Module 2a — Office
Correspondence
and Records
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One message, two approaches
Let’s say you are interested in introducing a new practice in your department: putting up whiteboards outside all offices for everyone to indicate their presence or absence. This is bound to be acceptable to some but not to others. For example, you might think this is a good way to let people know where you are when you’ve stepped out of the office. However, others might see the whiteboards as a way of keeping track of people’s movements or instituting an unwelcome level of control over staff members.
Now suppose you suggest this idea to your supervisor in an email. If you knew your supervisor was already interested in this idea or had complained about not knowing where people were when they were out of the office, then you have some context to guide the organization of your ideas. You could begin simply by stating your main point.
The following diagram indicates a direct approach to this type of email:
Now consider that you were writing the same email to someone who might be more hostile to the idea. This diagram reveals a more indirect approach to conveying your message.