eXtinguish rapiD-fire eMaiLs : stop , Drop & roLe
Diversity & Inclusion Committee Chairs : Christina Potter Bayern – Kubiak Law Group & Antina Mobley – Public Defender ’ s Office , 13th Judicial Circuit
rapid-fire emails burn bridges of communication .
The all-telling swoosh or ding of an outgoing or incoming email can be a source of dread or delight . Since the advent of the pandemic , email correspondence has become an increasingly more integral part of legal practice . Simultaneously , legal professionals worldwide have reported an uptick in the occurrence of workplace friction stemming from email correspondence — frequently unrelated to the actual nature of the work at hand . Why is this the case ?
The answer is two-fold . Firstly , recent and continuing events have understandably caused emotions to run high and patience to run low . Secondly , as the Florida Bar ’ s Best Practices for Professional Electronic Communication 1 explained , “[ E ] mail has made it easier for people to communicate very quickly , it also has made it easier for people to forget about civility .” So how can we as professionals foster and maintain a diverse and inclusive working environment via email correspondence ? Answer : extinguish rapid-fire emails — emails written in haste that are poorly worded , inadvertently offend , and / or cause unnecessary friction going forward .
Rapid-fire emails burn bridges of communication . At one time or another , we have all been on the receiving end of a rapid-fire email . And , whether we want to admit it
or not , we may have played the quarterback who sent a rapid-fire email hurtling into another ’ s inbox . The common refrain for dealing with a fire that breaks out on our person is Stop , Drop , and Roll . So , too , in dealing with a rapid-fire email that breaks out in our personal email inbox , we need to Stop , Drop , and Role .
1 . STOP the Email Train
The pandemic has necessitated the use of emails as opposed to in-person meetings and created a preference for emails over telephone calls . Consequently , email trains are commonplace . Email trains are long trails of messages formed when emails are sent back and forth under the same subject line and accordingly grouped together . Email trains are useful in tracking the progression of a conversation . However , as an email train grows , there is an inadvertent tendency to become more casual in speech and skip the formalities of a greeting , closing , or punctuation . This is when a rapidly sent email may catch flame and become a rapid-fire email causing unnecessary discord .
To prevent a rapidly sent email from becoming a rapid-fire email , stop the email train . Best practices advise stopping the train when : a new subject is being discussed , a new recipient is added , or an overly casual tone has developed . Moreover , in any email train , avoid using the almighty “ Reply All ” button . While replying , “ Reply All ” should be used sparingly and only when necessary . As the Florida Bar ’ s Electronic Communication reminds us , email messages can all too easily be misconstrued as lacking “ courtesy and respect — two hallmarks of professionalism .” This in turn can lead to remarks “ that could be perceived as unethical , unprofessional , defamatory or prejudicial .” Therefore , stop the email train to prevent a rapid-fire email from breaking out .
2 . DROP a Line
Social-distancing holds hostage our most effective means of communication — in-person meetings . According to former FBI hostage negotiator and author Chris Voss , seven percent of meaning is communicated through spoken word , 38 % through tone of voice , and a whopping 55 % through body language . Thus , delivery or receipt of thought via email may lack up to 100 % of its intended meaning . It comes as no surprise , therefore , why the Florida Bar ’ s Electronic Communication states emails are “ not a good substitute for face-to-face contact .” While we can ’ t always conduct in-person meetings , we can drop a digital line of communication when a rapid-fire email breaks out . With a telephone call , we gain 45 % of a communication ’ s intended
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