Two of my recent articles seem to have really hit a nerve in many people. I've very glad to see so much discussion, particularly here on LinkedIn. Thank you to everyone who liked or commented on the articles. In case you missed them, here are the links.
Don't be a robot. Make a human difference.
Are you doing a waltz or cha-cha-cha in your emails?
Thanks to the many people who have written to me personally about adding a human touch in our emails. One writer said, "I am appalled by the number of college graduates who cannot write a clear, concise sentence. This can just as easily ruin an organisation's reputation, leading to customers losing trust in the company's abilities to conduct business."
I totally agree with this, and with what the writer concluded, saying surely we can be warm and provide the 'human touch' while also maintaining a standard of professionalism in our communication. Yes indeed, we can, and we must.
And there lies the key. As humans, we have the one quality that robots and A.I. don't have, and that is the very quality that we are human!
Let's face it, online every day we've all been asked to "tick the boxes showing which photos include traffic lights". Other online forms get straight to the point and ask us to prove you are human.
So shouldn't this also apply when we put our fingers on the keyboard to write emails?
Proving we are human in our business emails means we must:
- write like a warm, friendly 2019 human being
- write appropriately for the situation and the reader
- be courteous and professional always
- keep messages simple, clear and understandable
- make messages easy to scan
- let readers know exactly what to do and how to reply
Proving we are human means we should NOT:
- write like a boring, monotone, 1920s template
- send rushed messages with poor sentence construction
- use jargon, acronyms and emojis in business emails
- write long-winded messages
- make readers hunt around trying to figure out how to reply
- leave readers wondering how to reply
In our fast-paced, ever-changing, high-tech world, it's up to us as humans to make a human difference.
So… are you proving you're human?
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I'd love to work with you and your organisation to bring back the human touch in all your communications. Check out my popular signature business writing programme here. I can customise this training specially for you and do this as half-day, one-day or two-day. Just let me know what works for you.
Let's work together to make a human difference.