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Better business emails (part 4)

7/28/2013

Today’s tip: Active vs. passive voice

I know, I know—that’s schoolmarm talk. But I’m serious here. It’s important for you to be aware of which style you use.

Quick refresher:
Active voice—to the point, engaging, and, well, active. The subject of your sentence is doing the action. For example, “The dog cornered the rabbit in the old abandoned shed.”

Passive voice—roundabout and sometimes dull. The object of the sentence (the thing being acted on) gets to star. “The rabbit was cornered by the dog in the old abandoned shed.”

Nine times out of ten, you’d be wise to choose active over passive voice. It’s clearer, it gets the audience to the point (without their having to do excessive work) much faster, and it’s more fun to read. Plus, active voice typically uses fewer words, which, following my theme of “cut, cut, cut” when it comes to business emails, will mean less clutter on the screen.

There is that one time out of ten, however, when you might purposefully choose to use passive voice. For example, if you think your reader will feel attacked by your message, you might use passive voice because it could feel safer to your reader, which could garner a less angry and perhaps even more favorable response.

Just remember not to combine the two approaches. A mix of active and passive voice can become frustrating for a reader and might make you seem, by turns, confident and afraid. Choose the style you will use and be aware enough to stick with it through the entire email.

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Better business emails (part 3)

7/25/2013

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Today's tip: Word choice.

1. “For one word, a man is often deemed to wise, and for one word, he is often deemed to be foolish.” —Confucius

Always know the exact meaning of the words you use. Nothing will lose you credibility faster than using words incorrectly. After all, people will assume that, if you can’t even choose the right words, you certainly can’t have a viable message. The word might sound right, but be absolutely sure its meaning is right before you use it.

2. “Never use a long word where a short one will do.” —George Orwell

Two good reasons for this:
A. Shorter words means fewer letters, and fewer letters means less clutter in the body of your email—which is particularly important if your reader is on a smartphone and doesn’t care to scroll too much.

B. Shorter words are usually more easily and quickly understood. Remember, the less work your audience has to do to understand your message, the more likely they are to respond the way you want—or at all.

3. Know your audience.

This is important on a number of levels—in terms of word choice, you as the writer need to know your audience’s level of knowledge about your topic, including whether they understand and expect acronyms, whether you can avoid long explanations, and whether the reader will need additional references. You also should know whether your audience will tolerate slang or fluff, whether they will need reminders about past discussions in email or in meetings, and whether they will need explicit direction from you.

As a subhead to this, remember that email is NOT a text message or Facebook post. Spell out phrases—or cut them entirely: typically, phrasal shortcuts represent fluff anyway. Words that have numerals embedded become tricky to the eye in an email, and that type of lazy writing, along with using a single letter to represent an entire word, will ask your reader to do additional work to understand what you’re saying. This is particularly important if your audience is unfamiliar with texting. You’ll lose them for sure. So just type it all out.

Business emails are for business, and the more adept you become at communicating in this forum, the better chance you have of improving your value to the business.

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Better business emails (part 2)

7/21/2013

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Today’s tip: Know what you’re going to say.

In the late-80s movie, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Steve Martin’s long-suffering character (tired of hearing the meandering, aimless stories of John Candy’s kind but overly jovial character) blurts in frustration, “Here’s an idea: Have a POINT! It makes it so much more interesting for the listener!” It’s hurtful, but he’s right.

Same is true in business emails. Readers don’t have the time or patience to sift through paragraphs that are ultimately void. Be sure to have a point.

The main danger of this type of email comes in “reply all” situations when it seems clear that the sender simply wants to be recognized for participating in the dialogue but hasn’t actually added value.

Be wary of that. If you don’t have a true message and real insight to contribute to the conversation, you risk both looking vacuous and seeming underinformed, which could leave your audience questioning your input in the future.

If you want your readers to invest in your input, know what you’re going to say and get to the point, get to the point, get to the point. It will boost your credibility in the long run.

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Better business emails

7/18/2013

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We’ve all received it: the email that trudged on and on, the one that could have been one-third the length. Or the one that meandered and had no discernible message. Or the one that seemed to have been written by a thesaurus devotee.

And we’ve all probably written one of those—likely more than once. But knowing how frustrating it can be to receive those kinds of messages, in my next few posts, I’d like to offer some tips to avoid writing them.

Today’s tip: Cut, cut, cut.

If it helps you get your thoughts together, write as much as you want to—at first. But then, before you hit “send,” go back and cut anything that’s unnecessary. Remember, your readers are busy people, and you don’t need to waste their time.

Start with any pithy stories that don’t directly support your message. This is a business email, not a social forum, so ditch ’em.

If your writing style mimics your in-person conversational voice, you’ve probably used a lot of colloquialisms, which tend to be roundabout and wordy. That’s fluff. Ferret it out and ditch it. Your audience is in a hurry and willing to skip parts to get to the point of the email. Choose those parts for them.

Look for places where you might have repeated yourself—even if it’s in different words. Get to the point of the message, say it once, and get out.

Once you’ve removed some of the unnecessary parts, you might need to massage what’s left so it flows OK and makes sense. Be sure to reread your email a few times before you send it on its way. Just remember: The less work your audience has to do to understand your point, the more likely they are respond the way you want.

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What good coaching can do

7/15/2013

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I recently joined a CrossFit gym. Because, you know, if there’s a bandwagon, I should be on it.

But truly, joining was one of my best decisions this summer. This particular gym opened just six months ago under the leadership of Zac Wilson, a Marine who has a great mix of being gentle yet bad ass at the same time.

That’s part of what makes him a fabulous coach. He’s also compassionate, patient, observant, and flexible in his approach, and he knows his stuff. Which means that, as an untrained, out-of-shape, 40-something woman, I never fear going to the gym, and I never leave the workout feeling beaten or ashamed or somehow lacking. And I’m eager to return and abuse my body (in a good way!) again.

I attribute my endearment to CrossFit for the sense of pride I’ve gotten from succeeding at something I thought was crazy impossible. And I attribute it to Zac and his coaching—rare finds in much of this life.

In the business world, we have many managers, some supervisors, and an unfortunate lack of coaches. Employees who could otherwise shine given the right environment and leadership instead wither on the corporate vine, unable, under-equipped, and uninspired to grow, which can lead to a cycle of turnover and employee unrest.

Part of what’s lacking in much of corporate leadership is a willingness to feel—or to admit to feeling—compassion. Focused on efficacy and speed, leadership skips patience. Many in corporate leadership do more assuming than observing. And, as they hurtle headlong toward numbers or revenue or results goals, much of corporate leadership plops a one-size-fits-all style to a workforce that's increasingly diverse, culturally blended, experientially disparate, and just plain not one size. And eventually, that just won’t work and will need to change.

To reverse the cycle of employee turnover—or even just improve the existing staff (and thereby the overall growth of the business), many companies would do well to follow the coaching approach. Remove fear, increase safe learning opportunities, and inspire good employees to shine should be on every company's to-do list.

The back of Zac's CrossFit T-shirt sports the motto “Stronger than the day before.” And he genuinely strives to get each of his gym members to feel that way—I know I sure have. Wouldn’t it be amazing if corporate leadership operated the same way?

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Better business emails (part 4)

Better business emails (part 3)

Better business emails (part 2)

Better business emails

What good coaching can do

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