A full-fledged professional decided to respond, by e-mail, to a rather abusive request from an important client, denying him the possibility of his company fulfilling that request and explaining why. The client returned the e-mail the same day, with a copy to his direct boss, stating that if the company could not fulfill something he really wanted, then he would cancel the contractThis message went to the president, who "cut the professional's head off" after the client chose to close the contract with another supplier.

In a second situation, a junior professional witnessed a colleague in a situation where he was debauching and laughing behind the back of an elderly client. She decided to "take revenge" for the lady by criticizing him in front of the team. She just did not consider that this colleague was the nephew of one of the partners of the company. The next day, a "birdie" had kindly reported the whole discussion to the area director, whoinvited the junior professional - recently hired - to withdraw from the business.

In the third situation, a physician chose to accept a position in a private company, after years of career serving in ICUs. His nightmare at the beginning of the transition was knowing how to respond to e-mails and whom to copy. Because he did not have this corporate "code" well in mind yet, he sometimes copied several people on subjects that were not pertinent or he copied no one, creating conflicts thatThey took him to his boss's office for an unpleasant "alignment" talk, from which he came out treading on eggshells.

Stay away from traps

E-mail does not come with the sender's intonation, and we know that some delicate matters must be handled carefully and assertively, without leaving room for speculation. It is great for short, direct and informative messages, but should never be used in conflict situations, unless one of the parties is refusing to see the other personally. Even so, the attemptof arranging a face-to-face meeting must be done, because they have not yet invented a virtual medium that reproduces the feeling of being face to face, eye to eye, with an open heart for a good conversation.

Among those in leadership positions, a common mistake is to ask employees to contribute to some new idea or project, and when they give their opinions, they simply disregard it, claiming that "It won't work" or "We've tried that in the past" or "I like idea Y better" (which they themselves happened to have come up with). When we ask the team for help, we should listen to everyone.generously, without interrupting them, so as not to risk inhibiting their future collaboration.

And what about professionals who believe they need to say everything they think, in order to be sincere and sleep in peace? Even today I am amazed when I receive clients who criticize impulsively because "they were being sincere", without considering the point of view of the listener and without foreseeing the disastrous results of such naivety. The result: they treat their colleagues as if they were incapableThey then complain about the consequences and do not accept to pay the price for this act. Sincerity has its limits! A client told me that he lost two promotions because he liked to think that he was the only one in his department who "spoke the truth".

Business Communication is an art, and needs to be developed like all other skills.

A basic rule of Business Communication is: "praise in public, criticize in private" (even the constructive ones). One should not expose one's peers for several reasons, the first being lack of professional ethics. The second reason would be to incur in injustice, due to the lack of capacity that we all have, in a short period of time, to know all the factors that led that person toLiving as adults requires us to make conscious choices. And it requires the ability to know the right time to speak and the right time to be silent. Sometimes silence speaks more!