Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Do people enjoy reading YOUR emails?


What is the first action taken when people sit at their seats in the office? Not a difficult, guess, right? Everyone is checking their emails. In every corporate culture emails are main communication tool, once your email ID is created you 'exist'.

There are many articles and blogs with tips and tricks how to write an email in such a 'sexy' manner that people will read it, reply and most importantly act according it. Another advice is paying attention to revising the draft before pressing the 'send' button.

You might also be aware of the ORID technique, which is another framework for composing 'readable' email after covering Objective, Reflection, Interpretation and Decision into the body of the email. We all have heard about the rules for 'cc-ing', forwarding of the emails or order of the recipients, it all matters.

All of the above are tips and tools to help us. But having the knowledge without applying it and without putting it into action is the same as not knowing at all.

Are your emails read with interest? Do people like to see incoming mail from you in their inbox?

If you are not sure, do the following TEST: Send an email to your peer in the open space or in the office and watch whether his or her face will lighten up.

So? Have your email initiated sparks in the eyes of the recipient?

Have you ever asked yourself, what kind of email do you like to read? How do you want the recipient to feel and how he/she should react afterwards? What do you want to achieve by contacting the person? What message do you want to communicate?

I have done the TEST by asking few people who I was interacting via emails recently, this questions:

"How did you react when spotting email from Ivana in your inbox?

How did you respond? Was it somehow different from other emails?

If yes, why? Can you use describe it by any examples?"
 

Viera Stupavska:



 

Viera is the Head of the retail branches for Dexia Bank Slovakia and I have had the privilege to work with her for 10 and half months on the Cash management project within the Euro Change- over Program in the Dexia Bank


 

Robert Lences:

" I particularly remember one email – a summary of tasks before a project status meeting, which Ivana was leading. It was a pleasure to read, even while not being very short. What made it different from others was that there was a piece of personalized message for each recipient, all of that was positive and motivational. No unnecessary formal extras around the real content. And in the end, the email created the impression of being composed by a human for the people, with care and attention. All that gives a good reason to read and reply such emails before all the rest."

Robert Lences is the Managing Consultant in Capgemini Slovakia with expertise in Enterprise Architecture.

Smita Rai:

" I receive several emails in a day with request for information. But rarely do I register a sender's name. But I remember the first email from Ivana because it was not just another formal mail requesting for information, but an attempt to establish a connection. It was the 'Namaste', a way of addressing an individual in my country that made me find where this mail was coming from. And it pleased me to know that a colleague from Slovakia knew the greeting. I think in today's day of one line emails, we need to sometimes take a few minutes and draw that connection. After all, breaking walls in communication is important for successfully working with teams across the globe."

Smita Rai is the Knowledge Manager for Global Public Sector & Healthcare for Capgemini, residing in the Bangalore office. Her husband writes a
super cool blog on cocktails,
worth to have a look at!


 

Do you want to know more about mastering email communication?

Watch out, the next post is coming soon.

Have a super cool summer day.


Cheers,
i.

Monday, July 6, 2009

True or just "made up" movie?

Hi Folks!

Thank you all for your super cool response on the latest post and “On cultures” slides. Today, I will go on and build on the cultural theme. Why?

Few hours ago, I have received interesting video, which made me think again.
Did you know? (Watch the video, please)



Do you still think, you know the world you live in?
Do you still think you can live comfort set of the learned habits?
Do you still think you don’t need to be aware of any other cultures, but yours?


Adopt – Adapt- Transform was one of the themes during the implementation of the huge outsource program of Capgemini.

I would boldly apply that theme into every part of our daily lives.

Cheers from believer in ONENESS and synchronicity;-)
i.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Understanding cultural differences or giving away forgotten gift - slide show;-)

Hello! Namaste! Ahoj! Marhaba!

Today, I have decided to share with you few slides, which have been stored in the folder of my desktop for almost 2 months. Originally I have made this document about Understanding cultural differences, to spread the awareness among colleagues in the business consulting world as my expression of care and importance to make our work environment effective and friendly, in case of any multicultural interactions.


I simply backed off, when,common reaction was:

“What for should if I know about it, I don’t work with Indians or Arabs?”



But, I have changed my mind, because:

“If posting that slide deck “On Cultures” will help one person to learn something new, it will be 100% more compared to zero audience, while document was stored in the PC, isn’t it?”

Super cool, then!

I am delighted to share with you my first uploaded presentation.
Here we go, gift for YOU!



I am looking forward to hear your thoughts, and please educate me, if any of the mentioned my -own - experience based observations can be interpreted in more precise way!

Have a super cool Friday
Cheers,
i.