Maintaining a professional voice when communicating in the workplace is crucial, especially when corresponding with superiors or new clients or colleagues. Use of e-mail and phone calls greatly enhance our communication reach and enable us to quickly respond to a task. Like in-person interaction, e-mail and phone conversations have social conventions to follow.
E-mail:
E-mailing has become a fast and effective way to communicate with others. Times to use e-mail over other forms of communication are:
- When the material is not time sensitive
- You need a record of your correspondence
- You need to share files
- There are multiple recipients
It is important to remember that e-mails are not private, anyone can access servers and view them. For this reason, you should not include confidential material in any e-mails you send. With this in mind, it is also relevant to remember not to overshare or overwrite information for timeliness and privacy reasons. An e-mail is not a letter, it does not need to be long or detailed with excessive punctuation and formatting, shorter sentences and straightforward language are best to effectively communicate your point.
Phone:
Phone calls are the best way to contact a person when:
- Information is confidential
- The subject is time sensitive
- The correspondence is formal
When on the phone for business reasons, keep your tone professional and polite, you can help this by staying focused on the call and not multi-tasking, this will help with concentration and clarity. Speaking clearly is a must as phone connections can sometimes be poor. For this reason, always double check information you have received to confirm all details are correct.