Most of us don’t work in worlds similar to the HBO TV series “Succession” where its characters freely engage in hurling F-bombs at each other and make it sound so sexy in the process. Doing that in the real working world can (and usually do) have consequences. However, there’s a way to say the same thing in a more professional, diplomatic way which will preserve your reputation, and may even make you look better than if you hurled the standard all-purpose F-bomb.
Mind you, this tactic shouldn’t be used/abused to take the offensive against your co-workers or management. This is should only be used to defend yourself when your co-workers are engaging in cavalier and/or unprofessional behavior, especially when they’re trying to influence management without your consent or participation.
Case in point: my client found himself in an email thread which consisted of other colleagues firing comments back and forth about how his department “should be” handling a particular task which is normally handled by another department; but that department was—unbeknownst to my client—undergoing some stress due to being overworked and understaffed, you know…the Corporate Way of doing business! Additionally, someone from another location chimed in that her department already does this task but failed to take into account that her department is sufficiently staffed to handle it.
This really upset my client as well as his direct reports (who are carrying quite a workload themselves). Tensions escalated and emotions were boiling…NOT the right time to compose a response to address this situation.
My client showed me his 1st draft, and as expected, it was really vicious and vehement; it would have been putting out a fire with gasoline and would have created a lot of ill will with his colleagues, as well as adding to an already stressed out environment.
So we gave it another day to let cooler heads prevail, as they say, and I came up with the following (which has been redacted accordingly for privacy reasons):
My client thought it was way better, and fired it across the electronic bow. It didn’t address anyone in particular but covered everyone’s snarky suggestions and challenged them to approach him directly if they had any opinions on how he should run his department (something which they were loath to do). He received a lot of positive feedback from his directs, and after a few days they’re still eagerly awaiting a response from the people he addressed. But in his situation, he’s not going to hold his breath.
The whole idea here was to foster communication between colleagues and departments. When people are stressed out due to overwork and/or limited resources, it’s classic behavior to go firing off emails about who should do what, but it’s not professional, nor respectful. Everyone’s situation is unique and should be reviewed accordingly as to how to manage their workload in the most effective way.
I hope you enjoyed this post and were able to get some valuable takeaways from it. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, please be careful of how you express yourself before you fire off that email. And if you need help with these types of situations, you can reach out to me at clientrepairman (at) gmail.com.