Email Lemonade
  • Home
  • About
  • Programs
  • Articles
  • Contact

Bad email? Personality isn't an excuse.

6/11/2015

 
Picture
I love to take personality quizzes.  Or just quizzes in general.  (Yes, I’m geeky like that!)  One that I recently re-took was the Myers-Briggs MBTI® assessment, and sure enough, I was still an ESTJ.  Feedback from this particular version highlighted that for us ESTJs,

“Their desire to get things done may mean that they ignore the niceties, the softer issues, and they tend not to be so well tuned in to how other people are feeling.”

I’m not proud of it, but that statement rings true!  Not that I want to be a jerk (really, I’m a friendly person), but if I’m not careful, I can come across as cold and unfeeling when focused on a task.  Yet, in my professional life, I gained the reputation for being an extremely diplomatic, thoughtful email writer.  Someone who could broach difficult topics and still not ruffle feathers.  So what gives?

  1. I’m aware of my natural tendency to ignore the “soft” stuff.
  2. Because of #1, I work hard to address it because I know it affects my relationships.  Especially in email, being blunt or overly direct can be perceived as rude – and that isn’t how I want to be perceived.
  3. I recognize that email gives me the benefit of editing before I hit “send.”  Instead of a blunt remark that might accidentally slip out of my mouth, I easily tweak or remove a harsh-sounding sentence from my email.

Why am I sharing this?  Because you can take advantage of the same three steps to smooth out rough spots in your emails.  Be aware of your natural tendencies and address the ones that harm your effectiveness by learning corrective techniques and editing your emails.  Let’s be clear - I’m not advocating that you shy away from your personality.  However, your tendency to be direct doesn’t give you license to be rude.  Or just because you aren’t a linear thinker doesn’t mean you can’t try to present information in an organized way.  For help smoothing out these areas, check out past posts on Tone and Organization (read the 2nd solution).

Once you are familiar with your natural tendencies (and if you aren’t already, now’s a great time to get feedback from your boss and some trusted coworkers), embrace continual improvement of your skills.  What might seem unnatural at first will become second nature over time.  Have a specific area you’d like covered?  Leave a note in the comments or reach out to Cheryl@EmailLemonade.com to let me know how I can help!

 



Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Archives

    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All
    Attachments
    Clarity
    Email Lemons
    Formatting
    Giving Feedback
    Grammar
    Inbox Clutter
    International
    Mentality
    Out Of Office
    Proofreading
    Reply All
    Save Time
    Signatures
    Subject Lines
    The Right Content
    The Right People
    The Right Responsiveness
    The Right Subject
    Tips
    Tone
    Travel
    Vacation
    Why It Matters

© 2020 Email Lemonade.  All Rights Reserved.
Home I About I Programs I Articles I Contact
Info@EmailLemonade.com