How to Communicate Effectively Through Emails and Meetings
By Julie Harrer,
President of Hamlet Auditing and Consulting Corp.
Effective communication is one of those skills that is easy to achieve in theory but hard to deliver in practice. Both in a professional and personal setting, you will come in contact with people who have different backgrounds and filters which means they won’t always communicate in a manner that is easy for you to understand. Communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information.
A recent survey conducted by the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Business School found that communication skills, including written and oral presentations and an ability to work well with others, are the main factors contributing to job success.
Being able to communicate effectively is therefore essential if you want to build a successful career. Below you will find tips on how to communicate effectively through emails and meetings.
Ten Successful Email Practices
Email is a wonderful tool to spread your message throughout the company, create documentation or connect with co-workers. But unless your message is concise and your audience recognizes the sender, there is a good chance your message will go unread. To improve your communication in emails and ensure your message gets across:
1. Keep your messages short and to the point. Most people only read the first few lines of an email message.
2. If you have to add more detail in your email, use headings or bullet points to get your thoughts across.
3. For important messages, have someone from executive management send the email. Most employees read a message from the president or CFO promptly.
4. If appropriate, follow-up an email message with a face-to-face discussion or phone call. This ensures your message is received clearly and it will build a better rapport with your receivers.
5. Use explicit phrasing in the subject line to inform your reader of the exact topic of your message. For example, instead of using the phrase “month-end close”, use the phrase “Oct08 Month-end Close Accruals”. Descriptive subject lines will help readers locate your email if they need to refer to it later. It also will increase the chance your email is read and not regarded as spam.
6. If you are asking for a phone call or follow-up appointment, make sure you include your contact information, even with internal emails. The easier you make it for someone to respond, the more likely they are to do so.
7. Many people expect responses to email within 24 hours (or less) so make sure to clean out your email inbox at least once each day. Prompt responses to incoming mail encourage others to return your emails in a timely manner.
8. Be careful of what you put in writing. You may be surprised to find where your messages end up. Also, remember that emails are not necessarily confidential. Some companies retain the right to monitor employees’ messages.
9. Do not use all caps or only lower case words in your emails. If you violate the rules of English grammar and usage, you make it difficult for the receiver to read.
10. Take time to re-read your email before you send it to check for content, grammar and spelling errors. Use the automatic spell check function. Typos and bad grammar will appear sloppy and unprofessional.
Holding Useful Meetings
Meetings are a wonderful tool for generating ideas, working through challenges, gaining input, building rapport and managing group activities. However, face-to-face contact with a group of people can quickly turn into a waste of time without the proper preparation and leadership.
Planning
The success of any meeting depends largely on the organizational and presentational skills of the meeting leader. To be effective, the leader should provide focus, facilitate communication and provide closure. To ensure the meeting is productive, the leader should:
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Issue an agenda or summary at least half a day ahead of the meeting
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Start and take control of the discussion while encouraging active participation
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Work to keep the meeting at a comfortable pace – not moving too fast or too slow
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Summarize the discussion and the action items at the end of the meeting
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Participants
Choosing the right participants can contribute greatly to the productivity of your meetings. It is important that the people with the necessary information and decision-making capabilities for the items listed in the meeting agenda are present. At the same time, be sure only the necessary attendees are present. Try to keep the number of participants to a maximum of 12 or less. Larger groups tend to be too hard to manage and keep focused.
Before calling a meeting, stop for a moment to consider the hourly cost to your organization of the attendees. Lawyers, auditors and other service providers can add to that cost significantly. Since meetings are expensive, it is important that every person attending and every minute of your meetings add value.
Time Management
Meetings are notorious for eating up people's time. Below are some ways to ensure your meetings remain efficient:
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Start on time
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Don't recap what you have covered if someone comes in late. Recapping sends the message that it is OK to be late for meetings and it wastes other attendees’ valuable time
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State a finish time for the meeting and do not run overtime
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To help stick to the finish time, arrange your agenda topics in order of importance. If you have to omit or rush items at the end, you won’t have to omit or skimp on important items
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Do not let your meetings go off on tangents. If discussions become too detailed, encourage the individuals involved to meet independently and report the results back to the group at the next meeting
A Few More Tips
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If a meeting topic is especially mundane, try to add an element of fun - think about providing lunch or dessert or having a drawing at your meeting. It is a small gesture, but it can raise excitement and morale.
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Although minutes may not be required for informal meetings, a short email from the meeting leader summarizing any conclusions and action items will provide a good recap of the event.
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It is impressive if the leader of a meeting issues minutes within 24 hours of the end of the meeting.
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Consider having a mid-level manager lead the meeting. Preparing and managing meetings can be time consuming and can easily be delegated. Mid-level managers will usually know the issues at hand and may be happy to show their leadership skills in front of their team.
Emails and meetings have become the standard means of communication at most companies today. Strive to have the words “concise, efficient, meaningful and productive” describe these communication tools at your organization.
Julie Harrer is the President of Hamlet Auditing and Consulting Corp and author of Internal Control Strategies – A Mid to Small Business Guide. For more information visit www.hamletauditing.com
Copyright 2008