Category: Communication

Just one, if it’s written effectively.

At least three, in my experience, if the sender’s email skills are dim.

But if you’re a smart sender, your well-written email shines a light on how and when you want the reader to respond.

Everyone knows what do, gets on with their job, and things move along at a happy, productive pace.

If you’re a slapdash sender, you presume that your reader has ESP and endless time to fumble around blindly in the dark recesses of your mind trying to figure out what you mean.

And if you’re the frequent recipient of such emails, you feel frustrated several times a day – as well as annoyed, disrespected, disrupted… maybe even a little murderous!

COVID-19 has forced us to rely on email a lot more in recent months and, as with video conferencing techniques, we’re discovering whose skills development has been neglected.

Here’s a story from the ‘dark side’

I recently endured this email exchange (for his own safety, I won’t speak his name aloud):

Monday 6.52 am
He: Hey Leanne, we need to talk about the project.

Monday 8.15 am
Me: Hi Z
The xxxxxx project?
I have time today between 10 am and 1 pm, or tomorrow between 9 am and 12 noon. Which of these times suit you best? Do you want to do this by phone or would you prefer a Zoom call or maybe a Teams meeting?

Monday 11.00 am
He: No the xxxxxx job. They want an update on Friday.

Monday 11.23 am
Me: Hi Z
I wasn’t aware that project had the green light. No problem, though. How about I call you at 12.30 today to discuss it? What do you want to cover first?

Monday 2.21 pm
Me: Hi Z
I’ve tried to call you a couple of times today, but you must be in back-to-back meetings. Shall I send you a Zoom invite for tomorrow at 9 am?

Monday 3.54 pm
He: Sorry, have been running an online workshop today. Let’s do after 2 tomorrow.

Monday 4.05 pm
Me: I’m not available tomorrow afternoon, sorry. What’s the best time for you on Wednesday? I have no other meetings or calls scheduled yet. Let me know what time suits you and how much time you think we’ll need to cover what you want to talk about and I’ll send you a Zoom link.

Tuesday 8.07 am
He: I’m on the road all day Wed. Let’s do Thursday.

Tuesday 8.32 am
Me: O.K. Which of these times suits you best? 9.30 am, 11.15 am or 1.30 pm? Shall I call you or send a Zoom invite?

Tuesday 2.11 pm
He: I’ll call you.

Thursday 2.35 pm
Me (to voicemail): Hi Z, do you still want to discuss the xxxxxx project?

You get the picture. You’ve had your productivity plundered like this too.

A Project Management Institute report revealed that ineffective communication is the main reason for project failure one-third of the time. It also has the biggest negative impact on project success more than half the time.

The future’s not looking bright for Z’s project, is it?

How much time and energy would we have saved if the first sent email minimised the delays that information gaps inevitably cause?

Being concise is encouraged, but not at the cost of actual communication, aka shared meaning.

What can you do instead?

Here’s a practical guide/checklist for time-saving, sanity-surviving emails that will keep your team from wanting to electrocute their slapdash-sending colleagues.

1 – Does this need to be an email? What’s the best way to achieve the response you want when you want it?

2 – Think about how and when your reader is likely to see this – on a mobile phone while on a train? At their desk with dual screens? The context of the reading should influence your choices for the message.

3 – Match the subject line with the message below. Your reader won’t open it if the reason to do so is not obvious. Use a verb to indicate the action required, e.g. “XYZ report ready to review”.

4 – State the reason for writing (the connection, benefit or importance to the reader), e.g. “Here’s the update on Project XYZ you asked for after Tuesday’s meeting.”

5 – Explain what you want the reader to do + when + why, e.g. “Please use the Track tool to mark up any changes and return the file to me by Wednesday COB. That will help me have the final version ready for your signature first thing on Thursday morning (the submission is due at 11.00 am).”

6 – Keep it short and focused. If you’ve typed more than 150 words, consider summarising your message with bullet points and putting the detail in a linked or attached document.

7 – Use subheadings, bullet points or numbering to help your reader scan for the key points.

8 – If there’s an attachment or link, say so.

9 – Confirm you’ve included everything your reader needs to understand for taking the action you want and when, including links and attachments.

10 – Fix typos and irregular formatting.

11 – Check your tone is right for the context, relationship and purpose.

12 – Revisit steps 1-11 before hitting the send button (assuming the spellcheck will start automatically!)

Imagine how much better your team will work together when they start using this guide for emails… no more miscommunication risking your relationships with clients.… no more time wasted sorting out the confusion and blame games…

Teams work better together when they understand each other’s communication styles and have the ability to meet expected standards.

Has reading this been a ‘lightbulb moment’ for you, revealing what might be stopping your team from connecting and staying switched on?

Ask me about in-person and online training to boost your communication-powered performance.

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It’s about 5.30 pm on a Tuesday afternoon.

I’ve just started talking to a potential new client at a networking event. As a waiter glides past, I reach across to lift a glass from the tray.

He: Oh dear, what did you do to your arm?
Me: Excuse me for reaching across. Sorry, what did you ask?
He: Your arm. Why is it bandaged? Looks nasty.
Me: Oh, that. No, actually I saved three lives today.
He: (sputtering good wine) You did what? You’re kidding! How?
Me: I gave blood.

He: (full of awe and admiration)Three lives? Really? Wow. I didn’t know that’s what one blood donation could do. That’s pretty special.

It’s National Blood Donor Week and something very special for me was to see my husband recognised for his 100 donations to the Australian Red Cross Blood Service at the organisation’s annual Thank You Morning Tea, celebrating the gift of life-giving, life-sustaining blood products.

In Australia, whole blood, plasma and platelet donations are exactly that: voluntary, unpaid gifts. But for an hour of your time and a pouch of liquid gold, you get soooo much more in return.

Some progressive businesses even encourage their staff to donate by inviting a mobile blood van onsite or not docking your pay for the short time you might spend one morning every three months in a Red Cross chair instead of your office one.

Here’s how it works as the ultimate self-esteem booster.

From the moment you enter the donation centre, you’re greeted with smiles and thank yous. If you’ve had a particularly bad week at work or home, you start to perk up because, finally, SOMEBODY appreciates you.

You complete the forms, sip on cordial, and maybe munch on a fully justifiable sugary or salty treat as you wait for your name to be called.

You flip through the brochures and newsletters reading about the wonderful outcomes for sick people that blood like yours has made possible (maybe even yours from your last donation!).

Mothers, babies, children, dads, brothers and sisters, grandmas and grandpas. Their grateful faces beam off the page and straight into your heart. The warm and fuzzies are buzzing.

The nurse who collects you for the finger prick and blood pressure measure gives you another big, genuine smile and bouquet of grateful words. Then you’re led to your donation chair and yet another nurse greets you with thanks and a smile.

You’re about to have a needle shoved in your inner elbow but you feel like a superstar.

Soon you’re back in the reception area enjoying a drink and another guilt-free snack. You feel fantastic and light-hearted (and possibly just a little light-headed, but that’s why you wait a bit before you go back to work).

Imagine if your boss could see how super-productive you can be whilst reclining in a comfy chair just rolling a ball of foam in your hand. Saving three lives, remember.

So, you’ve been appreciated, fed, and hydrated. What you probably won’t realise is that you’re also walking straighter, taller and with confidence. You’re sharing the smiles, too.

When you return to work, people notice you. They ask you about your bandaged arm and when you tell them, you become their hero. Because everyone has at least one relative or friend who’s needed a blood donation at some time – it might have been because of a horrible car accident, or cancer, or another illness.

If you’re a boss who’s looking for ways to help your employees with their self-esteem or show them you care about what they do, think about supporting blood donations.

And if you’re an employee who doesn’t have a boss who will support this community service, do it anyway – most blood banks are open on weekends and after hours a few nights a week.

In holiday periods, blood stocks can drop due to high demand and regular donors going away. If you’re preparing for the September school holidays, perhaps put a blood donation on your To Do list?

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What are you really expected to do when you’re asked to pitch an idea as a startup founder or intraprenuer?

Search the usual sources and you’ll find a range of definitions for ‘pitch’, but there are some common attributes.

A pitch is a deliberate, calculated, measured action to achieve a specific result.

It’s intended to hit the mark and reverberate satisfaction. It’s staking a claim on real or future territory.

It has depth and viscosity.

It has purpose, which is clear to the ‘catcher’ who anticipates the direction and impact.

A chuck, on the other hand, throws up an idea in a general range with the vain hope that most or maybe part of it will fall into the lap of the target, who will somehow know what to do with it.

When you pitch a ball, for example, the energy is concentrated and contained for optimum delivery. Chuck that ball and the lack of focus dissipates its energy – it slows down, is distracted by the air around it, and wanders off on landing.

Here are six pointers to help you pitch your idea for the mark.

1. Keep it tight – Most pitching opportunities have specific and rigorously monitored time limits, so every word, gesture and movement has to count towards your goal: to persuade the listener that your idea has power. Stick to the main concepts and benefits, and don’t waffle.
2. Focus on the mark – That is, what the investor wants to hear from you, not just what you want to tell them. Do your research and find out what matters to them; don’t assume they’ll share your understanding of the underlying science; be clear about what’s in it for them and their interests, not just you and yours. You want them to enjoy the exchange, not feel like you’ve just ‘chucked’ all over them.
3. Make it vocally interesting – If you’re going to rely on a series of detailed slides and hand-outs then you might as well just mail it to them. Investors need to believe that you can make your idea mean something good for others. They’ll connect (or not) with your presence before they ‘get’ your idea (or not) and want to make it theirs too. That time is best spent talking, so leave the reading for the plane trip home.
4. Make it visually interesting – If you’re pitching with slides, keep them simple: easy and quick to read (no more than six points of six or fewer words in large font per slide); include pictures and diagrams that can be understood from at least a metre away; and use them as your support act, not the other way round.
5. Don’t let the technology let you down – If you’re pitching in person, find out beforehand what the room is like and whether your version of PowerPoint, Keynote or Prezi is compatible with the system provided so you are slick not slow when you start. If you’re taping a pitch, find out what formats to use, and take as many ‘takes’ as you need to make yourself look and sound confident as well as meet the criteria before uploading the file.
6. Keep your eye on the prize – Remember what you want from the pitch and it will empower you to deliver it with passion and conviction. Share your ambition with the investor so they understand how best they can help you.

And remember this: prior preparation and practice prevent poor pitching performance. Invest your time accordingly.

Book a coaching call to make sure your next pitch hits a home-run and buy the book that puts your nerves in perspective.

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Could I have expressed that with a little more finesse?

Probably.

It’s a shame that so many employees don’t ask that question before they shoot you an email, draft a document or present a pitch deck.

And worse – what if you don’t get to see what they’re spitting out under your brand until the complaints roll in… or the repeat business doesn’t?

Usually, it’s not that they’re lazy or arrogant.

It’s more likely that they lack the skills and strategies to think about how they communicate and what impact it has on the reader and on the business.

Often, they don’t realise that what’s delaying a response is the extra time and effort the reader has to put in to understand the message and be sure there’s no misunderstanding about the request, the relationship or the reason to reply.

The harder the reader or audience has to work on understanding your meaning and its value, the longer it takes them to get to ‘Yes’.

Recent CSIRO and Google research revealed that communication proficiency is high on the list of desirable employee attributes, even ahead STEM skills.

And yet support and encouragement for upskilling in STEM is at a record high.

But what’s the value of being better at the technical stuff if you can’t communicate to others how it works or why it’s worth knowing about?

How much are you investing in training to make sure your employees are not wasting their time, your time and your customers’ time with messages that are hard to read, boring to listen to, ignorant of the audience’s needs, chock-full of errors, lush with potential liabilities, or just plain embarrassing?

Imagine calculating the time your whole company would recoup with more efficient emails…

What if your day was spent productively instead of placating staff who don’t understand each other’s different communication styles…

Surely the link between ‘communication breakdown’ and the loss of opportunity or actual business revenue can’t be that strong…or is it?

You ensure your team knows how to work safely, how to reduce risks and prevent hazards. That’s a compliance tick.

You encourage them to keep well with free flu jabs and fruit on Fridays to prevent poor health. That’s a tick for keeping down sick day productivity loss.

Here’s how to prevent crappy communication from putting your reputation and profit at risk:

1. Lead by example and book a one-to-one coaching call with me to work on your own communication challenges.
2. Discover how each of your team members approaches workplace communication with a True Colors workshop so you optimise their output.
3. Invest in a 5-Carat Business Writing Brilliance workshop to ensure your people can communicate efficiently and effectively.

Call 0439 53 43 55 or email: leanne@presencecommunications.com.au.

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If, as the saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words, what does your selfie on LinkedIn say about you?

1. 1. This is me – take it or leave it
   2. I’m clueless about photography
   3. I don’t invest in myself
   4. I’m resourceful
   5. I think I’m a good photographer
   6. I like how I look today
   7. I can’t remember where I saved the jpg of the professional shot
   8. Look at me! Look at me! I’ve a got a new ‘do’!
   9. I’m Gen Y (true or in spirit)
   10. I’m a digital native
   11. I’ve never understood the expression ‘first impressions count’ or the one about first impressions being lasting impressions
   12. I’m a poor time and task manager so I’ve only got five minutes to create/update my profile
   13. I spend too much time in airport lounges – look what I can do with my smart phone!
   14. This is what I want you to think of me [and/or the company] and values I represent
   15. If it’s good enough for Kevin Rudd, why not me?

So many of us loathe the truths revealed by even the fanciest of photography, and yet some of us expect the home-made version to do a better job of putting our best face forward. I asked a couple of professional photographers what they think about selfies on Linked In.

Mick Davson reckons a selfie communicates a lot about you even before the reader even begins to look at what you have written about yourself.

“Some people like to use a candid photo taken at a barbecue, thinking that it portrays a ‘likability’ or casualness, which might be mistaken for a lack of professionalism,” said Mick.

“Others crop a larger photo down just to show only themselves but that looks very tacky and makes me wonder what they’re trying to hide.

“The main problem with selfies, though, is that they are generally poor quality, blurry, and over/under exposed.

Mick recommends talking to a professional photographer – not just a mate who ‘has a good camera’.

“Professional portraits for business shouldn’t be expensive but should represent a value-for-money investment. Talk to them about what you want your portraits for and the image you want to project.

“A good portrait photographer can master the technical side of this job as well as help you pose properly, dress properly and capture the real you with the shot.”

On the other hand, Phil Sheen thinks selfies should be embraced.

“It’s not always easy to have a professional photographer take your portrait and sometimes it’s hard to ask friends to take it for you, if you are feeling self-conscious,” Phil said.

“They don’t have to be tacky duck-face selfies from a night club, either. They can still look clean and professional. Sometimes selfies can bring out your real personality, which is so important when you need to stand out in an often flooded digital landscape.”

Here are Mick and Phil’s tips if you decide to stick with the selfies:

1. Don’t do the ‘Facebook Special’ – holding a camera at arm’s length from yourself and go ‘click’. You might as well point the camera at your reflection in a mirror.
   
   
2. If you don’t have a stand-alone camera, download an app with a camera timer so you can set your phone at a nice distance and not have to hold it yourself.
   
   
3. Choose a space where the background is simple and reasonably plain, and has plenty of natural light. If you are going to take the photo outdoors, don’t be afraid to use the flash to fill in any harsh shadows.
   
   
4. Position the camera on a tripod or firm solid surface so the camera points towards you – this says ‘You and I are equals’. If you look down to the camera it may make you look powerful but it can also make you look over-bearing.  Looking up can make you look needy.
   
   
5. Make sure you are facing the natural source of light.
   
   
6. Then grab a big teddy bear or something similar to be your stunt-double while you check the frame and timer.
   
   
7. Set the timer to 10 or 12 seconds, press the shutter half-way down to auto focus (if the camera allows it).
   
   
8. Look to focus where your eyes will be. Once the focus has been confirmed, pressed the shutter all the way down (don’t lift your finger off first, just press all the way from the half “focus” press).
   
   
9. Swap places with your stunt-double. Position yourself with your body at a 45 degree angle from the camera then turn your head to face the camera. The camera will do the rest.
   
   
10. Touch up the image before you post it online – lighten or darken, soften or sharpen, depending on what your software and your skills can do (most pc users can access Paint or Office Picture Manager).

Want to learn more about communicating for a positive impression with and without words? Call or email me to book a training session for your team or an executive coaching call for yourself: leanne@presencecommunications.com.au.

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