I was talking with a director who was aggravated about an email he received covering a number of issues. He assumed the writer had bcc’d someone else and it affected how he viewed the content as well as the writer of it.
Did he know the person’s true intent? He decided the best course of action was to talk directly with the email writer (instead of emailing back) to get a clear sense for where they were coming from and what the issues were. He was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. No hidden agenda. Instead, a genuine interest in making things better.
Now he’s moving forward with a more open mind about the person and their concerns. A direct conversation is much better than email trails that can lead to misunderstandings and assumptions.
How much energy do you spend stewing about assumptions you’re making? The quick route of responding to email with email can cause problems we don’t intend.
