A common practice in companies that try to reduce information overload is to provide to employees guidelines promoting proper e-mail etiquette (where by etiquette I mean crafting messages to be less disruptive, and more beneficial, to others: “Write clear subject lines” is about etiquette; “only process email twice a day” is not). These guidelines, though usually not sufficient to solve the problem, are certainly a useful component in a solution program; but it’s important to be crystal clear about their classification: are they Tips or Rules?
To illustrate:
Tip: Make your messages as short as possible.
Rule: No message in our company may exceed one screenful of text, unless it has a Management Summary at the top.
Tip: Avoid mailing to unduly large distribution lists.
Rule: Sending a message to “All Employees” requires approval from the Employee Communications coordinator.
Get it? A Tip, however beneficial, is optional; it’s a piece of heartfelt good advice. It can’t be enforced, since it can’t really be measured (because who is to say what “unduly large”, or “short”, means?) A Rule, by contrast, is well defined and carries the authority of an edict.
The authority of Rules may come from the usual management structure – if the CEO decides that there will be no message beyond a certain length, that carries weight – but it can also come from a group “contract”, agreed to by the entire team in question and enforced by mutual expectations and peer pressure (“constructive feedback”, in corporate parlance).
The reason I write this here is because many managers confuse the two types of guidelines. Both have their use, but it is important that management be aware which is which, and what to expect of either kind. Setting a Rule is an added responsibility: you have to enforce it, or you’ll undermine your credibility. You also must make certain that it applies in all foreseeable cases, so nobody is forced to break it to get their job done. It is therefore best to pick only a few Rules and defend them vigorously. Tips are less formal and can be more numerous; their effect depends not on enforcement but on education and role modeling.
And whatever guidelines you use, here is a
Tip: Make sure they make good sense!
This article is a gem.
Managers often over-legislate their insights, and it sometimes happens when they have little understanding of the underlying principles. Another name for this post might have been Tips vs. Principles in fact because the single point of confusion leads to all kinds of errors.
Worthy of further exploration.