Take the mess out of your messages
By Dianna Booher
- Nov 13, 2006
ST Recruit
CLEAR messages are concise, complete and correct, and make you look competent. Whether you are a pro in the use of e-mail and voicemail or have just recently been introduced to this technology, making effective use of these forms of communication is not a “by chance” happening.
Here are a few tips for getting your messages right:
1 Follow the rules of etiquette when creating your messages. Even though technology has changed, the rules of etiquette have not.
Avoid remarks that are vulgar, repetitive and verbose, and never write or say anything you would not want forwarded to your company’s chief executive officer, your customers, your family or friends.
2 Distinguish between fact and opinion when the difference may not be obvious to the person receiving your message. If you are making a personal judgment, say so, lest your words come back to haunt you. And even then, be sure you really want to state your personal opinion in potentially libellous situations.
3 Respect others’ confidentiality. Many people claim the right to say what they think and feel, with few exceptions. However, once an e-mail message is sent, you have little control over where it goes, and what you say in it can be damaging to you.
So be mindful of this when you correspond by e-mail, and treat messages you receive with similar regard.
4 Respect all copyright and licensing agreements. Take great care to find out who has authored information that you may be tempted to include as yours.
Just because you do not claim the ideas as your own, and even if you acknowledge other “unknown” sources, you may still be liable for copyright infringement.
5 Understand the difference in being informal and looking careless or stupid. Informal means a conversational tone, a breezy manner, colloquial words and phrases, intentional sentence fragments and acronyms.
On the other hand, informal does not mean unclear and incomplete thoughts, ambiguous references, irrelevant details, repetitive information, disorganised ideas, unclear actions, misspelled words or grammatical errors.
6 Use the “MADE” format to structure your messages. People rarely understand messages that do not immediately get to the point. Detailed information or situations make more sense to the reader or listener when the message begins with a summary or overview and the required action, followed by relevant details.
- Message: Summary of one to three sentences.
- Action: What action do you plan to take or want the reader to take?
- Details: Elaborate on who, when, where, why, how and how much.
- Evidence: Mention any materials you think will make the message clearer or the action easier to take.
E-mail and voicemail have made our lives more productive. Use them to their fullest advantage, without abusing others’ rights or offending their sense of decency and appropriateness.
Common courtesy and good sense go a long way in matters of etiquette. Your co-workers, customers, family and friends will appreciate your communication skills and your courtesy.
Article by Dianna Booher, an author, a keynote speaker and trainer on communication and life-balance issues. For more information, visit www.diannabooher.com.
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