Mayo’s Clinic: The E-mail Pledge—a Communication Suggestion
We need to remind our students that communication is an art that recognizes the dignity and importance of the receiver. In fact, have them consider taking the E-Mail Pledge.
By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT
Last month, we talked about social-media etiquette for students and listed the five recommendations of accuracy, brevity, consistency, directness and expansion. This month, during the holiday season, we will review some common e-mail practices and suggest some guidelines for students to adopt because they are important in personal, and especially in professional, circles.
First Principle for E-mail Etiquette
There are a few commonly accepted principles for using e-mail that most professionals practice; students who Twitter, Facebook and instant message may not be aware of them. The first principle involves recognizing and honoring the audience of e-mail messages. Sometimes that audience is clear in the “to” box, but students should be warned that e-mail messages are often forwarded to other people and, therefore, need to be written carefully with a sense that others might read them and they might be kept and used for a range of different purposes in the future.