What to Do With Henry

An executive team and I were sitting at their conference table talking about people's communication styles and abilities. Joe chuckled to himself. Fred looked at Joe, smiled, and said, "I know who you're thinking of, right?"

"Yep," said Joe. "Henry."

At that, they all chimed in with stories about how Henry can't communicate. It seems Henry is one of those folks who writes really long emails and apparently believes people read them--all of them, all the way to the end.

Highlight Action Items

Any action points get buried in the middle of paragraphs on pages 4 and 9 of 12. Henry also shares his thoughts and opinions-he does not censor himself in any way.

"Henry's really a great guy," Joe said. "He just doesn't know how to communicate via email."

It's like the case at a utility company a few years ago. A junior staffer needed a specific piece of information from a VP. She wrote him an email asking for that info. He didn't respond. She waited a few days and re-sent the email. The VP still didn't respond. She tried it a third time with the same results.

After the third email, she finally walked into his office and asked why he didn't respond to her email request. "I saw what the email was about, and since it didn't apply to me, I didn't read it all," the VP said.

I couldn't blame the VP when I saw the email. It was long, it was disorganized, and the action item for the VP was buried in the next-to-last paragraph.

More Tips for Effective Email

Here is what I suggested Joe tell Henry, just like I told the junior staffer at the utility company.

1. Think before you write an email. Who does it need to go to and what outcomes do you want?

2. Realize no one will read your email past the first screen. Some folks won't go more than a paragraph or two into the message.

3. Highlight action items at the top of the email. If the message needs to be long, point out at the top that Sue needs to read paragraph 6, Bolly needs to see paragraph 9, and Sam needs to see paragraph 13. If your message is that long, you also need to number items so folks don't have to count paragraphs.

4. Don't use email as a forum to vent or share your thinking. One client received a 15-page single-space email from a very angry and concerned employee. What a rant! That is not the action of a smart professional.

5. Finally, if you're using email to capture minutes of a meeting, just put the important points in the email. Don't write it chronologically, the way minutes are typically written.

With any luck, Henry can apply these tips and save everyone time and help them respond when they need to.