What if tomorrow, EVERYONE in your company from the CEO to the guy who sweeps the corridors was given a chainsaw to use to do some random office re-modeling.
That’s right.
What if Simon in accounting, along with his colleagues most of who have probably never even seen a chainsaw in real life, was given a deadly cutting tool to use at will?
What would you think would happen?
Well, lets say its going to cost your company an arm and a leg.
What if I told you that you are doing the same in your organization.
That tool, is EMAIL.
Now for most who work in large organizations, email remains an indispensable tool for inter-departmental communication. However, like any tool used improperly, email can cause as much harm as good.
The danger with email lies with a few simple facts:
1) Lack of non-verbal communication cues
An email can be viewed as a letter. But while a letter can convey information, it is still a challenge to convey aspects of meaning that we take for granted in face-to-face exchanges. Things like emotion; empathy; innuendo and sarcasm.
There is also a dangerous assumption on the part of the sender that the recipient will FULLY understand the meaning of the writer. As one would imagine, assumptions would be rife.
2) Poor writing skills
Face it, not everyone can write like Earnest Hemingway. We often forget that reading and writing are classified as skills. And like any skill, the performance you get out is directly related to the time that you put in to practice these skills.
Writing and reading need to be practiced or these skills will deteriorate.
You can only imagine the kinds of damage that quick emails dashed off in a hurry could cause.
3) Emails are a breeding ground for stereotypes
Think about a Doctor. Now think about a Nurse.
Chances are that you thought of a man in a white coat when you read “Doctor”, and a women in a white outfit when you read “Nurse”.
That’s the power of a stereotype. Stereotypes are an evolution of an ancient survival technique that would prevent us from repeatedly making dangerous (and potentially fatal) mistakes.
Sadly, the effectiveness of a stereotype can carry over to an email. Would you be as forgiving of someone who’s surname was distinctly black African making a spelling mistake on an email as opposed to someone who had a distinctly European surname? What would some of the stereotypes be that would spring to mind?
I’d like to end this post by saying that its important to distinguish the difference between Email as a SYSTEM and the Culture under which Email is used. In my next post I will be addressing strategies you can use in your workplace to reduce levels of conflict, as well as getting the most out of your electronic communications network.
Tired of Email Conflict, Lyle reboots his PC
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