Anyone reading this probably receives hundreds of emails every week. For all that, it is staggering how many of them are so badly written. And when I say badly written, I mean inappropriate, if not down insensitive. they just get under our skin, unnecessarily.

For many, email has become a medium for instantaneous response. We abbreviate what we want to say. We shorten words to single letters. And few reread what is written before the ‘send’ button is attacked. All of this is a recipe for disaster.

• Have you ever received a message that says: ‘Sorry no time to explain properly, but…….’?  (What? You don’t think I am worth a few more seconds?)
• How about the edited email that comes back to you full of corrections in the autoset colour of RED? (makes you cringe, and potentially down right humiliating).
• And then of course there are numerous bosses who feel that they can hide behind the faceless screen and send out a barrage of criticism. (Whimps and more humiliation).
• Yucky typos, insensitivity, lack of basic understanding, etc, etc – we receive them all……….and even fall guilty of such misdeeds ourselves.

As a business coach in Jerusalem, I probably spend about one session a week showing clients what they should (and should NOT) put into a message. I have just read a very interesting summary on this topic – why so many people fail to construct a decent email. The author, Andrew Brodsky, makes an excellent point. You do not have to hide an emotion, but there are so many ways to express it, both constructively and effectively.

I thoroughly endorse what Brodsky went on to suggest:

One strategy that has been found to be very effective across settings is to engage in behavioral mimicry (i.e., using emoticons, word-choice, and slang/jargon in a similar manner to the person with whom you are communicating). In a set of studies of American, Dutch, and Thai negotiators, using behavioral mimicry in the early stages of text-based chat negotiations increased individual outcomes by 30%. This process of mimicry increases trust because people tend to feel an affinity toward those who act similarly to them.

So let us make a pledge together this week. Before whipping out the next bunch of emails, take another 15 seconds just to think how the person will feel when they receive it and what it will prompt them to do. This extra investment of thought may well save you a fortune in time later on.