It’s bound to happen sooner or later. If you’re a newcomer to the IT world or a seasoned professional, this will happen several times in your career. Someone fires off an email on a Friday evening and oversteps their boundaries. They’re offering feedback or sharing frustration about you, your work, your team, and they’ve copied your boss. It literally ruins your entire evening or weekend. This has happened to me several times over the years. Many times, the feedback is subtle, but you pick-up on it like a sponge to water. I’ve employed multiple methods to deal with these situations and there is one thing that I can assure you of. If you fire off an email right away, you’ll wish you hadn’t. I know that human nature takes over. Your upset. You want to tell your side of the story. Be patient. You’ll get that chance. Take a moment to re-read the email. Make sure you understand what their perspective is, and wait. Over the years, almost every single time I’ve fired right back, I wished I hadn’t. It turns into an unprofessional back and forth email rant. If you do need to acknowledge the feedback, simply respond, “Thank you for the feedback. Can I stop by your office so we can speak in person on Monday?” This response shows a high level of maturity and professionalism. It gives you time to understand the person’s point of view and it shows that you are being genuine. We’ll cover the basics on what leads to these types of conflict in a later post but until then, just wait. I promise you, you’ll be glad you did.
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