The Pfeiffer Book of Successful Communication Skill-Building Tools

Chapter 10. E-Mail Basics: Practical Tips to Improve Communication

Kristin J. Arnold

Abstract: E-mail has the enormous potential for enabling, as well as complicating, the ways we communicate. Lisa Kimball, a pioneer of the virtual team concept, calls e-mail the "pigeon of technology. It's everywhere." Whether you are two feet away or two continents away, e-mail is quickly becoming the standard method for business communication. Whether we share information, query employees, explore possibilities, bounce ideas off of others, or update action items, e-mail is emerging as the prime vehicle for teams to communicate.

Interestingly enough, most companies have not established common "ground rules" to ensure that e-mail is used productively within their organizations, much less when communicating with the outside world. This article is intended to help HR professionals and internal/external consultants set the proper example to use and manage e-mail.

Basic Ground Rules

As you begin to set some standards within your organization, first discuss some of the ground rules for using e-mail, many of which are listed below, as a team. Your team may wholeheartedly agree, violently disagree, agree with reservations, or have its own ground rules to add. The value is in the discussion and the team members' agreement to follow its own e-mail ground rules.

Frequency. Agree on how often team members will check messages. For example, "If in the office, we agree to check our in-box first thing in the morning, ...