How To Set the Tone for Office Communications

Many employees dash off emails with little attention paid to them. As a manager, you can help focus and train your team on some techniques for effective messaging.

Hitting the right note
Tone is flavor. It can make all the difference in motivating the reader, strengthening relationships and boosting morale or engagement. It is especially important for delivering feedback, where the recipient has some personal investment in the content.

Workers sometimes interpret emails with a slightly more negative slant than the writer intended. To get very scientific about it, the connection between tone and feelings begins in the amygdala portion of the brain, where emotions are processed, and proceeds to the orbital frontal cortex, where decisions are made and words take on meaning. In plainer language, humans see words, interpret their meanings and add some emotional context. The bottom line is that just one jarring phrase can taint an overall impression.

You can learn to adjust your writing tone to situations and recipients. For each channel — email, live chat or social media — a certain tone is most well suited to convey a message. The choices are extensive, such as:

• Formal or informal
• Humorous or serious
• Optimistic and encouraging
• Assertive and stern
• Conversational and friendly
• Confident
• Courteous without insincere politeness, which may seem condescending Sarcastic (use sparingly!)
• Apologetic

Most of us agree on the general meanings behind words. We apply cultural norms and expectations in a conversational context. Imagine, for instance, that a certain email writer normally tends to use exclamation points and emojis liberally. If they unexpectedly start to leave them out, their latest emails might appear cold.

You will probably find friendly and respectful tones produce the best reactions. In setting your tone, think about the person to whom you are writing, the purpose of the communication and what you want them to understand, including any emotional subtext.

Reading between the lines
Style and tone are different. Do not confuse communication styles with personality. Workplace styles explain how each employee interacts with others, according to differing circumstances, and indicate how each team member interprets and processes information.

Styles are usually categorized in four classic clusters, each with typical traits.

The first category is the passive type of individual who avoids conflict, is overly apologetic and says "yes," a lot, in a soft-spoken voice. The second is the passive-aggressive worker who sometimes says one thing but means another, denying any hostile purpose. Third is the aggressive individual who often blurts out what they think and dominates discussions, interrupts and fixes on somebody with piercing eye contact. And the fourth category, which is the easiest to collaborate with, is the assertive type who communicates directly but with empathy.

The different styles help someone understand how someone else responds emotionally to a message, how they set boundaries or how they share ideas. They also may be a cultural hallmark. Teams from Japan, China and Middle Eastern countries like to build their business relationships more gradually and may seem to be beating around the bush, while Americans, Germans and Scandinavians are more forthright and to the point.

Composing a killer email
Here are some tips for constructing messages designed to hit home:

• Use neutral, nonjudgmental, nondiscriminatory language.
• Go easy on emotions and interjections.
• Check punctuation, grammar and spelling.
• Use the active voice, if possible.
• Avoid jargon and slang.
• Use neutral salutations or job titles if you don’t know the recipient’s gender, e.g., “To whom it may concern” or "Chairperson."
• Mention benefits and calls to action.
• Be concise.
• Write an interesting subject line.
• Never hit "Reply to all."
• Don’t shorten names, e.g., Dave, Mike, Phil, unless you are sure they use that form.
• Keep font type, color and size consistent.
• Add a signature block with your contact information.
• Say “Hi, X" or "Dear X,” but never “Yo!”
• Mind your p’s and q’s. Remember to say "please" and "thank you."

Start thinking about how you communicate; now is the time to up your game.

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