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Preventing Communication Breakdown |
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Your number one goal in composing a business message should be to make sure your reader understands your message right from the beginning. Don’t wait till the middle of a message to let the reader know what you are talking about. Therefore, a strong subject line is an excellent starting place when composing a business message. Both e-mails and memos require a subject line, but you will often use them in letters too. Subject Lines A subject line needs to be specific to your purpose for writing. For instance, if you were writing a memo regarding July’s Widget Sales Report, you might have a subject line of: Sales Report, July’s Sales Report, Widget Sales Report, or July 2003 Widget Sales Report. Which subject line would be most helpful to you? The last example, July 2003 Widget Sales Report, is the best subject line because it is the most specific. All the other subject lines leave out important information and could be confusing to the reader. Another problem with vague subject lines is that it makes it difficult to file and locate messages. Imagine looking for the January 2001 Sales Report when all of the memos or e-mails have a subject line of “Sales Report.” It would take you twice as long to find what you need. Use Key Words A good subject line will use key words that accurately describe the business message without creating a complete sentence. Try to use six or less words in a subject line. You want it to be brief, yet clear. If you are writing a memo or e-mail to request something, don’t put the whole request in the subject line. Just use a descriptive phrase for the subject line and then put your request in the body of the message. For instance, if you wanted to attend a PowerPoint Training Workshop, your subject line would be: PowerPoint Training Workshop. What you don’t want to do is put your request in the subject line: May I have permission to attend a PowerPoint training workshop? This is especially ineffective if you know you are going to have to talk your boss into letting you go for training. She’ll read the subject line and say no before you have even had a chance to explain why you should be allowed to attend the workshop. Therefore, a poor subject line can cause your message not to be read. This problem consistently occurs with e-mail subject lines. E-Mail Subject Lines How many of you will not open an e-mail if it has a strange subject line or one that doesn’t make sense? We have to be cautious, because opening an e-mail could cause a virus to enter our computers. If you have a vague e-mail subject line like “Report”, how is your audience going to know it is safe to open? Unless the reader recognizes the e-mail address of the writer, there is a good chance this message will not be read. It should also be said that every e-mail needs a subject line that is specific to the message. A unique problem occurs with e-mail communication when you respond using the reply button, rather than composing a new message to respond to someone. The subject line stays the same, but after a few times replying back and forth, the subject of the message may change. Once the subject of the message changes, you need to change your subject line. For instance, last week I was corresponding with a colleague about a project we are working on together. At first I had some questions about the date of the workshop we are doing together. So, my subject line was: October 22 Workshop. Then I had a question about the content of the workshop, so I changed the subject line to: October 22 Workshop Content. Although I was using the reply button for each response, I made sure to change the subject line to reflect the new message. Use Headings Another useful technique to create a clear message is to use headings throughout your message. Again, it doesn’t matter whether you are composing a letter, memo or e-mail; you can always use headings in your message. Think of headings as a way to quickly guide your reader through your message. Headings are like subject lines for paragraphs. It allows the reader to quickly scan a message and find the main points without reading the whole message. It is especially helpful when you are covering a tremendous amount of information. Rather than just endlessly reading paragraph after paragraph, the reader can scan the message for just the parts that he needs. Headings really come in handy when you are reviewing months or years worth of documents and looking for specific information. Say your boss asked you to put together a report on employee attendance for the years 2001 and 2002. If that information was part of another, larger Human Resources report, you would only need to look for the Employee Attendance section on each report, to get what you needed. Using both subject lines and headings in a message will enhance your reader’s understanding of your message and prevent communication breakdown.
This article reprinted from the Riverside Business Journal |
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