Professionalism Pet Peeves

Question

I think company culture evolves like any group of people spending a lot of time together. People tend to use the same phrases and strategies. I hear a lot of people get annoyed with the 'per my last email' statement. No one I work with uses that, but one habit that I think is HIGHLY un-professional is sending an email with several recipients and addressing multiple people. This is fine if you are communicating with a working team. I think it is unprofessional when there are outside vendors in the conversation. They don't need to know, or care about how things get accomplished on the internal side.  It just irks me.

Julia Givens · Answer

My biggest pet peeve is typing an entire email in the subject line... I'd prefer no subject and just a body versus the other way.

Christine Wildes · Answer

My' go to' for emails is: Be brief, be bright, & be gone. 
I tell my students, if you send me a dissertation email, you can guarantee that I am ONLY ready the topic sentences.  Tell me the problem, how you are going to solve it & then a call to action.

Paulla Fetzek · Answer

*sheepish look*  I'm a person who is SO guilty of the 'novella email'.  But, I also have a unique situation: I'm often writing/responding to people who don't possess the technical knowledge I do.

If I write back a short, concise message, a good 60% of the time I wind up going back-and-forth multiple times answering questions.  And this is my #1 pet peeve!

I'd rather write one, longer, but detailed email answering 80% of all questions up front.  Otherwise, I'm burdened with writing 1 scaled-down message... and then responding to another 2-4 more inquires with detail that I could've provided at the beginning.

I will say that whenever I'm going to be wordy, I start my email with an apology and a warning of such!

All the best...

Anonymous · Answer

I have linked pet peeves. And I agree, it drives me nuts when contractors are on emails and should be. If you must include the contractor add before the greeting “+ contract staff” or “+ outside staff”

Don’t call a meeting when the work could go into an email or a phone call.

Don’t use email if you need a handful of exchanges: phone, meet, or set up a “sandbox” for group work on the cloud like SharePoint.

don’t use a meeting reply post-meeting, without changing the subject: meeting summary, action required, urgent action required?—Especially if you task someone u knew couldn’t make the meeting time.

Don’t respond with/send an email until the relevant info is gathered: “this thing is due on x date, on x time, to x contact. The reporting form is linked here and these 3 people (with their functional titles) are available to assist at your request. Save the final version you submit in the same cloud file, and cc me on your submission so I can track as complete.” Better than 1 email at 1 pm for an item due in 7-15 days than 2+ emails.

Last, my org did an email training - 2 key points not mentioned:
1-only answer the topics asked
2-try to keep all words to one or two syllables

One last thing tho that drives me nuts: when micro managers want to be cc’d on emails among the technical SME’s and then the lay people whine about not writing to the audience. It’s like, I make 6 figures doing financial and legal work so that you don’t need to micromanage. Ask for a status presentation or go be our Deputy and get us proper SaaS resources, etc. So this is for all the crazy bosses out there who are exhausting us with an identified management weakness: delegate don’t micromanage.

Andi Rosenberger · Answer

E-mail is documentation and admissible in a court proceeding.  The managerial tendency to include 'per my last e-mail' is a cue that, whatever the subject, it's been discussed before.  It's a way of organizing documentation.  If the subject is - for example -  a disciplinary issue, a second e-mail is an escalation. Never put something in an e-mail you wouldn't say in front of a judge!

When creating a new message, DON'T start at the top, entering the receiver's e-mail address.  Leave that field blank until you're truly prepared to hit the send button. This will prevent accidental sending and you might just look at it all and decide pick up the phone instead.

It's true that most people will only read the first line so, whatever your bottom line statement is - start with that.

Remember that most people read e-mail on their phones, so avoid unusual fonts or graphics.  Lengthy signatures and graphics are frustrating to view and wasteful.  Your exchange may need to be saved as, for example, authorization for a sales order.

Anonymous · Answer

my biggest pet peeve is relying on e-mail period! No one has time to read a ton of email. There are better ways to work together and communicate.

Mary Hayes Heavener · Answer

I know someone who won’t read an email if others are cc’d? Is this person assuming to be filled in verbally by those copied?? I understand being “ busy” but it sends a dismissive and disrespectful message to sender.

Wendy Marshall · Answer

I had a VP who would notoriously only read the first sentence of any email. And then demand information at the next meeting, that was *literally* the next sentence. Luckily (?) he did that to all of us, so we all dismissed his attitude because we were all recipients of it.

Melissa Barrow · Answer

I've been trained in the healthcare world of SBAR and 3 way repeat back so my emails can get long. I do sometimes use the TLDR: one sentence summary.  If the email is simply for documentation I will do a header for each area of Situation/Background/Assessment/Request and provide a summary of each. Overall, my hope is to be like Dragnet and give 'Just the facts, ma'am'
I have a bad tendency of asides offset in commas or paragraphs because I feel the need to be personable in email. I am learning to cut those out and not enter to: or cc: emails until ready to send. That way I can proof and streamline before accidentally sending.

Carolyn A · Answer

I worked for a global Pharma company and the variety of phrases and words that became meaningless word salads did my head in.  Many managers' verbal and written communication was almost meaningless jargon and they didn't like those lower down asking for details and clarification.  They were all the same.

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