So how do I get my team to read my emails? Threats? The word “bonus” in the title? Sally has a few interesting ideas, some of which I don’t actually agree with, namely item 3:
3. Provide the Proper Data and Documents
Make sure you give recipients all of the information they need to complete an action or respond successfully to your request. Your co-workers shouldn’t have to come back to you asking for information, whether it is a supporting document or a link to a file on a shared Web site. You can include supporting information in the body of the message, in an attached file, or in an attached e-mail. In addition, if you want recipients to fill out a form, it’s a good idea to attach a sample copy of the form that shows how it should be filled out.
No… don’t send any attachments out – just provide links to team sites. Attachments clog up mailboxes – especially if you have a small quota on your mailbox. My other tip?
Get what you want to say out in a succinct way. (Here are some useful tips). Don’t waffle. We all get bored with rambling mails. Use punctuation correctly. Listening to badly composed mails through Exchange Voice Access is total torture (some of our Directors are guilty of this…). Even shouting “Slower” to have the mail read out in a more comprehensible way doesn’t work well when there isn’t a full stop for a whole paragraph!
Hopefully you’ve already organised your mails effectively and process them efficiently. I’ve blogged about how I do this in the past and I’m feeling smug with my FY07 (which ended on 30th June) mails sitting in a pst and my FY06 mails have been deleted.
So how do I get my team to read the mails?
I keep them short. (Unlike this blog post 🙂
Eileen's Digital Technology 