Best Practices for

EMAIL ETIQUETTE

• Reply to an email only if you are on the “To” line. No need to respond if you’re on the “cc” line.
• Subject lines should answer the question: “What I need from you.”
• Be clear about when a response to your email is expected.
• Write and answer emails with clarity so your message conveys exactly your point and clearly articulates the ask.
• Practice thoughtfulness over hastiness. Take the time to answer thoroughly, for both grammar and clarity.

Best Practices for

MEETING PROTOCOLS

• Send a meeting agenda in advance with expectations and follow up with meeting notes.
• Set expectations about cameras (on or off) in the calendar invitation.
• Remove proximity bias by having both an in-person and remote host and have them co-facilitate the meeting to remove potential disengagement of remote attendees.
• Leave time for thinking and processing when you ask a question and use the virtual chat tool during a hybrid meeting for everyone to brainstorm ideas and document their thoughts before you discuss as a group.
• For new hires, send them recordings or notes from previous five team meetings to expose them to your culture, priorities, and environment.

SUCCESSFULLY

NAVIGATING THE CONVERSATION

• Don’t focus on the risks of having a difficult conversation. Instead focus first on the risks of not having the conversation. Assess the costs of inaction.
• Think about the other person and put yourself in their shoes. What do they want? What are they thinking? What do they care about? This helps approach the conversation as a collaboration, not a confrontation.
• Establish what you both want to achieve in the conversation. Try to find a shared objective, which facilitates achieving consensus.
• Manage the other person’s emotions. Allow the other person to vent but don't react to everything they say. Decide what’s worth engaging in and what’s not.
• When a co-worker makes an inappropriate or unfair statement, ask them these questions: “What did you say?” Asking the person to repeat the statement often helps to make them realize the impact of what they said. “I know you to be someone who cares about equity, and what you just said implies that women don’t have a seat at the table. Is that what you meant?”

PRINCIPLES FOR

GETTING ALONG

• Remember your perspective is just one perspective. Make an effort to see and hear things from others’ perspectives.
• Be empathetic with yourself and others, which will allow you to integrate your perspective with different viewpoints.
• Beware what biases you are bringing to the relationship.
• In a difficult conversation, invite the other person to critique your idea.
• Instead of viewing a conflict as me vs them, come together on the same side of the table and face the conflict together.

from IMPROV

TO ACTION

• Listen to your audience with empathy, curiosity, and understanding before you offer concerns about budget, resources, and time.
• Listen to understand. Drop your agenda, lead with curiosity, shift your perspective.
• Align word choice and intention so your message is clear.

• Try to avoid answering with “No.” “No” kills ideas and engagement. There is no consensus in “no.” When you must say "no," be clear why it’s necessary.
• Modeling a “yes, and” mindset generates creative ideas, builds consensus faster, and creates a culture where everyone feels more empowered to contribute and more courageous in how they participate.