Sabine: Hey Mason, how is your first week in Research and Development going? Is Rahim in charge of your onboarding?

Mason: Yeah, Rahim is the best, he has taught me so much already! I’m getting really good at data entry and report generation. I’ve even sent a few reports to other departments, and some external clients! I was so worried I would make a mistake that I checked every email like 10 times!

Sabine: I’m here to talk to Mason about some external emails he has sent. He thinks he’s doing so well… and now I have to tell him that he has made some errors. I don’t want to destroy his confidence, but having good email etiquette is really important, especially when dealing with our clients…

Conor: Mason is so enthusiastic, he is really motivated to do a good job! But… he is inexperienced. He is doing this traineeship so he can learn, learn, learn! And, well, mistakes are all part of learning!

Welcome to today’s episode of Talking on the job. My name is Conor and I’m your host and business English mentor. I’m here to help you deal with some common challenges that you might face in the workplace. And we’ll be doing all of this in English! A fitting title for today’s episode would be, Reply All?

Sabine needs to find a way to share her experience and advice with Mason. She wants him to learn how to use email in a professional and discrete manner. That is, how to pay close attention to detail, and only share the right amount of information with the right people. Not always easy, right? Let’s help her out!

First, Sabine should start by telling Mason how well he is doing in his tasks. People are often more accepting of criticism if you first say the things they are doing well. Then she needs to tell Mason what he has done wrong.

Sabine: Well, I hear you are doing great work in data entry and report generation. I wanted to talk to you about the email you sent to our investment banking client this morning.

Conor: Second, Sabine should explain that everyone makes mistakes and this is how we learn. After all, very few people do everything right all the time!

Sabine: Well first, you should know that everyone makes mistakes. This time the mistake was not serious...

Conor: Third, Sabine should show empathy. That is, she should try to put herself in Mason’s shoes, and show that she understands how he feels.

Sabine: I remember one time, back in my first job, I was asked to send an email to…

Conor: Fourth, Sabine could try giving Mason some tips on how to avoid making the same mistake again. Just pointing out the mistakes is easy. But giving the person tools and tricks to help them improve shows that you really believe they’ll do better next time.

Sabine: If I were you, I would…

Conor: Or

Sabine: My advice would be to slow down and carefully read each email…

Conor: Shall we see how Sabine communicates all of this to Mason? Let’s go!

Mason: I’ve even sent a few emails to other departments and external clients! I was so worried I would make a mistake, I checked every email like 10 times!

Sabine: Well, I hear you are doing great work in data entry and report generation. I, ehm, wanted to talk to you about the email you sent to our investment banking client this morning.

Mason: Oh, ok? Eh, hmmm, did I, did I do something wrong?

Sabine: Well first, you should know that everyone makes mistakes. This time the mistake was not serious. Ehm, I, I want you to do well here, so I would like to teach you a few things about email etiquette, or how to best use email for internal and external communication.

Mason: Ok!

Sabine: Mmm, ehm, if you remember, the client requested three different reports to be sent separately to three different department heads. The client had copied in, or cc’d the other department heads in their email.

Mason: Yeah, I thought I would save time and attach the three reports and select reply all to that email. I guess that was not the right move?

Sabine: You guessed right. This investment bank has very strict information sharing protocol, even between departments – they have what’s called an ethical wall. It protects the different departments from conflicts of interest. Sometimes, because of sensitive or secret information, only certain people are allowed to know certain things.

Mason: Oh! And I sent those reports to everybody! Oh, I’m really sorry.

Sabine: As I said, this time there was no sensitive information in the reports, so no harm done.

Ok, before I go through the guidelines, let me tell you a funny story. I remember one time, back in my first job, I was asked to send an email to a really important client. I drafted the perfect email…

Conor: I’m going to put up my own ethical wall here and let Sabine tell her story to Mason, in private.

Mason: Hahahahaha, ok that must have been really embarrassing!

Sabine: It really was. But I never made that mistake again!

Mason: So what do you advise me to do here?

Sabine: Well, my advice would be to slow down, and carefully read each email and any extra instructions. Hmm, I would also pay attention to who is copied or cc’d in the email. I usually ask myself three questions before replying: does my reply contain sensitive or confidential information? Does everybody have permission to see this information? And does everybody need to see this information?

Mason: Ok, got it! Thanks for being so understanding.

Sabine: No problem, I know I don’t work in R&D, but I’m always here if you need me.

Conor: Well, I’m glad Mason has an experienced mentor like Sabine, to help him learn about good email etiquette! How about you? Have you ever made a mistake with emails? Did you learn from that mistake?

Some companies have their own set of rules for using email. You should check if your workplace has any. If not, how about coming up with your own guidelines? Share them with your team and see what they think!

Happy emailing!