What's the best way to convey your attitude and purpose in emails and memos?

Even better, before you write your email or memo, when you have clearly defined its intent and purpose it becomes easier to to have a much more clear and concise subject line.

A simple and clear subject line helps the reader to understand the purpose of the message. Ambiguity can cause unnecessary fear and confusion. Yet clarity can help the reception of the message as the writer intended. It also makes the message more likely to actually be read by the reader and to be understood and remembered.

1st, maintain a professional and respectful tone throughout your communication. Avoid overly casual language. 2nd, begin with a proper salutation, such as "Dear ..." or "Hello ...," depending on your level of familiarity with the recipient. 3rd, always proofread your emails and memos for spelling and grammar errors. Sloppy writing can convey a lack of attention to detail.

Clear and Direct Subject Line: Start with a subject line that clearly summarizes the purpose of your email or memo. This helps recipients quickly understand the content.

Before writing an email, you first need to genuinely care about your reader and about the subject you are addressing, while always keeping a polite, respectful, professional, and empathic attitude. Then if you write in a tone that reflects the way you would speak to your reader in person, that will be the right tone and style.

The saying, “It’s not just saying the right things, it is also how you say it,” is a correct statement. Often times when we write, we write from our own perceptions, temperaments, feelings, experiences, and educations. Many times people write with right ideas or good intentions, only to have their writings backfire because of how the message is being perceived. A way to overcome this is by writing a rough draft and have different people of various temperaments, ages, genders, educations, ethnicity, and etc. read your message and give you feedback. Upon receiving feedback, edit the message so the purpose of the message can reach as many people with a clear purpose rather than it unintentionally being misunderstood or perceived.

Assuming this is for business, you have to always be on guard about how the business/company mormally portrays itself outside. This means that the way you communicate with the outside world should always represent or rather be in line with the PR of the business. In some companies, even before your email is sent to externals it gets scanned by a comms expert internally to verify and judge the tone and style.

I spent many years working in the Federal bureaucracy. It may seem hard for the younger generation to believe, but there was a time before email. Email can be your friend if you use it as a contemporaneous record which you can refer to later when "memories" fade and advice given and not taken becomes a matter of importance to your career. I say this without equivocation. I never sent an email that I wasn't happy to have later. It is imperative that email sent to document your position are clear, concise, and unambiguous. Avoid the passive voice, cute emojis, and weasel words. Not every issue blows up, but when they do nothing beats a contemporaneous email record.

Professional and Courteous Tone, Maintain a professional and respectful tone throughout your communication. Avoid overly formal language but be courteous and polite.

People understand better when there is a picture because it is true that a picture speaks a thousand words. It is important to have a logical flow of information with ease of understanding. We live in a culture where content is read quickly. So having a logical message with quality transitions and a readable format like numbers and bullet points with bolt type headings makes it easier for the reader to read and remember.

Follow-Up, If your purpose involves future action or a response from the recipient, mention when you expect a response or when you plan to follow up.

Servant leadership tries to uplift and inspire people. This often happens when the leader sets the tone by communicating with positivity. This doesn’t mean overlook challenges, being naive, or corny. You can have high standards, accountability, and realistic while also being positive. Communicating a positive message helps followers overcome barriers. It motivates people to be and do more. People do more with positivity and encouragement naturally with the right attitude rather than negativity with obligation and resentment. Negativity can have short term gains but positivity can produce greater and long term results. Positivity sets the tone, it helps people see challenges as opportunities, and for people to be their best self.

Respect Tone, Be mindful of the tone of your message. Avoid sounding confrontational, negative, or overly emotional. Consider the recipient's perspective.

We have seen various times in social media and workplace emails of someone saying the wrong things simply because of typos or autocorrect or other proofreading errors. These areas have caused good intentioned messages to be business and personal problems. People often don’t focus on what was meant to be said or written but what was actually written. So to save time, credibility, public perception, and other issues, it is important to take a little extra time to make sure that what was written is being sent or published as intended.

Let me concise this in few lines. 1. Use a clear and concise subject line that summarizes the content of your email. 2. Choose the right tone and style that matches your audience and purpose. 3. Structure your message logically and visually by using headings, bullet points, and white space. 4. Be polite and positive by using appropriate greetings, expressions, and closing remarks. 5. Proofread and edit your message to avoid errors and misunderstandings.

I notice someone suggested passing a draft email around to get input from others to improve the message. I would say that it would depend on what the subject is and what the audience is. If I were asked to draft an email going to all employees, then having it reviewed by others and polished to make sure it communicated exactly what the organization wanted to say would be in order. However, if I was writing an email concerning a sensitive personnel issue, I would be concerned about maintaining the privacy of the information. In any email that might contain controversial information, I would personally write it in draft first and ensure it communicates exactly the right information and tone for he circumstance.

One thing i've found helpful, the more your e-mail is simple and straight to the point the more the recipient interacts faster with the e-mail.

In replying to an email, it is polite to thank them for their email, then go on to address each point raised. One of the more frustrating things is if you have sent an email requesting several things, then the other person just responds to one or two items. Numbering main points/questions makes this a lot easier.