Email Etiquette Revisited

In today’s hectic work environment, email is a blessing and a curse. When used appropriately, it expedites and improves communication. When abused, email can harm business relationships, enable us to avoid responsibilities and commitments (“Hey, I never got that email!”), and otherwise adversely affect our ability to accomplish our primary tasks and goals.

My former Hilton colleagues may remember seeing this article of mine published as an addendum to Hilton Hotels Corporation's formal email policy.

10 points to keep in mind to practice email etiquette:

1. BE THOUGHTFUL: Don’t send unnecessary email; it makes more work for everyone.
2. BE CONSIDERATE: “Reply to All” should be used with careful consideration of the distribution. Do all parties really need to see your reply?
3. BE NICE: Email should not be sent in anger. Don’t write things in email that you would not dare say to someone’s face. Misunderstandings can fester via email. When things seem to be going badly, pick up the phone, or go see someone about it in person.
4. BE ETHICAL: Don’t send email merely to CYA or to dump tasks on unsuspecting recipients.
5. BE A LEADER: Avoid adding to long chains of email when a meeting is clearly required to obtain closure. Suck it up and suggest or arrange a meeting.
6. BE PERSONAL: Whenever possible, instead of sending an email, take a short walk to someone’s cube and have a real conversation. It builds relationships.
7. BE CLEAR & SPECIFIC: Start long emails with a statement of purpose and a straightforward request of the recipient(s); otherwise they may not read all the information, and you may not get your answer.
8. BE SMART: Never document and review human resource issues via email.
9. BE RESPONSIVE: Before discarding email, carefully review and consider whether it requires your response. If so, reply as quickly as possible. If your response was delayed, apologize.
10. BE PROFESSIONAL: Don’t put anything in email that you wouldn’t want to have indiscriminately forwarded to other people.

Email away!

Weak Ties - Strong Benefits

Back in 1973 a groundbreaking study about networking was published by Mark Granovetter in the American Journal of Sociology. The title was “The Strength of Weak Ties”. It introduced the now widely accepted theory that weak (or less direct) relationships in our personal network generate results more effectively than direct or strong ties. A broader network results in exposure to more diverse ideas and opportunities. Granovetter wrote another study in 1983, expounding on his original theory. If you are interested, I located his paper online at "The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited". In my corporate days I was “too busy to spend time on networking”. Therefore, my network was very dense, in my case meaning that I knew few people outside my work environment. Most of us knew the same people and a lot of the same things in the narrow sphere of business in which we normally operated. Busy people like me didn’t spend time purposefully developing relationships with acquaintances or friends of friends. We had our noses to the grindstone, safely within our comfortable, dense little network. I didn’t see the issue at the time, but I do now. In today’s economic climate, if you need to find employment or want to improve or upgrade your current job, the people closest to you in your network are the least likely to be in a position to help. Your close friends often travel in the same circles, but a friend of a friend is privy to a whole different network of people and information. A whole new world can be opened up by expanding your list of contacts and communicating effectively with them. How do you expand your network into a “low-density” network? Cultivating a broader network takes effort and focus, and a spirit of giving. To begin with, get to know people that are connected to your job more tangentially than your co-workers, such as contractors, consultants, or vendors. Keep relationships alive that were born during cross-functional projects. Stay in touch with people you meet at conferences or in training classes. Connect meaningfully with people you meet in religious and/or community organizations. Search out others with passions and interests that overlap yours, and develop a connection. Get out and do new things. Be free with help and advice. Exchange phone numbers and email addresses. Make a phone call just to stay in touch. Drop someone a note or contact them online. A healthy network requires constant work. Reach out and expand your network through your weak ties. I guarantee you will realize benefits you never expected.

When It's Time To Go

We are all creatures of habit, to one degree or another. There is comfort in routine and stress in change. At work and in our private lives, we plan to minimize risk and maximize results. We purchase insurance, drive defensively, strive to achieve our goals at work, and carefully chart out our career moves. But what happens when plans don’t pan out? How do you know when it’s time to make a change? When is it time to go? Have you ever been really miserable at work? Perhaps you have unsuccessfully tried to analyze criticism received from a boss, been purposefully excluded from power strongholds, shoved into a virtual corner in an insignificant and boring position, or suffered through the process of selective layoffs. At the best of times, office politics can be brutal. During tough times, it’s a struggle to survive financially and emotionally. There are some bad situations that can’t be fixed and shouldn’t be tolerated. Sometimes you have to do more than complain about work and move on to find a better fit - a work situation where you can be successful and appreciated. The more of these indicators you are experiencing, the more likely it is that you should consider looking for a new job: · You are chronically bored. · You have been assigned a job that doesn’t keep you busy enough and/or isolates you from working as part of a team. · Your boss never has a word of encouragement for you, but has plenty of criticism to share. · You can’t see how what you do contributes anything of value to the company. · Your responsibilities bring you no pleasure or sense of accomplishment. · The goals or actions of management conflict with your personal beliefs or morals. · Your performance is being measured against unreasonable goals that are impossible to achieve. · Your efforts are exhausting you and causing stress that is affecting your health or other aspects of your personal life. If any of these things are happening to you, talk frankly with your supervisor to assess whether anything can be done to change the situation. You may want to explore an internal transfer to a new job and a new team. But if it’s clear you don’t have a future with your current employer, take your career firmly into your own hands. Prepare a professional resume, aggressively establish active professional and personal networks, and start the hunt for a new position.

Prove It or Lose It

The Chicago Cubs lead off hitter, Alphonse Soriano, was pushed down in the batting order recently, due to poor performance. He hit a miserable .173 over the last 36 games, and his lackadasical defense had me seriously convinced that hitters were strategically aiming in his direction. Last week, we saw a newcomer fresh from AAA play in Soriano's place, and he played his heart out with great results. Thus the change in Soriano's status. There is a parallel to this in business. A professional has to keep working at being an outstanding contributor to a company's goals, or they can be moved into a less significant role in the organization, or even lose their position. Retention of a good job is not an entitlement. You don't reach a certain level in an organization and become safe for the rest of your career. You have to keep performing, keep proving that you have it to stay even, let alone to progress. What you did a few years ago is history. Companies rightly have a "What have you done for me lately?" attitude. Although this seems obvious, some ignored this imperative during financial good times. Now, when companies are tightening their belts and eliminating unproductive positions, people are scurrying around trying to prove their value. Maybe this is a reality people need to experience once in their career to get the message. It's not the first time it has happened (I experienced in myself in the recession of the early 80's), and it won't be the last. What should you do to improve your chances of retaining your job in turbulent times?

• Understand your company's goals and exactly how your responsibilities relate to them.
• Make sure you have clear performance goals against which your performance can be measured in an objective way.
• Keep in close communication with your manager, so you know exactly what is expected of you.
• Always exhibit a positive, "can do" attitude, and volunteer to do whatever is needed.
• Keep growing your skills and experience, even if you have to do it on your own time.

Failure to do these things will make you vulnerable in your position. If you aren't willing to do what it takes to contribute value to your company, some young up-and-comer (or a cunning veteran) will take your place before you know it. Stay hungry, work smart, and be successful.

Employees Want "More Communication"

In today's corporate environment, our economic crisis has created tremendous uncertainty and fear among employees. More than ever, companies need to think and act carefully to meet the need for internal communication. When employee surveys repeatedly come back with results that plead for "more communication", how do you know what that means and how to respond? First, a carefully crafted follow-up survey should be administered to drill down to how employees think communication is lacking. Get help from a professional, ideally an industrial psychologist, who knows what questions to ask and how to ask them to get the information needed. If the right questions are asked, the statistics from the answers should give you some clear direction on how to proceed. Next, pick your battles. You may not be able to (or want to) attempt to address all the issues at once. From the analysis of your statistics, pick two or three items as your top priorities for immediate action. Now, the fun part. How will you provide "more communication" in a way targeted for results? Who will be responsible for this task? How will you know what efforts have been successful? It's time to construct a plan. Communication must be multi-faceted in approach. Not everyone responds to the same type of input the same way. Some people prefer meetings; others would rather read a newsletter at their leisure. Reaching out once a week may be just right for part of the employee population, while others think more than once a month is overkill. The trick is in identifying a combination of outlets, activities, events - opportunities - from which your employees can choose how they want to engage. There are so many possibilities that only begin with meetings and newsletters. Consider brown bag lunches with guest speakers, casual gatherings after hours with management, podcasts, videos, subscription emails, formal letters, Twitter, Facebook, eLearning, intranet postings, skip level sessions...the possibilities are only limited by imagination (and/or your budget). Employees who are getting open, honest, consistent communication from senior management will be more loyal to their employer, and less likely to be angry in their uncertainty. Times are challenging, and those employed are fortunate to have jobs - but that doesn't mean they should be kept in the dark to assume the worst. Good communication, based on a comprehensive plan, pays huge dividends when it comes to employee morale and productivity.

Customer Service at Retail Stores-Dying or Already Dead?

I am an enthusiastic shopper, and find browsing stores to be a form of relaxation. Besides, it helps me stay knowledgeable about current styles and trends. (I have a fear of slowly sliding into a decidedly middle-aged look.) So why do stores seem so intent on driving me away to shop on the Internet? Customer service issues are at the heart of the issue. That trickles down from the capabilities of the management team, how they hire, and how they communicate priorities. Retail is in crisis, folks! Don’t you think that requires you to think differently? Most of my corporate career was spent in service-related roles. The pursuit of great customer service is a passion of mine, and you will often find me on a soapbox on this subject. The crime of it is that the techniques involved in delivering really good customer service are simple, even FUN, and yet few retailers have found the secret to motivating consistently positive behavior from their associates. Recently, while shopping at The Sports Authority for a specific item I was told, “We don’t carry that in the store, but you might try the Internet.” Yes, I might. But why couldn’t the store offer to obtain the item for me and either hold it for pick-up or send it to me? At Macy’s, I had to return a pair of shoes because the clerk had mistakenly put the wrong shoes in my bag at the checkout counter. When I came back to the store and explained the problem, I wanted to buy two pair of shoes to replace the one pair I was returning. Gosh, I was treated like that was an unsolvable problem! Return one pair, buy two. That’s good for the store – right? When the dust settled, I had a refund for the original purchase, no new shoes, and no apology. I called the General Manager the next day to explain how her associates don’t seem to want to actually make sales. Have you noticed how you often can’t find an item in the size or color you want in the brick and mortar stores? But go home and search the Internet, and you find what you want right away. Why wouldn’t I stop trolling the stores for hours, going home empty-handed, when I can shop online and have my purchase sent to my home? Then when the package is delivered, it’s almost like getting a gift in the mail! You often have to pay shipping fees, but you didn’t drive your car or take public transportation to get to the store – so it’s almost a wash. My call to action for retailers is this: Stop thinking like it’s still 1980! Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and deliver a shopping experience that they can’t get online – in a good way. Clueless, inattentive, lazy, gum-popping drones as sales associates are driving us away forever. Establish a well-communicated service philosophy, make sure management ingrains it into the culture, hire people who will respond to coaching, and deliver real service to your customers. Otherwise, kiss your stores goodbye one-by-one.

10 Ways to Screw-Up Your LinkedIn Presence

Social networking is great – I am a devotee of LinkedIn and Facebook. I haven’t Tweeted yet, but will probably have to go there sometime. If you participate on LinkedIn, you have to be consistent in your participation, or your online presence (so important in a today’s professional world) will have negative impact instead of positive impact. Here are 10 ways I most often see people screw up their LinkedIn presence:

1. “CURRENT" EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION IS OUTDATED. You wouldn’t stretch the truth on your resume. Don’t do it on LinkedIn either. It’s inaccurate and shows people that you are lackadaisical about your employment status.
2. EMAIL ADDRESS IS OUTDATED. LinkedIn updates and notifications are emailed to you. You will not receive them if your email address is incorrect.
3. PROFILE LACKS DETAIL about your employment experience. This is what LinkedIn is all about. People will be interested in who you are and what you have done. That’s the whole point of being on LinkedIn.
4. INDISCRIMINANT INVITATIONS to connect to people you don’t really know, just to raise your Connections count. Before sending an invitation to connect, think about WHY a connection to that person will be valuable (to you and to them), and include verbiage about that in your invitation to personalize it.

5. UNFORTUNATE OR UNPROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPH. If you choose to upload a photograph (which is not required), it should be reflective of the professional impression you want to impart. Avoid use of a mug shot or a mobile snapshot taken at a drinking party.
6. ABSENCE OF RECOMMENDATIONS. Professional recommendations/endorsements are an important aspect of rounding out your profile. Don’t be afraid to ask people with whom you have had good working relationships to provide a recommendation.
7. POORLY WRITTEN RECOMMENDATIONS. Following up on the previous point, it will not reflect well on you if someone writes an inarticulate or poorly edited recommendation for you. Do not hesitate to ask for a revision, or do not publish a recommendation that does not suit your needs.
8. JOINING FRIVOLOUS GROUPS. Remember, this is a professional community. Join groups that will provide professional updates and growth to enhance your career and network connections.
9. FLIPPANT OR RUDE POSTINGS to Discussions or Questions posted by other members. If you don’t have anything of value to add, then pass it by. You don’t do your reputation any favors by providing unprofessional input.
10. TAKING WITHOUT GIVING. LinkedIn members are a generous group, on the whole. If you ask for a recommendation, be prepared to offer one in return. If you submit a question and receive helpful answers/advice, be sure to thank respondents and to rate Good or Best Answers. LinkedIn is a community, and the benefits received should be gratefully accepted.

If you are a LinkedIn member, full and professional participation will make the best impression.

© Laurel Anne Bailey 2010

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