E-mail - friend or foe? podcast Hello and welcome to this podcast brought to you by That's English!, the Spanish Ministry of Education's official distance learning English course. To find out more about That's English! go to www.thatsenglish.com or contact your local Official School of Languages. Drew: Hi Kate! How are you doing? Kate: Not bad, thanks. And you? Drew: I feel great. I've just finished doing a really interesting course at work. Kate: Really? What was it about? Drew: Well, it was to give us some tips on how to improve our productivity. Kate: Oh, I see. So your company's paid for a course to show you all how to work harder. There's certainly method in their madness. Drew: Well, you could say that, but I think the idea was to help us work better, not harder and to be honest, I've found it really useful. Kate: OK then. So what advice have they given you? Drew: Well, the main problem in our company is that we all work really long hours. As you know, due to the economic crisis, several colleagues were fired. Kate: Yes, I remember you saying. How many people were made redundant? Drew: Oh, they laid off seven people and, since then, the rest of us have had to share out their workload. Kate: Which is the reason why you all have to work longer hours. Do you get paid overtime? Drew: You have to be joking, right? Kate: I can but hope. Drew: No...and this has caused a lot of bad feeling because none of us have had a pay rise either. Kate: So now your company has the cheek to make you all do a course to improve your productivity and you say that you feel great about it. I just don't get it. Drew: Well, I don't have much choice, do I? It's better to grin and bear it. Kate: I suppose so. Go on then, tell me what you have learnt on the course. Drew: Well, the main idea is that, if we don't want to work late, we have to work smarter, more efficiently. Kate: And how do they suggest you do that? Drew: Well, they talked about the dangers of multi-tasking, for example, because you try and do several things at the same time, even though you might feel like you're getting a lot done, going from one thing to another usually means that you never complete any task properly and you waste time. Kate: But surely that depends on the person and the type of job. I mean, if you are a receptionist, for instance, you have no choice but to do several things at the same time, as you are constantly being interrupted by the telephone. Drew: Of course, that's true, but in most jobs you have to do things that require a lot of thinking and it's clear that the more disruptions you have, the longer it takes, as you lose your train of thought. That's what happens to me, at least. Kate: So how do you get around that? Drew: Well, by drawing up a sensible work plan, prioritising the most important tasks. They told us that it should be demanding but realistic too. There's no point in setting yourself impossible deadlines as this only leads to frustration. Kate: That's true - I'm afraid I've learnt that myself, the hard way. Drew: You see, I told you the course had been really useful! Kate: OK, I get your point. What else should you do? Drew: Well, when you need to concentrate on an important task, you should divert your calls to your voicemail and resist the temptation of constantly checking your e-mails. Kate: Surely having a look at your inbox doesn't take up that much time? Drew: Surprisingly, the guy that gave us the course told us that, on average, people spend an hour or two every day dealing with their e-mails, which is a fairly significant proportion of their working day. Kate: But if you receive an important e-mail, you have to reply back and deal with whatever issue comes up straightaway. Drew: Of course, nobody questions that. The problem is that, apparently, a lot of the stuff in our inbox isn't really important. You are often simply being copied about something that doesn't affect your work directly. Kate: Oh, I know what you mean. F.Y.I.: For your information. Drew: Exactly. We were also told that in some cases, it's also a way to shun one's own responsibility. You know, if I do something that I am not certain about, I just tell everyone. That way, if there's trouble later on, I can always say, "Ah, but you all knew about it and nobody said anything at the time." Kate: That's interesting. I'd never thought about "for your information" e- mails as a way of avoiding responsibility. Drew: And another problem with e-mails is that people don't really know how to write them properly. Kate: What do you mean? Drew: Well, what do you do if you open an e-mail and see that it is really long? Kate: To tell you the truth, if it isn't urgent, I close it and go back to it later, when I have more time to read it. Drew: Exactly. That's what we all do. The thing is that e-mail must be short and straight to the point. Kate: K.I.S.S. Keep it short and simple. Drew: That's right. Keep it short and simple. But there's more to it than that. On the course, they gave us some guidelines on how to write a convincing e-mail. Kate: What tips did they give you? Drew: Well, it's really quite straightforward. Basically, there are six steps. To start off with, you should decide what the goal of the e-mail is. Otherwise, you'll end up being vague and start beating about the bush. Kate: Oh yes, I hate it when people don't get to the point. Drew: Interestingly, they say that the second thing you should do is to write your conclusion. Kate: Why's that? I was always told to end with the conclusion. Drew: Same here, but these guys on the course told us that as nobody has any time these days, if you don't make the reason for the e-mail clear straightaway, it probably won't even get read. Kate: I see. Then what should you do? Drew: Well, obviously, in the body of the e-mail you make the points that will support your conclusion. Visually, the format and sentence structure should be similar and each point should be backed by facts. Otherwise, you'll give the impression that it's only your point of view. Kate: Yes, that doesn't look very professional, does it? Drew: No, it doesn't. In step number 5, at the end of the e-mail, you should restate the conclusion in such a way as to lead the recipient towards the line of action you want them to take to achieve your goal. Kate: I think this sounds easier than it really is. Drew: I think it's just a matter of practice. Finally, and this is something that I never do, they told us to write the subject line last, as it is the most important part of the e-mail. They told us that if the subject isn't interesting enough, the e-mail might not even get opened and it should also imply the goal that you are aiming to achieve. Kate: From what you're saying, I reckon I always write my e-mails back to front and the wrong way around. Drew: Me too! Kate: And do you think that now you know how to write an e-mail properly, this will help you leave work on time? Drew: Well, I don't know yet, but I'm certainly going to try out some of the tips they have given us. I have nothing to lose. Kate: Well, good luck Drew! And thank you! I am going to take some of these ideas on board myself. You learn something new every day! Drew: We hope you have found this podcast interesting. See you later! Source: www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/how-to-write-a-convincing-email.html We hope you have enjoyed this podcast, brought to you by That's English! Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter. We look forward to hearing from you. Bye for now!