Reducing daily miscommunications in your business with 8 practical tips

Tech-based communication lacks the human context that builds a shared understanding between team members. Here are 8 commandments of great email communication, with practical steps.

Modern tech makes for touchy on-the-job communication.

Misunderstandings are common now. This is because texts and emails lack a reassuring voice or friendly body language to smooth things over. Studies show tech communication causes a metric ton of work mix-ups:

- Voice messages are misunderstood 67% of the time

- Phonecalls create misunderstandings 71% of the time

- 80% of text messages are misunderstood

- And emails are misunderstood an astonishing 87% of the time (source: Forbes ).

If emails are causing miscommunications for your teams, use these 8 email commandments to improve things today:

1 - Check and reply to emails every workday without fail.

2 - Respond to every message sent to you.

3 - Follow the chain of command in all communication. (Do not go around your direct supervisor to your supervisor’s boss!)

4 - You shall not send shotgun emails.

5 - Take Request For Information (RFI) emails seriously. (If you have info that can help others get their job done, pass it along quickly.)

6 - Refrain from engaging in tense email exchanges. (Work out high-friction issues in person, or over a video call. Use email to organize a time to address the matter.)

7 - Forward misdirected RFIs to the right recipient(s).

8 - Be sure to change the email subject line when the topic changes.?

Let’s start with the first commandment:

Email communication is a vital information highway within the group.?

Whenever you are going to be away from your email, set up an automated response that notifies the sender when you’ll be available to reply.?

You can use your automated response to point project-specific info requests to the right person while you’re gone.

You can also point to different sources for different projects. “For project A please contact Sue, for project B contact Jack”.

Whether it’s your boss or your direct reports reaching out, the worst response to any email is crickets.

The second commandment: All communication requires a response.

If you want to be an effective leader, responses aren’t optional.

The following six items in this list will give you many response options to use.?

If you get an email and you don’t know how to respond, go to your supervisor.

Commandment Three: Emails should always follow the chain of command.

When sending an email up the chain, send it to your direct boss first.

When sending an email down the chain, send it to a direct team member (don’t send it below your direct reports!)

If it’s a request for information that is not following the chain of command, send a copy of the email to your supervisor with a note from you pointing out the irregularity.

The more group members are made to follow the chain of command now, the more likely they will follow the chain of command in the future.

The exception:

A - Your project requires a multidisciplinary work team.

B - Emergencies (as in critical failures or dangerous situations) are also the exception.

The key here is stopping the chaotic “no-rules-for-email” communication process that is a hallmark of low-performing groups.

Commandment Four: Stop sending shotgun emails whenever it can be avoided.

Shotgun emails are emails sent to more people than necessary to address the issue at hand.

They’re also a way for some group members to essentially throw tantrums.

Don’t send them. Even with the best of intentions, shotgun emails can cause major info traffic jams.

Instead, do this. Before sending an email, stop and think about who should get it. Base this on the specific goal you need to achieve.

If you’re not sure, ask your supervisor.?

Commandment Five: Take RFI emails seriously.

RFI emails can be critical to mission success and are often the very necessary links in the group chain moving the group closer to mission success.

As such, RFI emails should be treated with the importance they deserve.

If you can’t supply what they need right away or you can’t delegate the task, do this. Respond with a message that proposes a future time when you can supply the information.

If you can’t meet their deadline for the information this next step is important. Get off email and get on the phone with them to determine how mission-critical the information request is.

If you and the sender can’t work out the priority question, it’s not a failure to pass it up to your supervisors.

Some RFIs can require a considerable amount of time and effort.?

We all have our work prioritized by our supervisors so when you pass it up to them you’re allowing them to do exactly that: prioritize.

This task might be in the way of your real priorities that are important for the larger group’s mission. Because of this your supervisors need to be brought into this process.

Commandment Six: Don’t take the bait on tension emails.?

Any email that introduces tension or anger (for the sender or the receiver) needs to be shifted over to oral communication.

Emails jumping back and forth appear as a dialogue but they’re not: it’s a monologue that lacks voice inflection and body language. It’s ineffective!

This is hard to do sometimes but necessary—once things heat up, get off email and pick up the phone.

Commandment Seven: Misdirected RFIs should be forwarded.

If you receive an RFI that requires a decision to be made by someone else in the group, and you have no control over how or when that decision will be made, don’t say “not my job”.

Yes, let the sender know it’s not your field of expertise, but make sure to forward their request to the appropriate decision maker.?

Commandment Eight: Change the subject header when the topic of the email thread changes.

Email thread histories can be a very effective way of documenting logic threads.

This practice can also help provide information at a later date to backfill reports. It shows how decisions were made and strategies were developed.

However, just as with live verbal conversations the thread can branch off to different subjects.

To save you time in the future, when the subject being discussed in an email thread changes, also change the subject header of the email.

If you ever need to go back to your email repository looking for key pieces of high-quality information, it’ll be right there.

Use and implement these commandments in your teams’ daily operations.?

Anyone not responding to the new rules for using email appropriately is moving towards a downgraded performance evaluation.?

Not following these guidelines of how to respond appropriately is participating in team destroying problematic behavior. If you slip up, simply study the guidelines and get back on track.}

Hi, I’m Bob Donaldson, CEO and Founder of The Lost Art of Collaboration.

Follow or connect with me on LinkedIn for daily tips on how the science of human collaboration shows us a blueprint for building world class organizations: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/robert-m-donaldson-cbn-b121b867/