Almost every business professional I know can name at least one employee whom they perceive adds little value to achieving company vision and/or team goals. I am referring to that person whose emails you ignore, whose phone calls you send to voicemail, and whose meetings you avoid.
Whether that perception is right or wrong, it’s usually because that person has a history of delivering non-value-added content. In other words, if you constantly share information that has little value for your intended audience, at some point, you will be seen as a person with little to offer professionally. Being labeled as such hinders your ability to thrive in your career.
In an effort to avoid this situation and become the person who people look forward to hearing from, there are a few simple things you can do. First, you have to understand that it is up to you — the person delivering the message — to ensure that the message is understood. Every time you communicate with someone, take responsibility for your message.
Deliver Error-Free Content
When you send any message, make sure it is well-written and clear of errors. It seems like a simple concept, but think about how often you come across a message with mistakes. How do you perceive the author? Do you even feel like reading it to the end? A message riddled with mistakes takes away from its effectiveness.
Sometimes people send messages from their phones with a line at the end that says something to the effect of, “Sent from my phone. Please forgive my errors.” The days where that explanation is acceptable are long gone. We can no longer blame a phone (or any other program) for improper communication. Sometimes we’re focusing on multiple things at once, and we make mistakes. That’s understandable. However, if we took the time to double check our work, we would easily avoid sending messages with mistakes.
