Today, electronic communication is constantly evolving, and with an increased number of options on how to communicate, having good business etiquette communication skills is now more important than ever. Even when we are communicating in short “blurbs” and texts in most cases, the basics of consideration and respect still hold true, just as it would if you were having the conversation over the phone or face-to-face.
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For our business, email is an efficient timesaver. Consider its advantages:
- Eliminates the need for printed memos (Can you remember the last time you received a printed memo?)
- Allows us to easily share other files for reference
- Enables us to work in multiple locations on the same project and communicate our progress
- Speeds up approvals (I can’t imagine getting approvals the “old fashion” way anymore.)
However, there are pitfalls that are easily forgotten with our increased use of email, text or social communications. Since many of us in the workplace have never known of a world without email or text, it seems there is a more relaxed approach when communicating electronically. Even though we are communicating electronically there is still the need to maintain the basics. There’s really no excuse for misspellings, grammatical errors and punctuation mistakes no matter what medium you’re using.
Now that we are communicating electronically, we move at a much faster pace. We are quick to respond. This pace leads to many pitfalls. How many of us have “replied all” when you didn’t want everyone to see your response? Forwarded a message to the wrong person? So how do you handle recovering from a mistake? The best recovery is having face-to-face conversation. While email is great, nothing can replace having a conversation.
While email and text have made the world we live in smaller and more efficient, there is still the need to practice basic business etiquette.
