Have you ever created something and thought it was pretty good. But, as you continued to learn, you realized it could be even better.
That happened to me this week as I was walking my dogs. Let me tell you what happened and how it can help you take your email skills to the next level.
Learning in my outdoor university
If you’re been a subscriber to my email list for a while, you’ve met our dogs, Zoey and Maewyn.
You may recall this video from a walk last summer when Maewyn discovered the neighborhood sprinklers.
She’s such a goof.
These two girls help me learn and grow. Because, when I take them on our daily walks, which can sometimes be pretty long, I listen to podcasts.
One of my favorites is Dave Stachowiak’s Coaching for Leaders podcast. Dave and his guests continually help me grow in my personal life and professional career.
You already know this if you’re a regular reader of this blog because I share Coaching for Leaders episodes often. The material is too good to keep to myself.
This is the case for the episode I’m sharing with you today. I was surprised when I listened to it, because the content covered so much more than I expected from the title.
And, that brings me back to how I realized how much better I could make the email guide I recently created.
Making my email guide even better
A while back I published my free email guide How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.
Those who have downloaded it have told me the free guide is worth exactly what they paid for it.
They were kidding. (I think….)
Seriously, based on the feedback I’ve received, the guide is packed with helpful tips and tricks that people in a wide range of industries have used to significantly improve their fundamental career skill of communicating well through the emails they write.
If you haven’t downloaded the guide, click on the image or button below to get your free copy.
Or, if you want an introduction to what it’s all about, check out this blog post, Top 5 Tips To Write A Professional Email where I describe these tips.
As beneficial as this guide is in its present form, it can be even better. I’m planning to improve it to help you take your email skills to the next level.
But, so you don’t have to wait for me to release a new version of the guide, I’m going to share in this post some of the new email tips and tricks I learned while walking Zoey and Maewyn this week.
These new ideas came from a recent episode of the Coaching for Leaders podcast.
So much more than the title suggests
The title of this episode is “Where You May Be Provoking Anxiety, with Erica Dhawan.“
The conversation definitely covers the topic in the title in an insightful and practical way. But, Dave and Erica discuss much more than that.
I encourage you to listen to the full episode and purchase Erica’s book, Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance. My copy should arrive tomorrow and I am excited to dig into it.
As I walked and listened to these two experienced experts, I kept hearing tips and recommendations that I wished I would have included in my email guide. I knew what Erica and Dave had to say would help you (and me) take my email skills to the next level.
Her wisdom and suggestions for writing more effective emails were sprinkled in throughout the episode. So, I want to capture a few of them here so they’re easy for you (and me) to read and apply.
5 ways to improve your email skills
I want to be clear. All these tips are taken from the conversation between Dave Stachowiak and Erica Dhawan in this podcast episode.
The credit goes to them.
You could write all these tips down yourself as you’re listening. But, you may like to listen to podcasts while you walk your dogs too. Or while you’re driving. And, I have yet to find a good way to write and walk the girls or drive safely. (If you’ve got a solution, I’d love to hear it.)
So, to save you some time and to give us both a place to reference until I get my free email guide updated with these tips, I created this list.
1. Recognize we infuse body language signals digitally in our emails
In a face-to-face, physical interaction we communicate through body language like handshakes, leaning in, and eye contact.
Similarly, emails contain digital body languages. We communicate through our punctuation, emojis, greetings, endings, response times, and even who we choose to include in the To and CC fields. And, in what order.
All of these details impact how our message is received by our readers and are critically important.
As Erica stated, “What was implicit in our traditional body language now needs to be explicit in our digital body language.“
Simply recognizing the impact we can have, positive or negative, with the small details in our emails is the first step.
2. Be brief but not too brief
As I explained in my guide, we want to get to the point quickly and be concise when writing emails. But, too much brevity can cause confusion or anxiety.
Sending a message like, “Please meet me in my office in five minutes.” can unintentionally make even the most confident employee start wondering if Human Resources will be involved and if they should use the next five minutes writing their farewell email.
Just adding a few words can make a big difference.
Think about how much less intimidating this message is, “Please meet me in my office in five minutes so we can plan tomorrow’s call.”
The few seconds it takes to be more clear, but yet still concise, is a good investment in the mental health and productivity of your team.
3. Tell others when they can expect a response
We can sometimes send an unintentional digital body language message by not responding to an email within a timeframe expected by the other person.
For instance, someone may get anxious or worried if you haven’t responded to their email within 24 hours.
But, if they’ve received an initial response from you that said something like, “Thank you for your email. I will respond on Wednesday with the information you need.” they can rest easy and be more focused and productive in their work.
4. Communicate response time expectations in the email subject line
I covered best practices for subject lines in my email guide, but Erica describes a clever addition to the techniques I recommended.
She describes how she worked with a client to create a common set of subject line acronyms to clearly communicate how quickly a person needed to reply to an email.
2H meant “respond in 2 hours“.
4D stood for “respond in 4 days“.
NNTR was “no need to reply“.
ROM was used to communicate “Respond on Monday” for emails sent during the weekend.
These simple cues allow people to prioritize their tasks and plan their time. Like I said, a very clever idea.
5. Take the extra step when expressing gratitude
This tip is especially applicable if you are sending an email to someone who has less power than you. This power imbalance may be a result of your level in the company, your seniority or expertise, or a gender or racial dynamic.
And, sometimes you may be perceived by the recipient of your email as having more power than they do even when you don’t see it that way. So, I encourage you to apply this tip often, even if you think you’re in a position with no power over anyone.
There’s a good chance someone is looking up to you in a way you don’t realize.
But, just how do you express gratitude to a colleague in a more meaningful way?
Clarifying what you are thankful for is an easy way to show empathy and respect for the other person. Instead of just emailing “Thanks” try something like this.
“Thank you for replying so promptly and for being clear with your reply to my question.”
This is a simple addition to a common email reply. By highlighting two behaviors of your colleague, you are communicating to them that you recognized and appreciated specific attributes of how they did what you asked them to do.
This simple example will get you thinking about how you can sincerely express gratitude in your own way.
Those are just five tips of many, many more contained in this podcast episode. I could easily go on, but I want to use the rest of this post to share another resource that builds on the last tip on expressing gratitude.
One more resource to take your emails skills to the next level
Another regular companion in my outdoor university is Michael Bungay Stanier. His audio version of his book The Advice Trap is outstanding.
As I listened to Erica and Dave talk about how to best say thank you in the world of digital communication, I thought about a resource Michael generously offers on his website.
Michael has created a free guide on how to be appreciative with an infographic titled, “How To Be Generous With Your Appreciation.” It’s easy to download with this link.
It contains 46 (if I counted them correctly) phrases you can use to meaningfully communicate to another person that you see and appreciate who they are.
You can easily incorporate some of these words into the next email you send to say thank you to a teammate.
I encourage you to download the guide and give Michael a mention on LinkedIn to tell him you appreciate this resource he created.
And, I highly recommend listening to the audio version of The Advice Trap. The written version is great, but the audio version is even better. Michael reads it himself (I love his voice) and he’s included a bunch of bonus content that’s not in the book.
Learning through listening
It’s probably obvious by what I’ve written that I enjoy learning through listening. It fits my lifestyle and allows me to develop myself while also getting things done, like walking the doggos.
Knowing that about me, you may wonder why I write a blog instead of hosting a podcast.
Well, that is about to change. I will still keep this blog stream going, but most of the posts will soon be primarily in audio.
That’s right.
I’m launching a podcast. It will go live on July 29, 2021.
The podcast will be called “Connect. Mobilize. Deliver.” I’ve still got a lot of work to do to be ready, but I do have the cover artwork done.
Here it is.
The content will be consistent with what I share in this blog. So, if you’re a fan of what I’ve been writing, I think you’ll like the podcast too.
Listening, learning, and sharing
I’m listening, learning, and doing my best to share what I know. I hope today’s post will help you take your email skills to the next level by applying what I’ve been learning from others.
If you did find something in this post useful, please take a moment to share it with your teammates or on social media. The buttons at the top and bottom of this page make it easy to share these tips and techniques with those who might also benefit.
Thanks as always for reading.
Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.
Greg
