Write To Me Sweetly, Speak To Me Nice - Effective Electronic Communication For Unisa students

by Mark Deavall

How about this email that I received the other day?

Hi,
I just want to confirm what me and you talked about yesterday. When I have some infos, I’ll give you a buzz.
Cheers

Or this one?

Good morning,
By way of written confirmation, I would like to reiterate the common understanding of the issues surrounding the topics that were the items under discussion during our interaction of yesterday. Once further clarity has been obtained by the writer, further discussion will be initiated with yourself.
Yours sincerely

“Huh? What the .....?” I hear you say. Well that was my response as well to these two emails that landed on my desk. I think that you will agree that the one was too familiar, casual and brief, while the other used far too many, and confusing words and phrases. But the most important is that notwithstanding the words written, what message are these emails sending about the writer?

And why is this important? I am sure that the writer’s intent was to create some sort of clear understanding in my mind. Did they achieve that? Probably, but not without a cost – what impression do I now carry of these two individuals? Is the one too lazy to write properly, and is the other trying to impress? In other words, what hidden messages are being conveyed through the manner in which these people wrote to me?

And that is what we need to be careful of when we write and when we speak – the subliminal messages that we convey, that cause people to form perceptions about us and the business that we represent or work for.

As more and more business communication, and for that matter personal communication, is becoming written via email, twitter, Skype and so on, it is important that we learn the rules of written communication just as well as we have learned the rules of verbal communication.

Communication, be it written or verbal, has one goal – to create a clear understanding in the mind of the recipient. Therefore everything should be done to ensure that nothing distracts the recipient of the communication from that goal.


Warm regards
Mark Deavall

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