Page 200 - Using the Enneagram System to Identify and Grow Your Leadership Strengths and Achieve Maximum Success

Become an Excellent Communicator 175

the firm’s chief operating officer, Ken, regarding the directions and
logistics for a forthcoming meeting.

Greetings!
Unfortunately, Ken is out sick today. Gloria will forward
directions to the parking structure for our office. You are
scheduled for the Senior Staff meeting agenda tomorrow.
The Senior Staff consists of six seniors and myself, for a
total of seven.
Our Senior Staff meeting is scheduled to begin at 12:00
p.m. We are scheduled to have that meeting at one of the
local restaurants, so we’ll be walking. Plan on arriving at
11:55 a.m. I would allow 45 minutes to get here at that time
of day.
Martha

ANALYSIS Both e-mails get right to the point. Raymond acknowl-
edges the person who e-mailed him and says exactly what he, Ray-
mond, will do next—he will make contact with the recipient when
he is in San Francisco. Martha gives direct and precise answers—
what will happen next, who will do what, who will be at the meet-
ing, what time the meeting will begin, what time to arrive, and how
long the drive will be. Both e-mails contain complete, concise
information and are directive and action-oriented.
These e-mails contain no extra words and few pleasantries,
and both are no-nonsense. Still, they are friendly: Raymond says,
“Good to hear from you,” and Martha begins her e-mail with
“Greetings!” The directness of both e-mails results partly from
the sentence structure. Together, they contain eleven complete
sentences, nine of which use the same sentence structure—sub-
ject (noun) and predicate (verb), with very few adjectives or
adverbs.
Both Raymond and Martha could increase their awareness of
their Enneagram style communication patterns by rewriting their
e-mails following these guidelines: