New Year's Resolutions worth keeping – improve your etiquette

The etiquette written about by Miss Manners may be more concerned with the correct knife and fork to use or the suitable time to send a thank-you card but its goal of allowing social interactions to run more smoothly is just as applicable to the electronic workplace.

Email overload is a well-defined problem in workplaces today, with some organisations going so far as to ban the use of email altogether. We however believe that there are better solutions to the problem. One such solution is that each of us can take some responsibility for the burden we place on others with each email we send, and that we take the time to consider our email etiquette.

What then is good email etiquette? Here are our top seven etiquette guidelines to consider:

1. Be concise and to the point – remember that someone else has to take the time to read this email that you have sent in the middle of what is likely to be a busy day for them.

2. Check your spelling and grammar. The reason we have such rules is to ensure that our messages are easily understood. By being correct in your messages you will make your email that little bit easier to read.

3. Don't use capitals. It's the written equivalent of shouting. Mixed case sentences will be easier to read and comprehend.

4. Take the time to read back over your message (in fact, even read it out loud to yourself) and check the tone. An email dashed off in a hurry can come across as brusque or angry and lead to a pointless emotional exchange of messages. Even making sure you add a hello and goodbye will make a difference here, as well, of course, as “please” and “thank-you”.

5. A clear subject line. This enables the recipient to start processing the email before they open the message. In fact, for very short messages such as “see you at 5pm” - the text can be entirely in the subject line with “(eom)” at the end signifying “end of message” so your recipient knows they don't need to open the message.

6. If you've got a long email with a lot of action points – consider breaking it into multiple emails that can be acted on separately.

7. Who are you sending this message to? This could well be the guideline that makes the biggest difference to the email burden you give the world. Check that recipient list carefully. Do the people on there really need to receive this message? Every person you send to will have their day interrupted by this message – think again, do they really need to receive it?

Great email etiquette takes time and training. In terms of introducing it into your workday, take the first email you send and check it against all seven etiquette guidelines listed above. Feeling good? - then do it again for the second. That may be enough for the first day. Day 2 – make sure your first two emails out are perfect in terms of your etiquette, then do another two perfectly (just because it feels good). Each day use the list above consciously for a few more messages.

Before you know it you'll be using this list without conscious thought. By doing so, you are taking a little bit of that email burden off others. And who knows, they may start asking you how you do it, so making their outward messages that little less burdensome as well!