10 Nov 9 terrible sins of office correspondence
It would seem that the last year had to teach the majority of us to behave with colleagues in the virtual space – in Zoom, working messengers and corporate correspondence. But, alas, still unprofessional, insecure or simply rude working letters are far from uncommon. Which annoys the most in them?
1. Negality in the text
The author of the book “Everyday Etiquette” Patricia Rossi advises reading every letter or message before sending.
“Because of your mistakes or typos, the recipient may have the impression that you were in a hurry or, in general, do not seriously take care. One mistake can be skipped (and forgiven), but if this happens regularly, sooner or later colleagues, partners and leadership will begin to doubt your professionalism and competence ”.
This is not at all about being mistaken in the name of the recipient (this is generally unacceptable!) – even incorrectly placed punctuation marks can distort the tone of writing.
“The function of checking spelling is all available to us – so let’s use it,” Juliet Mitchell advises the etiquette expert on etiquette. However, negligence is not only errors, but also the absence of the necessary information in the letter: terms, addresses and other data. Make sure to provide it to the recipient.
2. Empty chatter
“To be polite means to think about others, their feelings, to protect their time,” Nick Leighton recalls etiquette expert. – This applies to both full -time communication and correspondence. All your messages should be respectful, understandable, concise and in the case “.
Most of us receive at least dozens of letters per day? Try to make sure that the interlocutor is immediately clear to the interlocutor.
3. Abuse of the function “answer everyone”
Each of us happened to participate in correspondence that has nothing to do with us. So, before clicking “answer everyone”, think if it is necessary. Moreover, you should not use the overall correspondence to indicate one of the colleagues for a mistake – write about it in a separate personal letter.
4. Gossip
Discuss colleagues (especially in a negative way) – and impolite, unprofessional, and short -sighted from the point of view of the further development of a career. At least because your message can be sent by mistake or intentionally not for the person.
5. Incontinence in the expression of emotions
Not only is it against the rules of etiquette-as in the case of gossip, this behavior can do your bad service: your e-mail can be sent to others or even take a screenshot and put on public review. So think twice before sending a message written in your hearts.
6. Violation of professional boundaries
In most cases, working correspondence should remain working, and it does not have a place of personal information, obscene vocabulary or indecent GIF’CAM.
“Staying within professional boundaries is not easy, especially if we begin to be friends with colleagues,” explains Jody Smith’s etiquette consultant. -But, when we write to someone for working, the tone should remain as business. Although, of course, a lot depends on the corporate culture accepted in your company, on norms and expectations. Most likely, the employees of the creative agency and the law firm will communicate with each other differently. “.
If you recently at the current place of work, pay attention to how colleagues write letters. Notice everything: tone (formal or informal), the length of the messages of whom it is customary to put in a copy (open or hidden).
7. Neglect of the feelings of others
Of course, you can never be sure that the recipient of the letter will catch our intonation and read the message exactly as we would like.
“In correspondence, our facial expressions and body language are not visible, the tone of speech is not transmitted,” Rossi reminds. – That’s why we all should write messages in the most positive and constructive way. “.
Earlier we already said that in correspondence it is not worth “walking
around the bush”, but this does not mean at all that it is necessary to neglect the rules of politeness. In some cases, our messages can be read as directive or passive aggressive. To avoid this, the letter is always better to start with the recipient’s name. If your goal is to talk with the interlocutor about something unpleasant, “uncomfortable”, it may be better to do it by phone, and not in correspondence.
8. Incorrect use of emoji
“Ideally, in business correspondence, it is better to do without emoticons at all,” Leighton believes. – However, sometimes people specially use them to soften the tone of the letter or prevent a double interpretation of information. Alas, often something goes wrong, and it turns out only worse “. She does not insist on completely abandoning Emoji, but, in his opinion, everything that can be conveyed in words is better to convey in words.
9. Ignoring merit
A successful project is usually the result of teamwork, but it is often useful to note in a letter to all members of the team by namely – not to mention cases when one person was engaged in the project. If you do not focus on this, employees may have a feeling of involvement and that they are appreciated. And this is already a “sin” not just office correspondence, but also a corporate culture in general.
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