Let’s email each other like humans 💌
Last month, we talked about how to create pretty work. As an employer of humans and a human who earns a living by working FOR other humans, I know that pretty work is a great way to stand out at your job.
The "work" reason to do it is because it shows care and craftsmanship (which then underscores your value to the humans in charge).
The meaningful reason to do it is because it makes what you create feel yours, more pleasant, and more human.
I think a lot about that last bit - feeling human - and how it fits into work.
For us (I run a boutique communications and strategy agency in Amsterdam), it’s important because humans write articles. Humans organize conferences. Humans judge awards. Humans follow social media channels and join Discord servers and buy products and choose vendors.
So I coach us to remember that no matter what we do, or post, or pitch, we’re still talking to humans.
This “we are all humans” rule should apply to ALL communications, but does anyone else feel like it doesn’t really….happen at work? 😬
To be fair. It can be hard to remember that people we interact with at (or for our work) ARE human. We don’t really "see" the people we email or DM or ping or [insert Gen-Z verb here for message]. They're an icon, an email address, a sassy username, a pithy bio. They're a gatekeeper, a decision-maker, an unresponsive inbox, a blue "read" receipt.
And, even if you bring warmth and humanity to YOUR communications, you won't always get a human, empathetic, well-thought-out response. You might not get a response at all.
So why do it? Churning out a quick note is faster (especially if you're evaluated in any way on emails sent, not on the effectiveness of those emails.)
