I’ve written previously about the dangers of over and under communicating during projects, but I want to expand on that a little here. In this post I’ll cover some tips I’ve collected from years of being in a ‘coordinator’ type role in businesses. If you’re a project or programme manager, or you just need to work in cross-functional teams to get your work done, it’s vital to be able to influence others and communicate effectively. Here are some things I’ve found to help when communicating over email.
It feels like cheating given the blog title but… my top tip would be to avoid email entirely and use it as a last resort! If it’s possible to speak to the person face to face, over a call or even instant messenger, this will likely be more effective than sending an email. Email is unidirectional, and what could be less engaging than that? Never underestimate the power of a conversation.
However there are reasons where an email might be the only option (impractical time difference, the need to send out a communication to multiple people, the need to have communications tracked for records etc). If you do need to press ahead, then…
For emailing individuals
Keep emails short and sweet, wherever possible. People usually don’t read long emails, so make sure you include the absolute minimum details necessary and put the most important details right to the top.
State immediately why the content is relevant to the receiver and your ask of them.
Ensure you clearly state any deadlines or cut off points.
Link out to any extra resources or context, rather than including it in the email body. If the person wants to read it they can, but they won’t lose the thread of your ask.
If in doubt, cut it out. Better to under explain than over explain, always.
For emailing large groups
This situation might apply to project / program communications or cross-functional teams.
First and foremost, ask what value this email is adding to your readers. Tell them what this is in the first sentence of your email.
Keep the body of the email very text light and link out to other resources where they can find more information. Try to think about the bare minimum that you should include and don’t add any more.
Use colours, bullet points and different font sizes (as long as you can avoid it looking patronising!!). I have found that is is very effective particularly in project team emails that go out to multiple people where each person needs to take something different from the email – I might colour their names different colours so they can immediately jump to the parts of the email that are relevant to them.
Make it different! Add pictures, GIFs, even running content like “joke of the week” or “fact of the week”. This very much depends on what’s acceptable in the culture in your business, of course, but there have been certain people I’ve worked with in my career whose emails I would always read, usually because they were both informative and entertaining. A good joke or a sarcastic or authentic tone have much to recommend them! Give your readers a reason to open up your regular email, AND look forward to it!
If you enjoyed this post, why not let me know by dropping me an email 😉
Comments