At some point in your career, you’ll have to issue a broad communication to many people. It’s hard to avoid it. So what would be the checklist for a broad communication?
- Assume it will go public: somewhere, somehow it will be posted somewhere. Now, are you ok with what you wrote?
- What is it that you want to convey? Do you want to thank people? Do you want to calm and reassure people? What’s your objective? And does it accomplish it?
- Are you using the right medium? Sometimes a brief video message or in person presentations are better than email. Typically, the more sensitive the content, the less you can put in writing…not because you’re hiding anything, but because circumstances can change and what you write can be taken out of context.
- Are the right people vetting what you wrote? Did everyone rubber stamp it because you’re the boss? Do you need lawyers or human resources to review (always a good idea for the proper disclosures)? Give it to someone who you trust to tell you what they really think.
- If there’s a victim, show empathy towards them. Justification of behavior is defensive. It doesn’t matter if you followed the rules if someone got hurt.
- Keep it short. Too much information can be as bad as too little.
- Pre-communicate the email to key stakeholders: some people should be notified ahead of the release…e.g. your boss, your colleagues, directs depending on the subject.
- Be timely: if you wait too long, it might not matter what you think anymore.
- Draft and redraft until you’re satisfied. I would review broad emails at least 3-5 times for clarity prior to release.
- Send it out so that you don’t get all the out of office messages! My inbox got walloped.
In these times, a poorly thought through email can cost you dearly. It’s worth taking the time to review it: the more people included, the more thorough your review should be.