Tips for Effective Communications

Issue No. 1

February 2007

Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to my first newsletter, a medium designed to provide useful tips for effective communications. I welcome your feedback on this. You can tell me what you think by replying to this e-mail.

Since leaving the PR agency world four years ago, I’ve moved my practice into areas I love most – corporate positioning and communications training, as reflected in the articles below. This work helps me achieve one of my main goals in life – to stamp out bad e-mail. At the rate our hyper-electronic world is going, I’ll never be out of a job.

It’s a Wise Dog that Scratches its Own Fleas

Strunk and White’s Elements of Style still reigns supreme as the go-to grammar book for guidance on pesky issues like possessives, as illustrated in the headline above, one of my favorite entries.

But I also love the more modern Woe is I by Patricia T. O’Conner. Her humorous and accessible approach to the rules of clear communication might help you unblock a persistent problem.

With chapter titles like Comma Sutra and Verbal Abuse, readers are entertained and educated. Following is an example of her approach: a rhyme to help solve a problem that perplexes many writers.

Commas, which cut out the fat,
Go with which, never with that.

The Business Memo: RIP?

Has e-mail killed the business memo? Absolutely not.

Two keys to effective e-mail are to keep it short and include lots of white space, but you’re better off sending an e-mail with an attached memo when:

You have more than 3 - 5 paragraphs of content
Your material would benefit from formatting, such as bullets and headings
Your material is of a sensitive or formal nature, such as a proposal or complaint

Although e-mail formatting has come a long way, it is nowhere near the standard of a Word document. The goal is communication, so put your information in a format that is easiest for the reader, even if it takes a few minutes longer for you.

Is Your Crisis Plan Ready for Avian Flu?

You may not have ornithophobia, otherwise known as fear of birds, but your shareholders might. At the very least, they’ll expect your company to be prepared for any potential crisis. Letting them know you’ve thought of everything can be a competitive advantage.

Be sure your crisis plan is up to date to include how you would communicate with all audiences – employees, customers, vendors and other stakeholders – if there were a major health emergency.

Find out if you’re prepared by reading this article by human resources consulting giant Hewitt Associates at the link below.

Avian Flu: Employer Tool Kit

IMs Not Private: Just Ask Mark Foley

I recently conducted an Effective E-mail workshop for an unusually tech savvy group. They assured me they never put confidential information in e-mails; they use instant messages (IM) instead.

A few weeks later, Congressman Mark Foley resigned in disgrace and Republicans faced a reputation crisis leading up to the mid-term elections. All due to some confidential instant messages that turned out to be very public.

If something is truly private, pick up the phone or, better yet, walk down the hall and have a conversation.

For more tips on managing IM use, read the article in ComputerWorld at the link below.

Five tips to rein in potentially disastrous instant messaging.

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Thanks for taking a minute to read my newsletter. If you think your team would benefit from one of my lunch-time workshops or more intensive writing or communications programs, I’d welcome the opportunity to talk with you about it. In the meantime, be well and write well.

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