Think Before You Press Send: Jeffers Urges Greater Care in Workplace Communication

The convenience of firing off an email in seconds should not replace good judgment, management consultant Vernon A. Jeffers Sr. has warned, as he calls for greater care over what employees send, who receives it and the tone used to deliver the message.

In the latest edition of his Thursday Thoughts with Vernon series, titled “Think Before You Press Send,” Jeffers argues that while modern technology has made workplace communication faster and easier, it has not necessarily made it better.

Jeffers, Founder and Leading Director of Jewels Management & Consultancy Inc., said employees should carefully consider whether a message is necessary and who genuinely needs to receive it before hitting send.

Particular attention, he said, should be paid to the widespread practice of copying senior managers and other colleagues into emails.

Jeffers noted that when an employee writes directly to a supervisor but copies the General Manager, Managing Director or a board member, it can create the impression that the matter is being escalated — even when that was not the sender’s intention.

It may also be interpreted as a lack of confidence in the immediate supervisor’s ability to resolve the issue.

He acknowledged, however, that escalation is sometimes necessary, particularly in situations involving urgency, risk, accountability or repeated unsuccessful attempts to resolve a problem.

The management consultant also cautioned against routinely using the “Reply All” function, saying a message intended for one person should not automatically become a wider conversation involving everyone originally included in the email.

Beyond deciding who should receive a message, Jeffers stressed that tone can be just as important as the words themselves.

Emails written in frustration, he observed, can appear harsher than intended because written communication does not carry the facial expressions or tone of voice present in face-to-face conversations.

When emotions are running high, Jeffers suggested that the better option may sometimes be not to respond immediately. Instead, employees can step away, reread the message later and consider whether a telephone call or face-to-face discussion would resolve the issue more effectively.

He said effective communication should ultimately be measured not by the number of messages sent or the speed of a response, but by whether the communication creates clarity, strengthens relationships and helps move matters towards resolution.

Before pressing send, Jeffers encouraged people to ask themselves whether the message is necessary, whether the tone is appropriate, whether it is being sent to the right person and whether everyone copied genuinely needs to be included.
His message concludes with a simple reminder about the lasting impact of workplace communication: an email may take only seconds to send, but the impression it creates can remain much longer.
“Communicate clearly. Communicate respectfully. Communicate with purpose,” Jeffers wrote, before reinforcing his central message: think before pressing send.