Email Etiquette in the Business Environment

E-mail etiquette is often overlooked despite the fact that it plays an important role in conveying a professional image.

E-mails written to friends and family will be less formal and will not need to follow any particular guidelines or rules, but when writing to someone at a professional level the following guidelines and rules should be taken in to account.

1. If you do not have an e-mail address that is business like, please create one, fear it will be to your detriment. Addresses such as ‘sexy girl, star girl, wifey, saved and sanctified’ are considered to be inappropriate. Your name is most appropriate to be used in creating an e-mail address.

2.      With reference to the example above:

             a.       use a descriptive subject line; avoid leaving it blank or putting an 

                   irrelevant or general subject. Ensure that the subject is appropriate.

            b.        Address the recipient by name to add a personal touch to your letter 

                   and be sure to indicate the purpose of the e-mail.

            c.       DO NOT USE ALL CAPS!      

            d.      Avoid over using punctuation marks!!!!!!

            e.      Avoid using abbreviations such as 

                  IMHO (in my humble opinion) or TTYL 

                  (talk to you later), not even if you 

                  are familiar with the email recipient. 

           f.       Skip a line when starting a new paragraph. Avoid using tabs to signify

                a new paragraph, different email programs read tabs in different ways.

           g.      If you are sending an attachment, make note of it and describe what 

                the attachment is for in the body, some people are very wary of 

                attachments due to the threat of computer viruses.

         h.       Keep your emails as concise as possible without leaving out any

               important information.

         i.      Always leave a signature line, don't assume the person already knows 

              who you are.

        j.       Do not keep on sending the same message to the same person over and 

              over again; if they don't respond after a few days, send them an e-mail 

              inquiring if they received your first email.

       k.      Use spell check and proof read and revise your letter after it is done.

       l.       Use threads. If you get a message from someone and you are going to 

             respond, don't send a new message, simply hit the reply option on 

             your email, this keeps the original subject line with "Re:" in front of it.

      m.     If you are sending out an email to a large private list do not use 

             CC: (carbon copy) use BCC: (blind carbon copy) to protect 

             the addresses of the recipients.

           When you receive a message reply to it as soon as you have time to. 

Common Communication

Mistakes

 We have recently explored the topic Communication however its importance in the business environment cannot be over emphasized. This post focuses on one form of non-verbal communication, that of Body Language. 

Body language can positively or negatively impact effective communication. Often times however, the impact is unintentionally negative and this is not always readily recognized by the (potential) employee. Below are some of the most common examples of negative body language. These detract from one’s professional image and so keen attention must be paid in correcting same.

Examples of Negative Body Language	How does one address them
NOT SMILING/ FAKE SMILING	Remember to smile with everyone with whom you interact. You can make a great impact on your communication process through this simple habit. Ensure that your smile comes naturally, artificial ones does not impact positively on your communication effectiveness. A genuine smile wrinkles the corners of the eyes and changes the expression of the entire face. Fake smiles only involve the mouth and lips. Smiling regularly tells your employer and colleagues that you are personable and that you enjoy what you do.
POOR EYE CONTACT/UNEVEN OR TOO MUCH EYE CONTACT	Keeping the right amount of eye contact is crucial during any conversation. Too much eye contact may signal the wrong information such as sexual interest, which may make the other person uncomfortable. However, too little eye contact may imply a general lack of interest. It is therefore important that eye contact be punctuated with nods of approval and/or brief statements of affirmation.
POOR BODY POSITIONING	When communicating, it is best to sit or stand uprightly. Slouching around your chair or standing akimbo when communicating shows a lack of professionalism.
TOUCHING	Avoid touching your nose, face, ear and other places on your body unnecessarily when talking with someone. Further avoid unnecessary touching of the person with whom you are speaking, it creates a negative impression about you in others’ minds which can impact negatively on your professional image.
MULTI-TASKING WHILE SOMEONE IS  TRYING TO TALK TO YOU	Be attentive. Focus your attention on what your co-worker or boss is saying to you. If you must continue to work while being spoken to, ask permission to continue your task.

 

Teamwork in the Workplace

                                                                       

                                         T –Together                                   

        E - Everyone 

       A – Achieves 

 M – More

Why is Teamwork Important at THE Workplace?

Here are just seven (7) Reasons:

1. Fast Learning
You tend to learn things at a faster rate, if you are working as a team. The experiences and knowledge of the older team members help you to grasp new concepts quickly. At the same time it proves to be an

added bonus for you as you avoid mistakes at work.

2. Workload Distribution
Working in a team has an advantage of the workload getting distributed among all the team members. With work properly distributed, you can concentrate on a single activity till the time you gain expertise in it and you do not feel stressed out due to work.

3. Building Bonds
Continuous interaction with the team members, working with them for the day, having your meals with them, sharing your joys and sorrows helps in building a strong bond between each other. In this way, you can even make friends for a lifetime.

4. Healthy Competition
Just think of a situation where people are competing with each other and trying to excel better than the other. At the same time they are helping and assisting each other in work-related as well as personal difficulties and problems. Wouldn't that be a great sight! Well this is possible when you work as a team, as everyone is emotionally bonded to each other.

5. Exploring Creativity
Suggestions and advice can help you in generating new ideas and bring out the creativity in you.

6. Job Satisfaction
Teamwork is one of the most important reasons for employee job satisfaction. This is because working in a team improves employee performance as well as makes the work enjoyable. This is also favorable to employee motivation.

7. Increased Speed of Work
With many people handling a single project and doing the assigned work properly, the overall work speed increases and your team can complete the project well within the given time frame.

Adopted from: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/teamwork-in-the-workplace.html by Ujwal  Deshmukh

It’s time to take the Test to find out if you possess the traits of a good team player. Click on the link below and follow the instructions. After you have completed the test, please share with us your view points on the importance of teamwork.

Links:

 http://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=1119

 http://psychologytoday.tests.psychtests.com/take_test.php?idRegTest=1616

Self-Management in the Organization

Self-management in the work place is required by ALL individuals; yes even the ‘small man’. Be sure to use your initiative, and the knowledge and skills you are equipped with to make meaningful decisions rather than depend on your supervisor to tell you everything. Only then will you safe guard yourself from the scenarios outlined below.

            

5 Signs that Your Supervisor may be Unhappy with Your Work

It is important to recognize the subtle hints that your supervisor may be sending your way if he or she is not pleased with your performance. Be sure to rectify the issue before the dismissal slip arrives on your desk.

1. “It’s okay”
These two words are often used to subtly relieve you of your duties; your boss is in fact emitting vibes of dissatisfaction under a blanket of indulgent sympathy. These words may be followed by phrases such as “Mary will help or follow up” or “I think Jon can take it from here”.


2.  Selective relaying of messages
If ever you ever realize that you’ve been left out of the circle on important advancements in a project to which you have been assigned, you may want to consider whether your supervisor is demonstrating that he or she:

• Do not trust you enough with the big picture,
• Feel that your opinion on the project is unnecessary, and/or
• Believe that you are unable to handle the full workload and that further involvement would not be beneficial to you or the team.

3. Micromanaging your work
If your supervisor, only recently, begins to practice micromanaging (when a manager closely controls or observes the work of his or her subordinates), then there is need for concern because this signifies a dip in trust. Be sure to correct this matter of mistrust or a delayed reaction may result in (1), (2), or (4) or sadly you may hear “It was nice having you but…”


4. Allocate significantly less work than before
 This is probably one of the most obvious signs that your supervisor is severely displeased. By giving you seemingly unimportant and menial tasks as compared to the more crucial projects or assignments you used to handle, your supervisor has already lost faith in your work quality and is questioning your suitability for the job. Beware: this is often the last chance you have to prove yourself.


5. Putting you against a colleague of similar rank and/or experience
 Friendly competition is healthy. However, look out if your supervisor is repeatedly singing praises about your colleague in your ear shot. Although there might be some truth to those praises, the main purpose of spelling them out could be to challenge you to push beyond your current limits and possibly surpass your colleague’s performance.

Adopted from: http://community.jobscentral.com.sg/node/2090