Today, I wanted to talk about something that plagues a lot of people in the business world, and that is replying to challenging emails.
Have you ever gotten an email that made you angry or frustrated you? What did you do? Did you sit down really quick, write a response, and fire it back just to show them how mad you were? Or did you take a different approach? Many people, including myself, learn this lesson the hard way. What I learned is that sometimes our emotions get the better of us and this can lead us to say something in that quick email that we will regret later. There are two ideas I have about dealing with this particular incident.
One is to write the email immediately (this can make you feel a little better) then minimize it. Wait a couple of hours. Maybe three hours later, look at that email again and see if you really want to send that email. A lot of times I found that I wanted to do some editing, change some of the words or phrases I used before I sent it.
Another thing that I found happening a lot was that I just did not send the email at all. Usually, when this happened I would pick up the phone and call the other party. A phone call is a two-sided conversation whereas an email is one-sided. Sometimes it’s best to have a conversation, rather than trading emails back and forth. If you would like to learn more about how to handle challenging work situations or to sign up for coaching visit my website at www.theascentperformancegroup.com and remember, Be Great!
