Have you ever hit the "Send" button in a fit of anger and then sorely wished you hadn't? Have you ever cc'd your supervisor because of an escalating e-conflict with a colleague, only to be reminded that conflicts are more easily resolved face to face? Have you ever forwarded an impressive-sounding petition to your entire office, only to discover five minutes (and several irritated colleagues) later that it was an urban legend? Then, the Ten Commandments of E-mail Etiquette can help.
1. Thou shalt be professional.
According to Peggy Post, " E-mail is not necessarily confidential or private, so what you write should always be professional and careful. It can easily be forwarded to other users. It should not be used for frivolous correspondence, and employees should be aware that their employer can and sometimes does monitor and read e-mail correspondence often thought to be private." In other words, gossiping about office politics, criticizing co-workers and making jokes about the CEO's fashion taste are all a bad idea online.
2. Thou shalt not waste other people's time.
E-mail overload is a reality for most executives, so keep your business correspondence pertinent, concise and respectful. A few sentences of pleasantries may make online communication more conversational, but can potentially bury an important message. To ensure your point gets across, create a new subject line that summarizes your message. Keep important information at the top for easy scanning. And if you must write longer than one screen, type a short summary and attach more information. If you are unsure about attachment compatibility, cut and paste the attachment into the body of your e-mail and indicate in your summary that you are doing so.
3. Thou shalt use proper punctuation and grammar.
Business e-mail should be written like any other business communication. Always use appropriate punctuation and grammar. As far as emoticons (those sideways faces) go, Phyllis Mindell author of "How to Say It for Women, Communicating with Confidence and Power" advises, not using them on business correspondence since you wouldn't use icons on a memo or proposal.
4) Remember the inbox, to check it regularly.
The best way to stay on top of incoming messages is to check your inbox at designated times of the day. According to Alice Bredin in "The Home Office Solution," "You don't need to drop everything whenever you see or hear a that a message has landed in your box. Instead, set aside a block of time in the morning, and perhaps another in the late afternoon to see and respond to your messages."
5) Honor the choice to respond: that thy workday may be short.
When you're busy, it's easy to forget that responding to each e-mail is a choice. According to Bredin, "Not every e-mail requires a reply. Before you fire back a response make sure it's necessary. If you feel rude not responding at all, it's fine to send an e-mail saying 'Got it, thanks' and no more." The more succinctly you reply to e-mails, the more often you'll leave the office on time.
6) Thou shalt not react in anger.
Conflicts can escalate rather quickly over e-mail. Sending messages that overtly rant or subtly provoke is called "flaming." Flames can happen whether you know the sender personally or not. If it's happening at the office, chances are you know the person and already have a difficult time communicating with them. If this is the case, do not use electronic communication as your opportunity to let them have it. Remember the golden rule and treat others the way you wish to be treated.
7) Thou shalt not unnecessarily send group mailings.
"Be very careful who you include on your joke list," warns Bredin. "Many people find that they are deluged with jokes and variously forwarded e-mails that block up their accounts and eat up their time. Jokes should only go to people who you know enjoy receiving them. And whatever you do, don't waste your or anyone else's time with such things as Internet chain letters and bogus virus alerts." Avoid using address lists unless they are specifically targeted, such as "Office Memo Group" or "Bates Project Group." If you receive chain messages from well-meaning associates, politely, but firmly let them know that you are not interested in future forwards and wish to be removed from that particular list.
8) Thou shalt keep the private life, strictly private.
There are many stories about employee's personal lives inadvertently becoming public via misdirected e-mails and sadly some of them are true. It cannot be stressed enough, according to Virginia Shea, author of the book "Netiquette," the Internet never forgets. Avoid all temptations to describe intimate aspects of your personal life over e-mail. The repercussions aren't worth it.
9) Thou shalt not bare false witness against thy co-worker.
If you have a grievance or strong opinion, address your local congressman via e-mail, not your co-worker, your company's CEO or both. Remember Commandment Six and pause before you write any e-mail out of anger. And just because you are privy to the CEO's e-mail address, don't fall under the illusion that you should use it or share it, unless you would also freely pass along his or her direct phone number.
10) Thou shalt covet the delete button freely and wantonly.
If you wouldn't open and read the junk mail in your regular mailbox, then don't waste another second reading junk mail in your e-mail inbox. Chances are if it's not a legitimate subscription service that you requested, your efforts to "unsubscribe" will amount to the discovery that you cannot. Simply hit the delete button, or if you have one, put the offending address into your e-mail filter system. Just be careful you don't filter out someone at the office with whom you must communicate regularly.
Most importantly, remember to be forgiving. When it comes to e-mail etiquette, we've all made a few innocent blunders. Being gentle with ourselves as we struggle through this accelerated initiation into the information age is our best strategy. After all, the benefits of e-mail communication far outweigh a few e-mail etiquette growing pains.
Christina Katz is a speaker, author, and writing coach from Wilsonville, Oregon. Christina offers presentations on the topics of making time for yourself and writing and publishing nonfiction articles. She coaches writers, artists, and professionals to compose authentic, compelling communications and offers manuscript and copy evaluations. To subscribe to her free newsletter "Writers on the Rise," email christinakatz@earthlink.net. Christina's next book is "The Art of Making Time for Yourself," based on her article of the same name. For more information, please visit http://www.christinakatz.com.
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