Change happens one conversation at a time. Not one flyer, impact report, or infographic at a time.
As a writer, I have a bias toward written communication. I believe in the power of language and visuals (which I now consider part of “writing”) to sway audiences, shift perspectives, and spur innovation.
And I recognize that any communication product I create plays just a small role in the overall process of moving research from peer review into practice.
It takes live conversations to form, build, and nurture relationships, and those relationships are what will ultimately mobilize knowledge.
As I’ve said many times: we’re not really mobilizing knowledge; we’re mobilizing people.
That’s where email comes in, and it plays a more critical role than many knowledge mobilizers realize.
For example, the quality of your email communication could determine whether:
- Your priority audience reads the report you spent weeks writing
- You get a meeting with the decision-maker you need to move your project forward
- Your project team members follow through on the commitments they’ve made
- Your ideal community partner agrees to attend a presentation about your research
Each email you write is an opportunity to build up a relationship or subtly erode it. If people don’t respond to your messages, or don’t reply promptly, then you might be operating on some mistaken assumptions, which could be undercutting your knowledge mobilization efforts.
Here are six misassumptions about email that could be gumming the gears of your KMb strategy:
#1. People trust you enough to open your email.
Have you noticed how the caller ID function has changed the behavior of phone users? Many people won’t pick up a call coming from a number they don’t recognize.
A similar trend is happening with email. If you’re reaching out to someone you haven’t met, try to get a warm e-introduction from a mutual acquaintance.
Or if the person is active on LinkedIn, approach them first through that platform, where they can check out your profile before they decide whether to engage with you.
#2. People will read your email because they’re expecting it.
Just because someone “should” read your email doesn’t mean they will. This applies to committee members, partners, and even managers. It’s your job to convince them that opening your message is worth their while.
Take the time to craft a clear, descriptive subject line synced up with your audience’s interests. Sometimes I spend almost as much time on the subject line as I do on the body of the message.
#3. People will read your first message.
I no longer assume that a busy decision-maker will respond to my first message. When I send the first message, I also set myself a reminder to send a follow-up a few days or a week later. (There are also tools to automate this habit.)
While you don’t want to hound your audience, in most cases, you can safely send a couple of follow-ups without offending anyone. You may even find, as I have, that some people will thank you for bringing an important subject back to the top of their inbox.
#4. People will read your entire message.
Pay careful attention to your subject line, your first paragraph, and your final paragraph—because that’s all many of your readers will read.
It’s critical to state your purpose as early in your message as you can manage so you show why it’s worth the audience’s effort to keep reading. Be sure to answer the question “Why should I care?”
#5. People will read your message on a desktop or laptop.
More and more, we’re consuming emails, along with websites and social media, on our phones. To make your email phone-friendly, use short sentences and paragraphs.
Forget what you’ve learned about academic-style paragraphing: the one-liner and two-liner paragraph is now expected in emails and direct messages.
#6. Short is always better.
You’ve worked hard to get your audience to open your email and to show them, right up front, why they should keep reading. Don’t let that hard-won attention go to waste by undercommunicating.
When you undercommunicate, you leave the audience with questions, which means they’re missing information they need to make a decision or take action. As a result, you require them to write back to you, asking for more information.
No one loves a make-work project. Make it easy for your audience to respond by giving them everything they need to do what you want them to do.
That doesn’t mean turning your email into a treatise. You can include information through hyperlinks and attachments. You can also make a long message easy to skim by “chunking” the content, using subheadings and lists.
#7. Direct questions are pushy.
Nope. If you want your email audience to do something, then, as they say in the business world, you must “make the ask.”
Many people treat their inbox as their to-do list. If a message doesn’t indicate an action for them to take, they don’t really know what to do with it.
Make your questions clear and easy to spot. I recommend putting a question in its own paragraph or at the end of a short paragraph so it stands out visually on the page. (The question mark symbol flags attention, just as an emoji would.)
You may also want to bold your question. Or if you’re looking for a quick reply, consider phrasing it so all it requires from the reader is a “yes” or “no.”
Whatever you do, don’t leave the question implied. While that may seem the polite thing to do, it actually creates work and frustration for your reader, and that’s not the stuff strong relationships are made of.
What email misassumptions have you bumped up against through your work as a knowledge mobilizer?
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