Discretion is Critical in Business E-mail Communications

Discretion:

• Freedom to act or judge on one’s own
• Knowing how to avoid embarrassment or distress
• Refined taste; tact
• The power of making free choices unconstrained by external agencies
• The trait of judging wisely and objectively

O.K., so based on the above, one can easily surmise how much discretion comes into play when it comes to your business e-mail activities. Just a few examples off the top of my head of not using discretion when on the job:

• Forwarding a private e-mail sent to you by a coworker to others without the sender’s knowledge.
• Forwarding “warm and fuzzy” e-mails that state to “Send to Everyone You Know” using your business e-mail address.
• Sending attachments without the courtesy of asking first or confirming preferred file format.
• Using company e-mail lists to ask who stole your lunch out of the break room.
• Using company e-mail to visit personal sites and send non-business related e-mails.

I can go on and on. When it comes to discretion, I do believe that those who fail to use their discretionary powers when using e-mail for business communications, are viewed as doing just that. Those who don’t think before they do, by using discretion, more times than not are perceived as lacking tech or business savvy, courtesy and in some cases credibility and education are brought into question.

With business e-mail, you need to consciously use your discretion at all times to ensure you are perceived as a consummate professional and one that associates, customers, clients and management alike appreciate, can trust and rely on and look forward to communicating with.

Discretion could very well be one of the most important tools we have at our disposal to ensure we leave the impression we desire that is critical to our long term business success. Don’t you agree?

Some More Info for You:

1. Emotional Formatting and Discretion in Business E-mails
2. Business E-mail Tone is Critical!
3. Forwarding Business E-mails
4. Business E-mail: Business is Business…
5. Business E-mail Forwarding Considerations