How does your email etiquette impact your brand? Elaine Varelas provides insight.
Wonder how your communication style affects your professional brand? Elaine Varelas provides her expertise.
Q: This feels like a silly question, but I have to ask—what’s the best way to sign off a work email? I’m a woman early in my career, and a colleague told me I should stop using exclamation points when I sign off with “Thanks!” because it makes me seem unprofessional. But I’ve received emails where people sound rude and brusque. What are the politics around this? How does email etiquette affect how others perceive me?A:
Your professional presence is not silly. Paying attention to details like this will help you in the long run as you create your brand. Younger women often fall into the trap of being perceived as “cute,” “bubbly,” or “perky” in the workplace. If you give off an aura of not being business-like or professional, or not having the ability to be seen as senior, it will hurt you when your organization starts considering individuals for promotion, stretch assignments, high-visibility projects, or opportunities to work with senior staff or clients. Making sure you recognize the difference between being engaging and professional versus being “cute” is where you need to focus. A simple shift to “Thank you, Shane,” is that much more professional than “Thanks!” with an exclamation point. There are many ways to be friendly without having a smiley face emoji tacked onto every email.
Beginning and ending emails with brief friendly comments is acceptable, but recognize that work communication needs to be professional, whether it is a text, instant message, email, or phone call. One factor in this issue is the increasingly blurred lines between personal and professional spheres—we use the same medium to communicate professionally as we use to communicate personally. We work from home, use our personal cell phones for work calls, and use texting and email equally for work and for personal reasons. It’s easy to slip into a more informal tone since we are so accustomed to using these tools casually. When people were using nice ivory stationery for work-related communication and one desk phone, it was automatic to employ your “serious voice” for business issues. All of the methods have been blurred together now, requiring a more conscious choice to present yourself professionally.
Maybe you assume you can be casual with a smiley emoji to an internal colleague who is also a friend. But most of the time, it’s inadvisable to be overly cute in any communication, internal or external. Maybe that same email ends up being forwarded to a senior leader, which would impact how that person views you.
Rapport-building with external clients is also vital to your success, and it can’t be unprofessional. If a client mentions something personal that’s worth commenting on—getting married, buying a house, having a baby—you don’t need to send back a message with four smiley faces and a thumbs up sign. You can get the same message across by saying “Congratulations and best wishes.” Turning the emojis and excessive punctuation into gracious words will present a more professional demeanor. It isn’t brusque or rude to take this approach—that’s another issue altogether. There is always a more polished way to convey an emotion, and you will be perceived professionally as a result.
Email etiquette isn’t the only arena in which women can inadvertently cultivate an unprofessional brand. Another significant area is one’s professional photos. A common issue here is a “head tilt” pose on LinkedIn, company IDs, or company websites. This posture is less than professional, so ensure that your focus is straight ahead in terms of professional presentation. Name tags at company events can also present problems for one’s presentation. Many events use lanyards that position a name tag right at your belly. Tie it up higher so people can see your name and look at your eyes. Don’t position them on your hip and, when going to these events, dress accordingly with the knowledge that you’ll likely be wearing a name tag so you can display it where it can be easily read.
Paying attention to the little things that contribute to your image early on is important for everyone. You want your communication and your presence to instill confidence in your boss, so that she knows she can take you anywhere—to a client, to an important event, to a meeting with senior executives. Whether it is a business meeting or an email, business etiquette matters.
