One of my former managers had a horrible habit of setting up last-minute meetings with vague titles like “quick touch base.” Maybe for some, this would be no big deal—but given that our company had a history of frequent layoffs, every one of these invites would send my heart racing. These meetings could turn out to be anything from “Here’s an easy project we need to complete last minute” to “This is awkward, but your last day is Friday.”
When I mentioned this to some of my coworkers, I was surprised to find it was a common complaint. A lot of managers at the company did this, and I wasn’t the only one stressed by it. However, when I eventually mentioned it to my boss, she was shocked and said she’d never thought about the impact these last-minute meetings might have. For her, it was simply a quick way to get something done.
This got me thinking: If my manager had been totally in the dark about this, could I be just as clueless about the impact my emails were having on others?
I spoke with leadership coach and HR consultant Lisa Rigoli and etiquette expert Lisa Grotts to better understand where most of us might be going wrong—without even realizing.
Subject lines are there for a reason
Fully filling out an email with a subject line can feel like a hassle to some. Maybe you’re trying to fit a quick message in before your next meeting or are trying to juggle too many things at once. However, according to Grotts, the subject line is “the reason for the email, so it’s essential.”
Rigoli agrees, saying that they’re “critical for setting context and helping recipients prioritize.”
Subject lines can also help the sender just as much as the recipient. Rigoli notes that one of her biggest pet peeves is “receiving emails that lack clear purpose or direction. When messages are vague or lack actionable steps, they create confusion and additional follow-up.” She adds that “every email should clearly answer why it’s being sent, what the recipient needs to do, and how it helps achieve a goal or resolve a need.”
Be selective with recipients
By now, most people know not to “reply all” to a company-wide email. At best, it can be embarrassing for you as a professional. At worst, you may distract and irritate your fellow employees. However, it’s just as important to consider the smaller scale too. Before you cc every person on your team, it’s best to stop and ask yourself if that’s necessary.
“Overloading inboxes with cc’d emails to large groups, often without clear action points… can confuse recipients, leading to email fatigue and missed priorities,” Rigoli says. She encourages senders to instead carefully consider each person they add to their communication and what they’re hoping everyone’s takeaway will be. It might seem kind at the moment to “loop everyone in,” but the reality is that it may just stress out coworkers who think you need something from them—but aren’t sure what.
Less is more
As a writer, I’m certainly guilty of writing mini novels for emails, and it’s something that I’ve had to get better at over time. My instinct is to include every important bit of information—but after speaking with my fellow coworkers, I found out that this approach was often more overwhelming than helpful.
Grotts suggests eliminating nonessential content when sending emails. Instead, include only content that is “easy to read and succinct. Focus on your message and get it across quickly, one subject at a time.” When in doubt, she emphasizes that “less is more.”
Make sure that recipients understand your message
Email and messaging can be tricky because you don’t have facial expressions and inflection to reveal your tone. Instead, punctuation, capitalization, emojis, GIFs and memes are your tools for ensuring that you’re understood the way you’d hoped.
That said, for many, these tools aren’t intuitive. For instance, answering a message with “Okay” should be the same as “Okay.”—but it’s not. That period carries some heavy attitude for those who grew up with nonverbal communication as their default.
If you’re not confident that your punctuation is communicating the right tone, emojis and GIFs can help. Just be careful how you use them.
Grotts says that “Emojis are the new punctuation,” and “in the right context, a tasteful GIF can make your email memorable without compromising professionalism.” That said, she warns that “it’s best to use them within reason to clarify tone, not [as] a staple of your communication.”
Photo by Yuri A/Shutterstock.com
