Today, I realized that emoticons have become part of the accepted business lexicon. Or at least part of the written business communication. For example, I received four emails, just today, with smileys. Gone are the days of misinterpreted messages in the office.
In days past, the boss merely yelled at the employee. The message was clear, maybe a bit blue, but the employee had no mixed messages. After being yelled at for fifteen minutes, sometimes salted with earthy metaphors, the message was definitely understood.
Today, the message is a bit, well, multi-layered. "Johnson, you screwed up the Kraggstaff account! :-)" has a bit different tone to it. Kraggstaff may not be pleased with the work level, but at least it's service with a smile.
All in all, the more conversational, softer communication is for the best. We should treat each other with grace and kindness - at home, in the marketplace and everywhere in between. My only request is that, in our quest to find the balance between brutal honesty and political correctness, we don't lose the ability to simply communicate.
Until next time! ;-)
2 comments:
This is sooooooooooo true! I use emoticons all the time in my business emails. I always try to soften the toughness that can come across in my words. Funny how it's becoming more and more acceptable.
I don't know if it's such a good thing to use in business messages where the meaning needs to be as clear as possible. ;)
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