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Using email for power
Hello guys,
Email is a nuisance, especially for managers as they are flooded with information. That's why you want to use email as little as possible and also to use it to add value. I also use it for strategic purposes: to meet powerful people, etc. However, the idea I'm proposing to you today is:
Use email to add value to your supervisor: make sure that most of the time when this person is opening an email from you, it's value-adding and is taking as little time as possible from their day.Â
This also applies to colleagues of course.
What do you think?
Hello guys,
Email is a nuisance, especially for managers as they are flooded with information. That's why you want to use email as little as possible and also to use it to add value. I also use it for strategic purposes: to meet powerful people, etc. However, the idea I'm proposing to you today is:
Use email to add value to your supervisor: make sure that most of the time when this person is opening an email from you, it's value-adding and is taking as little time as possible from their day.Â
This also applies to colleagues of course.
What do you think?
Lucio Buffalmano has reacted to this post.
Quote from
Anon on December 2, 2020, 11:59 am
Quote from John Freeman on December 2, 2020, 10:13 am
What do you think?
Good point!
It ties into the guidelines of effective communication on here, and I think they apply not only in written communication at all.
A further good way to make it as easy as possible for them is to apply some of the ways of how ideal bugreports are written, here is a good guide for that.
→Only thing I would add to this list is a short section of -what I’ve already tried to fix it, and what happened-, but otherwise great.
That’s one of the best examples of utterly efficient communication that I’m aware of, and I think this is very translatable to other areas as well (though we may all have to report bugs or technical issues from time to time, so this is even very useful on it’s own, and you will increase the chances of getting quick and useful help immensely).
Quote from John Freeman on December 2, 2020, 10:13 am
What do you think?
Good point!
It ties into the guidelines of effective communication on here, and I think they apply not only in written communication at all.
A further good way to make it as easy as possible for them is to apply some of the ways of how ideal bugreports are written, here is a good guide for that.
→Only thing I would add to this list is a short section of -what I’ve already tried to fix it, and what happened-, but otherwise great.
That’s one of the best examples of utterly efficient communication that I’m aware of, and I think this is very translatable to other areas as well (though we may all have to report bugs or technical issues from time to time, so this is even very useful on it’s own, and you will increase the chances of getting quick and useful help immensely).
Matthew Whitewood has reacted to this post.
Quote from
Anon on December 2, 2020, 12:20 pm
Quote from John Freeman on December 2, 2020, 10:13 am
Use email to add value to your supervisor: make sure that most of the time when this person is opening an email from you, it's value-adding and is taking as little time as possible from their day.Â
My former reply mostly referred to the last part of your statement, would you mind explaining some ways or ideas you found to add value through email for example?
This can be considered the other side of the coin of attractive communication and it might be a good idea to expand on that a bit more in this particular context.
Quote from John Freeman on December 2, 2020, 10:13 am
Use email to add value to your supervisor: make sure that most of the time when this person is opening an email from you, it's value-adding and is taking as little time as possible from their day.Â
My former reply mostly referred to the last part of your statement, would you mind explaining some ways or ideas you found to add value through email for example?
This can be considered the other side of the coin of attractive communication and it might be a good idea to expand on that a bit more in this particular context.
My former reply mostly referred to the last part of your statement, would you mind explaining some ways or ideas you found to add value through email for example?
Value is context-dependent. It depends on what information is valuable to your supervisor at a given moment.
My former reply mostly referred to the last part of your statement, would you mind explaining some ways or ideas you found to add value through email for example?
Value is context-dependent. It depends on what information is valuable to your supervisor at a given moment.
Yes, seems like a very good approach.
Especially useful with:
- Managers who are more about 1:1, in-person communication (high extroversion0
- Managers who expect people to be more autonomous (macro-management, hate doing micro stuff)
For these types, nothing says "we're so unlike" and "ballbuster" as cluttering their emails.
In the book "The Myth of the Nice Girl" the author says that much of her first promotions arrived because she made the life of her boss easier.
Yes, seems like a very good approach.
Especially useful with:
- Managers who are more about 1:1, in-person communication (high extroversion0
- Managers who expect people to be more autonomous (macro-management, hate doing micro stuff)
For these types, nothing says "we're so unlike" and "ballbuster" as cluttering their emails.
In the book "The Myth of the Nice Girl" the author says that much of her first promotions arrived because she made the life of her boss easier.
Stef has reacted to this post.
