Remember the importance of "story" in the way we retain and evaluate information. We're so inundated with factoids all day long that statistics alone fails to get our attention. Story works so well because it mixes context with emotion.
view online:
Effective Communication Begins with a First Impression, by JD Schramm, Director of the Mastery in Communication Initiative at Stanford's Graduate School of Business
via Harvard Business Review (The Conversation Blog)
First Impressions blog: 10 tips: professionalism in office e-mails
Effective Communications Begins with a First Impression
The speaker had just been introduced. A slide behind him had his name and institution on it. A program in each member of the audience's hands had the same information. And still, how did he begin?
"Good Morning, my name is Gary Anderson and I'm a managing director at Acme and I'm here today to talk about..."
Yet again the chance to make a powerful first impression by a presenter was lost. The audience settled in for another mediocre presentation, and they were not wrong. All too often business leaders forget the classic adage "you never get a second chance to make a first impression."
In both written and oral communication it's just too easy to begin with the mundane, the uninspired, and the ordinary.
As we're designing presentations or crafting emails or letters, it's acceptable, perhaps even easier, to start by writing the heart of our content. How will we shape it? What flow makes sense? What matters most to my audience? What aspects must be included and what elements are optional if time, or space, allows? But once the draft of your communication is complete, then step back and consider the total package you are delivering to your reader or audience and decide carefully how you wish to begin.
Each year we likely see hundreds of presentations at work or professional conferences. The speaker who commands our attention from their first breath is one we want to listen to. At TED 2009, Elizabeth Pisani, an AIDS researcher with unconventional methods of field research, did just that. She looked out at the audience and began "People do stupid things; that's what spreads HIV." She had us. She then went on to discuss four distinct groups of people (drug users, sex workers, gay men, and health policy nerds) and what each found to be rational. Her talk, from her very first breath, was brilliant, well-designed, and powerful. It began well and just got better.
In this era of double-digit unemployment, many of us are either job-hunting or helping friends and colleagues who are searching for employment. After crafting a cover letter, set it aside, do something else as a distraction, and then return to it with fresh eyes. Imagine you are the hiring manager and this has landed on your desk or in your in-box. Does the letter capture your attention from the very first moment?
All too often the letters I see are all about the applicant. "I found your ad on my favorite job website and I think I'd be great for..." Consider who are you writing to and how you can make a first impression that gets out of your world and into his or hers. "Your need for a motivated self-starter (from the job description) matches my desire to move from product sales to selling service." The point is to think of the recipient's desk, his priorities and needs and address those. Your name is on the return address portion of the envelope, at the top of your resume, and at the top of the cover letter, so resist beginning with "My name is Beth Jones and I want..." Consider the reader.
While we may only see scores of business letters in a year, we see thousands of emails. There, the first impression is obvious: the subject line. Pause from this post for just one moment and glance through your inbox right now. Don't open and answer any emails, but just see how many actually capture your attention with the subject line. I'm guessing fewer than 10%. Worse yet, many subject lines give us no clue what's contained in the email. "Follow-up from yesterday" or "update on project" do nothing to capture our attention or give us a sense of what's in the email. So many executives read and respond from their BlackBerries or iPhones, we need to make every single character count.
The key to writing a powerful subject line is to do it last, right before you hit send, not before you've written the email. Yes, I know, that requires returning to the top of the email to fill in the subject line after you've finished writing the email. But only then do you really know what you're saying in the body of the email. It's also a fantastic opportunity to double-check that you have the correct recipients listed on the email (not too many, not too few).
We have hundreds of opportunities each week to make a first impression. Whether it's a formal presentation to hundreds of strangers, a cover letter to a firm we'd like to hire us, or an email to a group of coworkers about next week's company picnic, consider that first impression and make it count.
10 Tips: Professionalism in office e-mails
As you’re well aware, shortchanging the English language (yes, it includes
your abuse of the apostrophe) send me in a fit.
Another one of my pet peeves is the way people use office e-mail.
I had written a
post some time ago on professionalism. In re-reading it, I realized I needed to expand upon a biggie: e-mail etiquette — the one thing that people, especially young employees, don’t bother paying attention to.
Remember, e-mails can easily be forwarded, so be wary of what you write.
Guess what happens when your LOLs about the boss’ purple and gold jacquard tunic worn over bright red velvet leggings find their way to her inbox?
You may be ROTF minus the L as a result.
Don’t let momentary foolishness — or oversight — get in the way of your career path. Read on for some handy tips to extend your professionalism to your outbox.
1. Do not use emoticons
You know, those smiley faces or winks that you just can’t resist adding to the end of a sentence when you think you’ve written something clever? Don’t use those for business communications. They not only detract from the message, they also show the recipient you don’t know how to differentiate between personal and professional communication.
2. Use correct spelling and proper grammar
I cannot emphasize this enough. Use a dictionary or a spell checker. Most desktop e-mail clients have in-built dictionaries. Use them. But note, that the spell checker will not pick up incidental errors. Always review your e-mail after the spell checker gives you the green signal.You don’t want to be the person who wrote to your female boss: “Can we meet when you’re a little less busty?”
Enough said.
3. Wait to Fill in the “TO” e-mail address
What’s the rush? Complete writing your e-mail and check it for any grammatical and/or spelling errors before you fill in the name of the addressee. This will keep you from sitting in your manager’s office for a premature evaluation.
4. Make your e-mail reader friendly
Use short paragraphs and blank lines between each paragraph. When making a point, harness the power of those numbered or bulleted lists. E-mail is meant to be a quick, concise medium. Leverage the power of the medium — this is not your love saga unfolding; it’s professional communication.
5. Be courteous
I hate when people use red text in the body of the e-mail to denote something is important. Or when they use all caps. I wonder how mad they were when typing the e-mail. If something is important and you want to call attention to it, bold it, or underline it — don’t go around e-yelling!
6. Use a relevant subject line
Include a subject that is meaningful to the recipient as well as yourself. E-mails with blank subject lines get easily overlooked and those that say: “Happy Friday!” in the subject, but contain a message about a significant deadline is likely not going to get opened.
7. Do not assume familiarity with the recipient unless you actually know them
She may be called Pat; he may like being called Pete, but unless they sign their name such in an e-mail to you, please refer to people by their proper given name. Don’t assume that Michael the CEO will be ok with you calling him Mikey in an e-mail where the Board of Trustees are CCed.
8. Don’t send large attachments without forewarning
Do not send large attachments without first checking with the recipient. And please don’t forward images of LOL cats to your colleagues — if you’re really friends with them, you’ll know their personal e-mail address. Use that for the laughs.
9. Do not overuse the high priority option
It’s like the boy who cried wolf. Use of the high priority option denotes a special status for email — not every e-mail you send can be an emergency. Choose wisely.
10. Acknowledge e-mails
I’m one to auto-check my e-mail account every 30 seconds. I also reply to e-mails as soon as I receive them … or within the hour. It is courteous and generally expected that you will reply to official e-mails (that aren’t high priority) within 48 hours of receipt. If you are unable to send a detailed reply within the 48-hour time-frame, at least send a short acknowledgment and let the sender know by when to expect your reply.
Bonus tip!
Please, set up an auto-reply If you will be out of office for more than one day. We don’t care if you’re sipping bottomless margaritas on Cancun’s white-sand beaches — all we want to know is when you’ll be back!
A lot of first impressions are made via office e-mail … you don’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons.