can’t meet the date”, “Why did you send this”, “Where did you get the information”, “Let discuss tomorrow”,  “attachment ?” not only create an endless chain, but it multiples the number of Email notifications in each recipient’s internet inbox.    

Another Email multiplier comes from communications reviewed on cellular phones, which have small screens and limited access to attachments.  These messages can be detected  by suffix “Sent  by  I Phone”-  as if a disclaimer to a response by someone in the Email chain that is off-topic or not understandable.   Overall, these exchangers indicate a breakdown in the quality of communications by the generators and recipients.

With the advent of the Internet, non-administrative staff produce most business communications.   Emails and Emails via I Phones need to be treated as a significant product of communications and they should reflect the quality previously measured by the Gregg manuals or numerous other books used for course curriculum in senior high schools and colleges, which were used religiously by administrative personnel in the business world.    As a result, there is a need to reinforce the basic format and content of business communications. 

Good Practices for Emails/Letters:

• Appropriate address and opening and closing salutation

• Subject line matches the message content

• Introduction paragraph includes subject line and action required

• Specificaction expected from the recipient, dates for action completion or for response to sender

• Description of attachments

• Appropriate reference to prior communications and deliverables

• Contact information for reaching the sender

• Verify all listed recipients in address and copy fields necessary and correct

• List distribution of copiesto other interested parties

Lastly, if a recipient is overly compelled to reply to an Email and get the last word – it might be better for everyone to simply pick-up the telephone to say  “I hope to reply by _____” , “You forgot the attachment”, “Send the Email to  ________”, “I can not handle it now, send to _______”. 

TIP:   In Email subject line or top right portion of Letter indicate “Reply Requested”

TIP:  In an Email chain, if you change previous content full disclose the change by crossing out original content and highlighting new text.

TIP:   If replying to an Email with a subject line that does not match the reply content, change the subject line to match the content.

Administrative staff rely on record and knowledge management systems to search large volumes documents for specific content to identify related correspondence and threads of correspondence, including Emails, on specific topics.    Additionally, some Email software limits the amount of send and received Emails that can be retained on computers without affecting performance.   Without proper monitoring of Email volume, the threshold limits can unexpectedly disable the ability to send or receive Emails until active Emails are deleted or archived.   As a result, Emails should be managed through a records management system.

TIP:    Create a personal file directory in Email software and utilize automated archiving Emails.

TIP:    Delete Emails that are superseded by a new reply to the Email string.

TIP:    Be aware of business policies on Emails communications and management of Email content.