For all its convenience, e-mail has a few drawbacks. Consider them carefully. First, humor doesn't travel well in typical e-mails-unless authored by skilled comedy writers. In the absence of tone of voice, facial expression, and body language, readers may interpret your flippant or witty remark as literal and stupid.
Second, you risk losing control of what you've written. Yes, others should not forward your sensitive messages without your permission. But they often do. Forwarding other people's e-mail tempts people of even the highest integrity.
Two good questions to ask yourself before putting anything in e-mail: 1) What might happen if this e-mail were forwarded to everyone in the company? 2) What might happen if a client or supplier sued us, and ail our e-mail records were subpoenaed for court? Commit your information and opinions to e-mail accordingly.
No comments:
Post a Comment