They Don't Teach Corporate in College (31 page)

Rule #2:
Quality Control. There is no such thing as a perfect first draft, so get into the habit of proofreading your writing and having a colleague read it over as well. Sloppiness is the enemy. Every document that leaves your desk should be carefully checked for clean formatting, proper grammar, and correct spelling. Think of your work
product as little pieces of yourself sent out into the world. Even if you're the 15th person to review a document, be the one who takes responsibility for sending it forward error-free.

What if you need some help bringing your writing up to par? I suggest contacting local colleges or continuing education programs about a variety of business writing courses. These classes are typically inexpensive, and they can often be tailored to your specific needs. Don't let an inflexible schedule discourage you; many courses are now offered online.

The majority of written communication now takes place through email, which can be rather complicated. You still want to follow the C&C and Quality Control rules of regular written communication, but you also have to balance a multitude of considerations that are unique to the medium of email.

Allow me to share a true story. A student at a prestigious U.S. university was studying abroad, and emailed the dean of Undergraduate Affairs to determine the status of his Resident Advisor application. Because this particular student had been away all semester, the dean had forgotten to include his application in the pool. The student, having lost his opportunity to be a Resident Advisor, was quite upset. He shared his displeasure with the dean via email.

The dean became defensive. He intended to forward the student's email to a colleague in the office, adding the comment, “What a little snot. These spoiled brats think they're entitled to everything. Why doesn't he just transfer?” Unfortunately, the dean accidentally hit Reply, and the student received his nasty retort instead. No matter how much the dean apologized, the damage could not be undone. The already irate student had a field day distributing the dean's inappropriate and unprofessional response to everyone he knew, and, within a few months, the infamous email exchange had made its way across the country. Ask yourself this question: How many email offenses like this does it take to ruin a prominent university's reputation?

Email can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Here are a few tips to make it work for you.

1. Realize that email is not private.
Not only can your company's IT department access it, but you also never know to whom your messages might be forwarded—accidentally or intentionally. Avoid discussing sensitive information or writing anything negative unless it's specifically requested by your boss and/or supported by fact.

2. Maintain a consistent professional persona.
You can achieve this by crafting friendly, polite, and grammatically correct messages. Because you can't rely on voice or nonverbal cues, always reread your emails to make sure the message you are sending is idiot-proof. Don't get too cutesy with your emoticons or acronyms (LOL, BRB).

3. Keep emails short and to the point.
Make sure to include an informative and specific subject line (for example, don't just call the message “Update”). Begin with a call to action that encourages the person to read the message (starting with the word
you
usually does the trick). Put your key message up front, and if the information you must communicate is longer than two to three paragraphs, attach a document with the relevant details.

4. Use email to reinforce in-person conversations.
Summarize meetings, impart helpful information (for example, FYI—“For Your Information”—messages), or respond appropriately to an important issue (for example, CYA—“Cover Your Ass”—messages) via email to reinforce face-to-face discussions you have with colleagues.

5. Don't use email as a forum to express displeasure or criticize.
Do these things in person rather than taking the easy way out. If you must highlight a problem in email, be positive and solution-oriented.

6. Use email sparingly.
Carbon copy (CC) your boss only on messages that clearly demonstrate that you are doing your job. Avoid sending him thousands of emails unless you want him to stop reading them.

7. Use flags and read receipts.
When sending an important message, call it out in some way so that the recipient is not tempted to ignore it.

8. Be courteous.
In general, older workers consider it rude to email a question to anyone sitting within 10 feet of you. Make an effort to speak to these people face to face.

9. Know what you are sending before you send it.
Before hitting Reply, carefully read an email in its entirety. If it's preceded by a series of messages, make sure to read and understand the whole string first.

10. Keep personal emails personal.
If you want to send personal emails at work, set up a separate account. Don't send those annoying forwards to your work friends unless they also qualify as real friends (see
Chapter 3
).

What if you are a business email pro, but you still can't get a response from a colleague who is holding up your progress on a project? Having been in this situation myself many times, I turned to one of my favorite workplace pundits, Alison Green of the Ask a Manager blog (
AskAManager.com
). This was her advice:

You have to be straightforward with the person and tell her, “Hey, I'm having trouble getting responses from you and it's keeping me from being able to move forward on this project. Is there something I could do differently that would help?” This way, you put her on notice that there's a problem. You could potentially find that there's something going on that you didn't know about—she's swamped with something she has been told is a higher priority, or she just didn't realize it was a high priority, etc. After that, if the problem continues, I think I'd alert her one more time: “Hey, I know we talked about this before but I'm still not getting what I need. What can we do differently so that we can move forward on this?”

At that point, you've alerted her twice that it's a problem. If the unresponsiveness continues, you don't have much choice but to go to your manager. I realize this feels like tattling to a lot of people, but I tend to believe that the entire concept of tattling doesn't really fit in the workplace. You could even just say something like, “Could you nudge Julie for me? I'm sure she has other things on her plate, but I haven't been able to get a response from her.”

Before we move on from written communication, I'd like to say a word about texting. I hear that you can't live without it, but you must proceed carefully when using it in a business setting. For one thing, don't expect to communicate this way with your colleagues or clients unless texting has already been established as an acceptable means of interaction. When sending work-related texts, make sure your name shows up as something professional, and greet the recipient before jumping in with a request. Also, don't shorten words so much that your point gets lost, watch the level of informality, and be conscious of wasting too much time shooting messages back and forth. As
with email, keep a saved log of important conversations, and always pause for a moment before you hit Send. You'd be surprised how many IT departments work their magic to monitor texts sent from company networks.

I always keep my notepad handy when I go downstairs, in case I run into someone I need to talk to in the elevator. People in my company are so buried that it's nearly impossible to get them to respond to me via email or voice mail. And forget about scheduling meetings. Cornering them in the elevator is the perfect opportunity to get quick answers so that I can do my job.

Steven, 26, North Carolina

Author and motivational guru Dale Carnegie once said that the person who can speak acceptably is usually considered to possess greater ability than he actually has. In my experience, this is true. If you look and act as though you know what you're talking about, people will think that you do, regardless of the reality. You may not have a vast store of knowledge and years of experience to draw from, but you can get promoted just by creating the perception of being competent and informed.

I translate Carnegie's “speaking acceptably” as “effective in-person communication,” because there is much more to speaking than the content that comes out of your mouth. Did you know that only 7 percent of meaning is conveyed with the words you say? People get the rest of your message from how you say it. In-person communication includes nonverbal cues, vocal style, articulateness, and sincerity, and it plays a huge role in conveying the powerful corporate persona I talked about in the beginning chapters of this book. Let's spend a moment addressing each of these components.

1. Nonverbal cues:
Positive body language supports your message and encourages cooperation. To employ this, position yourself next to the person you're speaking to and lean toward him, but don't get so close that you invade his personal space. Sustain eye contact for several seconds throughout the course of the conversation, and always smile (unless you're delivering bad news). Take the time to focus on the other person, and don't fidget or give in to background distractions. If you want to emphasize an important point, use your hands.

2. Vocal style:
Need something to do in the shower besides sing? Practice adjusting your tone, pace, and volume according to the situation and/or person with whom you are going to communicate. Enunciate your words so that people can understand you. Whether you are passionate about your subject or not, always convey a little enthusiasm, people will be more likely to listen.

3. Articulateness:
Just as with written communication, practice your command of verbal communication so that you can accurately express what you mean. Improve your vocabulary in order to appear intelligent and well-educated, but don't overdo it. If you throw around too many industry terms or five-syllable GRE words, you'll look like you are trying to impress someone. A huge part of articulateness is being succinct, so learn to communicate your main points using as few words as possible. This is particularly important if you regularly participate in meetings. There is nothing worse than being the one person who goes on and on while everyone else just wants to get out of there.

4. Sincerity:
Note that there is a fine line between portraying a strong professional persona and coming across as being fake. Although your tone should generally be confident, friendly, and conversational, you should avoid saying things you don't mean or adapting a style that is completely contrary to your personality.

Voice mail is the perfect medium to work on your in-person communication technique. Your greeting serves as an introduction to the professional you. It is the starting point from which many people will communicate with you, and if you work in nearly any kind of organization, you have to use it. Sorry.

Record your greeting before or after work hours to avoid office background noise. Politely and confidently state your name, department, and company, and invite the caller to leave a message, which you will promptly return. I would avoid saying what day it is in your message. I guarantee you will get behind in recording a new greeting each day, and, next thing you know, it will be October and your voice mail will still say it's June 5!

Public speaking is another good way to hone your in-person communication skills. Many of us fear getting up in front of a group, yet I've never known a person who was physically incapable of doing it after practicing a few times. Public speaking increases your confidence level, your poise, and your ability
to flexibly convey information about your subject matter. It also pays huge dividends in terms of being taken seriously as a twenty-something in the business world. Look for opportunities to deliver formal or informal presentations whenever you can, and, as you prepare, consider using a few notes instead of a script. Extemporaneous remarks are more effective for connecting with your audience on a personal level and provide much better training for those critical one-on-one interactions.

Even if you're a master of in-person communication, people won't always welcome you in for a chat with open arms. As you well know, the professional world is a hectic environment where no one has enough hours in the day to do what they need to do. The higher the executive's title, the less time she has to speak with you. Here are a few hints for getting face time with those hard-to-pin-down senior folks.

Stop by her office instead of calling or sending an email.