Monthly Archives: April 2021

Email is a great way to provide instruction to a single person or to the entire department or company. However, not all emails provide the clarity needed to communicate the message.

Learning a few simple strategies can help any manager or leader write more effective emails. A simple way to tell if an email is confusing is to check how many calls, texts, or emails you get back asking for clarification or more information. More than one or two emails or communications that are asking questions you thought were explained in the email is a sure sign it is not as clear as you think.

Focus on Key Points

Business emails should be as short as possible and to the point. If there are multiple points, steps, or details required by the recipient, consider using bullet points rather than long sentences.

Bullet points help to identify the most important aspects of the information. They are also easier to read and they tend to stand out on the page.

One Topic Per Email

Choose one topic per email to keep things clear and straightforward. Too many topics in an email can create confusion or overwhelm the reader. It is a good idea to ask these three questions before writing the email:

• What is the topic of this email?
• What does the reader need to know?
• What do I need the reader to do?

Read through the email and make sure those three questions are clearly answered.

Use of Jargon

It is common to assume all professionals in an organization understand specific jargon. However, this assumption is often false, which can create confusion if an email contains jargon, terms, or references that are unfamiliar or not fully understood by the reader.

Review the email and determine if any jargon or terms are used in the content that could be confusing or unknown to any of the recipients. Taking a few minutes to clarify this information in parenthesis or in writing out an abbreviation can save a lot of time in answering questions later.

Reduce Wordiness

Business emails should be precise and short. Eliminating unnecessary details or information and keeping sentences short increases the clarity of the message. Generally, business emails should be about 5-8 short to medium length sentences for brevity and clarity.

Avoid Assumptions

If the email references another email or a specific issue, provide the necessary link or reference for the reader. Do not assume the reader will know the reference or know where to find the reference.

Read the Email Out Loud

Reading the email out loud can help you to catch anything that doesn’t make sense or that is incomplete in the information. It can be very difficult to proofread your own writing and see these mistakes. Hearing the email read aloud makes it easy to spot these errors. 

It is not uncommon for businesses to invest heavily in sales training in good times and stop offering professional development, coaching, and training for the sales team in times of economic downturns.

While there is a logic behind this, it is faulty logic. The correct logic or approach is that sales are critical for the success of a business in any economic market. In fact, it is easy to argue that sales training and staff development is more essential in a poor economy as sales are more difficult.

At the basic level, sales are all about communication. Training the sales team to communicate more effectively both with customers as well as within the team, is a part of ongoing professional development. Training the sales managers with the team in these skills is a key point for the top sales companies in the market today.

To understand the importance of ongoing sales training, here are four essential factors to consider for any B2B or B2C company.

Training in Technology

Tracking and monitoring customer behavior has become easier with advances in technology. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software allows sales staff to monitor all interactions with customers, including potential new customers. The benefits of this technology are only available if sales staff is trained in how to use the software for maximum results.

Using the Latest in Research

Sales strategies have changed over time, and leading sales teams are using the latest in research to reach current and new customers. Understanding the use of social media, content marketing, and partnering with customers rather than selling to the customer is a critical part of capturing sales even in a difficult market.

Personalized Support

Coaching for sales staff is a highly effective professional development strategy. Coaching or mentoring provides one-on-one support, assisting in new skill development for current or new members to the sales team. This is extremely important to create a sales team that is able to meet quota and exceed sales objectives as all sales professionals are continually improving.

Supporting the Team

Sales can be a very competitive and very isolating profession. In providing regular training throughout the year, the sales team has a way to develop a sense of trust, collaboration, and interaction that usually will not develop without these shared training opportunities.

As collaborative work in sales is seen as a more effective overall model than competitive models, training is an ideal time to build both skills and the critical sense of working together as a team. Working with top trainers to incorporate both individual skill development and collaboration is the best way to develop the culture.

As COVID-19 continues to be a major disruptor in most businesses around the world, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Vaccination programs are occurring in most countries, even as new strains of the virus are sweeping through different regions.

In the first few months of 2020, leaders in all areas of life were talking about a “return to normal.” Now, after more than a year of lockdowns, business closures, social distancing, and work from home requirements, business leaders are talking about returning to a “new normal,” which is yet to be fully understood. Still, it will not be the old normal.

Leading the Way

Leaders today are still navigating very challenging times. There is the challenge of continuing to motivate employees, many of who are dealing with homeschooling of kids, health issues with loved ones, and losses due to the pandemic. There is also the challenge of trying to lead without having a clear understanding of what the new normal will look like. This can be unsettling to both leaders and the workforce, with everything feeling tentative and experimental rather than solid and secure.

There are ways that leaders can support employees and their companies even in times of confusion and chaos. Top leaders routinely implement these techniques into their management style and create workplaces that are supportive, caring, and also demonstrate a clear path and goal.

• Develop and share plans – while long-term plans may be a challenge, setting specific goals and objectives on a weekly or monthly basis is important. When businesses have clearly defined and shared objectives, people see progress, have a sense of accomplishment, and have a clear direction of where the company is going.
  

• Model transparency – it can be difficult as a leader not to know the answers. However, being transparent and providing information that is accurate, even if it means acknowledging the answer is not available, is more effective than trying to ignore a problem or issue.
  

• Looking for opportunities – even in times of chaos and challenge, top leaders look for opportunities to expand their business and to move into new markets. People follow effective leadership that is making strides for a better future for the business.
  

• Compassion – recognizing and acknowledging the challenge for both employees as well as customers and striving to address those challenges is also a sign of effective leadership. This is where a top leader is able to prioritize people over processes to develop a positive and supportive workplace culture.
  

• Look for silver linings – without being false or Pollyanna, effective leaders are looking for changes brought about by COVID-19 that will help to structure the new business normal. Working from home, reducing travel by holding virtual meetings, and spending more time focusing on the human side of the business are all positives in many business environments.
  

The new normal may look very different for some businesses and companies. Leaders who work with their teams, obtain input and ideas, and listen to employees and customers are ideally positioned to effectively bring these positive changes to their business model.  

The mind is a complex thing, and part of the complexity is in how thoughts and beliefs are formed throughout life. While most people would like to believe that they are independent thinkers and come up with beliefs based on actual experiences and interactions, this is simply not the case.

In fact, our unconscious or subconscious mind is constantly receiving information from the world around us. This includes information and experiences from childhood through to our current age. Associations, both good and bad, are formed outside of the conscious mind, and this creates a bias in how we think about others. Biases include stereotypes, but they can go beyond these beliefs.

Bias in the Workplace

While many associate unconscious bias with beliefs about ethnicity, race, or gender, there are other types of unconscious biases at work all the time. For example, a manager may assume a younger employee has less knowledge about a particular business operation than an older employee. The manager may also assume the younger employee is more capable of understanding and utilizing technology than the older employee. These are examples of ageism unconscious biases and something that is very common in the workplace.

There is a lot of research on unconscious bias in the workplace. When hiring, people often see a candidate that has similar interests, comes from the same area, or attended the same schools as a better fit for the job, even if he or she may not have the best qualifications in the shortlist of candidates. 

Additionally, a manager may promote employees or hold employees back based on unconscious bias. Unless the manager is able to reflect on this and determine this underlying bias, decisions will continue to be made based on assumptions and beliefs rather than actual facts and data.

Being Honest About Bias

The first step in making any personal change is to recognize the issue exists. Everyone has unconscious bias, and accepting that fact and focusing on when it impacts our thoughts and decision-making is the first step.

When thinking negative or positive thoughts about a person that are not based on facts and direct observations, stop and ask yourself, “Why do I believe this to be true?” The same question is great when you find yourself making an assumption about anything. Assumptions are typically a manifestation of unconscious biases.

By stopping and thinking about your thinking, you can become aware of an unconscious bias. Taking the time to learn about the individual on a personal level, to get more information, and become more attuned to the way unconscious biases are creating positive or negative beliefs around people, are all effective ways to acknowledge and address unconscious bias in both personal interactions as well as in the workplace.