Email is still an essential business communication tool, but over the years I’ve seen time and time again how email is also a double-edged sword.
Most people don’t recognize the risks to their personal and professional reputation when they forward emails. For example, one thing people do that causes instant damage to their reputation is when they forward an email and their only comment is, ‘Please see attached.‘ Honestly, this stuns me.
We work so hard to build a professional reputation. We get educated, take professional development courses, strategize, collaborate, compromise, brainstorm, work late, cancel vacations, manage million-dollar budgets… and yet many professionals don’t see the damage done by these three words.
2 reasons why saying, ‘Please See Attached‘ smashes your personal and professional reputation:
- In most cases the people you forward emails to aren’t even expecting them… never mind understanding what your needs and timelines are. If you don’t help them you are setting them – and yourself – up for failure:
- You know why you are forwarding the email. You also know what questions need to be answered and/or what information needs to be read.
- You know your timelines. Do you need action now, in a day or in a week? Managing expectations is good for YOU… and very good for THEM.
- I bet the person you are forwarding an email to has 100 other emails to read and 25 projects to complete. They are busy… just like you. Help them prioritize their inbox and see your email as ‘important work’.
I believe if you only write, ‘Please see attached‘ what you are really saying is, “Here – read this. Maybe it’s a priority and maybe it isn’t, but I’m busy so I hope you figure out why I sent this to you and what needs to get done… and by when. And, if you don’t get it right, I might escalate my follow-up to your boss.”
Consider what you may be doing to your professional reputation. Are you demonstrating you are a team player? Are you demonstrating that you are polite and self-aware? Are you demonstrating that you are a trusted business professional? What is the reputation you want? You do have a choice.
Solution… there are 4 things we can do when forwarding emails to protect and build our reputation
#1. Manage Peoples Expectations and Time (Time Management)
Let the recipient know why you are forwarding the email to them. What is their action item? If the original email has 2 questions that need to be answered, copy and paste them out of the original message and into your action item, and let them know what your timeframe is.
By taking one minute to clearly write out what and when you need something, you will likely help your reader get more done and save time. You will most likely get exactly what you want from them quickly.
#2. Respect Privacy
Did the original writer expect you to be forwarding their email to another audience? Perhaps not! So, there may be email addresses in the original message that are OK for you to see… but may be a privacy breach if you forward them… especially to an external audience.
Privacy is critical. If you are forwarding an email, it is your responsibility to keep email addresses private. You and your organization can get into some very serious trouble if you are not careful. If you don’t have direct consent – you may be putting yourself and your organization at risk.
Please note, if someone showed poor judgement and email etiquette by exposing you to email addresses you should not have seen– that’s bad on them. If you forward those addresses, it’s now bad on you.
#3. More on Respect and Privacy
You should never – ever forward a message if the original sender doesn’t know you are forwarding their message. Once you have permission, my preference is to still include them in the forward as a Cc: and explain why you are forwarding the message.
#4. Transparency and Helping Your Reader
In addition to summarizing what you want your reader to know or listing the questions you need them to answer, mention in your introduction you are forwarding an email.
It may seem obvious to you, but your reader may have other things on their mind if they are dealing with a few critical projects, on a smartphone, at the airport or thinking about their sick child or parent.
Conclusion:
Your brand and your time are valuable. So is the brand and time of your readers… so protect both. Always follow these simple tips when forwarding emails… and share these email etiquette training tips with your peers.
Happy communicating and forwarding emails.
Click here to learn more about Bruce Mayhew Consulting. We facilitate courses including email etiquette, time management, leadership, generational differences training and more.
- Email Etiquette: Managing Expectations and Relationships - February 15, 2018
