3 worst e-mails to send your co-workers
August 7, 2008 by Shane BorerPosted in: "Would you want this person in Finance?", Special report, Tech failure
Intentional or not, these three blunders won’t just make people roll their eyes — they’ll cause an all-out office war.
Every company has them: Habitual e-mail offenders. Sending “official” messages that are plagued with spelling errors — even though the spellcheck button is right at the top — is just part of the culture.
That third forwarded e-mail you got claiming you’re going to have bad luck if you don’t send it to everyone in the company in the next 60 seconds? Good luck keeping those out of your inbox forever.
But the three methods that drive co-workers most insane aren’t so obvious. Here’s what to watch out for:
1. ‘Reply to All’ is a privilege, not a right
Nothing infuriates people like the e-mailer who can’t stop hitting the “reply to all” button like it’s never going out of style. Mass e-mail is okay for sending info one way to a lot of people, but the idea backfires when people start sending “Thanks,” “Great” and “Here’s what I think about all this” to 70 people they don’t even know.
That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its place: If there’s something substantial to be added to the conversation, by all means, let everyone know. The only thing worse than a mess of reply-to-all’s is another 70 messages all saying the same thing the first message already did.
2. Let’s get passive-aggressive
Since so much e-mail is moving in and out of your own inbox, you want to take out an insurance policy that your recipient both gets and reads the message.
So what do you do? You carbon-copy their boss on the message. (Don’t deny it, you’ve done it yourself.)
It might get the message read, but it’ll also put the recipient in a pretty foul mood. Again, there’s a time and a place for CC-ing. Got a purchaser who constantly drags his feet sending approvals back? Copying his boss on the next e-mail might be enough to straighten him out.
A better bet: Let someone know your message is important. A quick phone call or in-person heads up can get the response you need. But whatever you do, don’t do the following …
3. CAN’T YOU TELL THIS IS IMPORTANT?!?!?!
Screaming above your co-workers doesn’t make what you have to say more important than anything else. It doesn’t matter if your e-mail rivals Shakespeare in eloquence — putting everything in caps will do little more than make people cringe.
Another blunder in the same vein: flagging everything as a red-flag-priority message. If you’ve got no other way to communicate with someone, marking something as high-priority will get it read. Start sending out priority messages about “THE KITCHEN NEEDS TO BE CLEANED” and “HAS ANYONE SEEN MY CELLPHONE,” and you can be sure people will start calling you Chicken Little.
Want to avoid these too-common problems? The simplest solution: Skip e-mail altogether. Not only will the walk or phone call do you good, but it’ll give everyone — yourself included — a break from those chain letters.
Tags: Annoy your co-workers, Communication tips, E-mail, Ettiquette
August 8th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Some of these sound familiar.
August 8th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
good suggestions…thanks!
August 8th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I find unnecessary phone calls much more annoying that any emails I receive. If used properly, email is a great tool. I am sick and tired of people who stop the flow of information with comments such as, “Lets stop the email chain,” when the email chain is working. Articles stating that email should not be used unless absolutely necessary are giving people the idea that email is evil. It is not.
August 8th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Unfortunately I am unable to recall every conversation I have had with a co-worker, but my outbox contains the email chain which is VERY helpful.
August 8th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
A phone call is an immediate interruption demanding immediate attention. If it can wait, send an email. If you make a call, you’d better have an urgent need for a response that the receiver can answer quickly with little or no research needed. Otherwise the message you’re sending is that your time is more important than theirs.
August 8th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I agree 100%. Email can be waste of energy & emotion. I automatically delete all emails with CAPS & BOLD. Next week I am smashing by Blackberry & going back to a regular mobile phone. No more checking email at all hours of the day. I have also advised my staff that I will check email once a day & to stop copying me on everything that happens. They need to handle issues that are part of their job & stop spending time with CYA. Email is an efficient method of transferring files & data. It is a poor method of communication.
August 8th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Here’s a good link for people who are interested in what to send, how to retract an email sent in haste, etc. http://eimr.blogspot.com/search/label/e-mail
August 8th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I have put together this link to a series of posts, with suggestions on when to use email, how to retract an email sent in haste and other stuff on emailing.
Click http://eimr.blogspot.com/search/label/e-mail
August 8th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I recently e-mailed an executive with whom I thought I had a good relationship with regarding some staff that was screwing up some really important work, including a few explitives, and he replied to not only me, but everyone involved and my entire staff of co-workers. Guess who is in the dog house. Hint: It wasn’t the people screwing up.
Moral of the story, don’t ever squeal, complain, insult or mention names in an e-mail. That’s why we have telephones and men’s rooms.
August 8th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
You won’t believe how much time you spend on emails. I downloaded a free software called Rescue Time @ http://www.rescuetime.com last week I spent 4 hours on emails. That’s a big junk of time. I’m tempted to forward this artiicle to everyone in my address book. LOL Seriously, I do like the fact that I can quickly find an email I sent or received on any topic through Google’s Desktop Search program. My Outlook trully has become my electronic filing cabinet.
August 8th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Another point to consider is e-mail becomes a permanent record. If you wish to remain “off the record” keep it out of e-mail. As my boss told me heatedly, “You may trash the accounting computer system all you want at a bar but keep it out of e-mail!” On the other hand, I agree with DL about telephone calls being disruptive. Also, it is much easier to read an e-mail than to retrieve a voicemail.
August 8th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I agree that chain emails (while sometimes cute) are very annoying. I personally do not fall into the “Send this to 10 other people” club. Sending chain emails is not in my job description and frankly, if i do my job the way that it should be done, I really do not have the time for it. Thanks for the article.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:00 am
I believe email can be a great form of communication if used properly. I too, use my “inbox” and “sent” folders to verify and track the flow of information and tasks. Sometimes just a simple email policy explaining the proper/improper use is helpful. It won’t eliminate all issues, but can certainly help to reduce. I appreciate an email outlining a long term project that I can review and then schedule a meeting for follow up if necessary. I find phones calls to very disruptive with questions that can not be answered immediately. I will very often turn on my “do not disturb”!
August 11th, 2008 at 11:43 am
To me, e-mail is so much more effective than a phone call at least 95% of the time. Someone calling or walking into my office unannounced causes an interruption that is often unnecessary and frustrating. An e-mail allows me to check things out before I get back to the sender, so I am able to obtain the required information and clearly and more effectively communicate this to the sender (or forward on a hard copy or electronic file). I can also go back through the e-mail to make sure I answered all questions and communicated everything that was needed. I don’t have statistics to back this, but my gut feeling is that I would have to spend a lot more time on the phone trying to communicate verbally than I have to spend when I use e-mail. You don’t have to “chit-chat” in an e-mail (which normally happens on a phone call) before you get to the point, so that’s another time-saver. A phone call is what I use when the topic is touchy and / or when tone could be easily misunderstood in an e-mail.
I do have to say, I resent the people who “copy the world” when they use e-mail to attempt to manipulate. I think this is a bigger problem than those who use “reply to all,” though this option is also over-used. But I can delete an annoying or unnecessary e-mail a lot faster than I can deal with an unnecessary phone call. So in my book, e-mail is the way to go most of the time. Educate / warn those who use it improperly, but don’t stop using it!
August 11th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
One major advantage with emails is that when there is not phone number to contact a person, an email is usually the only way to contact some people who never pick up their phone or return voice messages.
August 12th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I hate it when you receive an e-mail from your supervisor saying for the recipient to contact me because the Budget Analyst is out of the office for the week, and you had no idea this person was out and you are the assistant for them. On top of it, you were cc’d in the e-mail in the first place and then your Analyst has you on his dry-erase board as a contact without my knowledge.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Ummm…yeah…I hate it when that happens too….I guess that’s pertinent…
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:33 pm
EJA…LOL! You are cracking me up.
KB… ????? I hate it when people smoke crack at work and then blog about incidences in their offices involving specific people not known to the other people with whom they are interacting!
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:52 pm
BKB - Where do you work at where people are smoking CRACK! Never mind, I’ll let that one go.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I work in a place where people have sufficient command of the English language to articulate coherent thoughts that are comprehensible to others (even if those thoughts are off point)…but I’m just giving you a hard time for bringing a comment stream that had previously been relatively robust and interesting to a screeching halt. I can almost hear the collective sighs of all of the other comment posters as they strain their brains in a futile attempt to translate your words into a lucid thought. But, as I said, I’m just giving teasing you a bit. No hard feelings.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Oops…one too many verbs in the second-to-last sentence in the previous comment…Maybe I’ve been hitting the crack pipe today!
August 25th, 2008 at 10:11 am
BKB - No problem, I understand.