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                                LEADING WITH E-COMMUNICATIONS
                      CHAPTER 5
                      FIGURE 5-1 E-communications
                                             E-communications


                                                   Email                            69
                                                   Web
                                                  Webchat
                                                 Voicemail


                      contact will do. You can follow up a coaching session or a team meeting with
                      an email, but only after the personal connection has been made.



                      FORMING THE LEADERSHIP E-MESSAGE
                      Email facilitates the day-to-day commerce of an organization. It is used for
                      this purpose in nearly every organization. Since people receive so much email
                      (50 to 100 emails per day is common), you need to be selective. Choose your
                      moments.
                          The leadership message, as always, must be rooted in the values of the
                      organization and must be of significance to the recipient. It must be designed
                      to further a sense of trust. Therefore, keep the messages consistent with your
                      culture and your values. When Jack Welch used email to keep in touch with
                      employees, it was an outgrowth of his habit of sending written personal notes. 2
                          Here are some examples of effective leadership emails and their purposes:

                          Furthering the vision

                             Our vision challenges us to undertake some exciting new opportuni-
                             ties. We can be the organization we all want to be. Let me tell you
                             how . . .

                          Amplifying the mission

                          •  We are a people-centric organization. We attribute our success to
                             your contributions. Let me take this opportunity to recognize some
                             key contributors.
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