Effective Communication: DO NOT WRITE USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!

Avoid writing your E-mail messages in capital letters. It gives the readers the impression that you are shouting at them.

A number of years ago I managed a group
of technical consultants. One of them was
a stereotype techie propeller-head genius.
He was a whiz with computers but not a
very good communicator.

He often sent me E-mail that distressed me. The way the words appeared on my screen emphasized a negative side to the message that was not intended.

Example:

  “WAYNE - YOU ALWAYS WANT ME TO PROVIDE WEEKLY STATUS REPORTS AND I NEVER HAVE TIME TO WRITE THEM. DON’T YOU THINK THAT ONE A MONTH IS ENOUGH?”

The message in this example gave me the impression that he was angry with me, and that I was unreasonable for expecting regular status reports. I almost responded with:

NO, I DON’T THINK ONCE A MONTH IS ENOUGH!!!  JUST DO IT.

For some reason, sentences written in capital letters seem to attack the reader, regardless of the words used. Capital letters seem harsh in a sentence. Compare the first example to the one below.

“Wayne - You always want me to provide weekly status reports and I never have time to write them. Don’t you think one a month is enough?”

When I walked over to his desk to find out why he was so angry with me, I discovered a smiling, likable employee who loved his job and was brimming with enthusiasm. He had just calculated the time it took to complete a status report, and he had a wonderful idea how he could make the company more profitable by reducing the number of status reports and using the extra time to work on billable projects.