Writing a mail - Time it
Memories Recollection Series - Episode 2
To be heard, one has to be vocal, a orator, and finally convincing too.
I am talking here about Ex-World Bank economist (1967-74), turned journalist, turned politician and philosopher Shri Arun Shourie. He was a BJP representative from UP, AND had two successive tenures in Rajya Sabha (1998-2004, and 2004-2010), and was a Minister for Disinvestment, Communication and Information Technology in Govt. of India under Prime Minister Late Sh Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Shri Arun Shourie was a World Bank economist, who came back to India when Emergency was promulgated in the country on 25th June 1975, and joined ranks and files to fight the draconian rule of law being misused at that time to curb civil liberties and he also relentlessly fought for freedom of press.
I remember, he used to write in the then daily newspaper Indian Express. The extraordinary feature of his writing, as I observed during those days in 1975-1990s, was he shall fearlessly assemble his facts, back it up with numbers, and build up his case step-by-step, that when he shall end up, one will just say, Wow!, that's remarkable, unbelievable, etc. In case you are looking for a template to put-up your case, have a look at some of his articles published around 1975-76 period.
He had a knack for timings his articles. He shall publish his articles either when the Parliament sessions were to begin, and/or when Parliament used to be in session. His articles shall bring storm in Parliament and Govt. of the day used to get embarrassed by the facts and revelations churned out by him.
Lessons for Executives
1. So, when you write, time your writings. if time is not an issue, one should raise an issue in a mail between Tuesday to Thursday around 11.30 hrs - 12 noon, or so.
The logic here is when your mail lands on desk top of recipients, they should be in office, should have been through their first cup of coffee, and your mail gets immediate attention. (Monday carries the backlog of previous week, and Friday, an executive is already half out at the week end, and has to be avoided, as far as possible)
2. Coordinate with other stake-holders (other Bankers and CDR officials in my case, for I served there for almost a decade) to curb any bickering, and have a smooth sailing at CDR forum when the account shall come up for open discussion at the floor of the house.
In case you know the stake-holders, talk to them beforehand to preempt them from any dissent at the public platform. In the current scenario, since CDR is shut down, this piece of advice is more relevant for accounts being handled now at NCLT, and accounts being handled at Joint-Lenders Meet (JLM) in Consortium accounts.
In case, you have to write a mail in respect of an issue not earlier discussed, one should first brief all stake-holders before hand and should send the mail, as far as possible, in the suggested time-slot, so that you have your way without making any one raise their eyebrows.
3. These rules shall also apply for other non-office communications , grievances too. In case you do not get the desired solution or do not get right response, send one reminder, give yourself another 3 days, and then address the follow-up communication to the MD/Chairman of the institution you are writing to. Use this waiting time to cull out email IDs/Mobile Nos. of Executives up the escalation matrix
If still nothing happens, call MD/Chairman secretariat and brief them about the case and request a solution at the earliest.
4. Since, now-a-days, one has to talk to Call Center, for addressing any grievance, take a note of time when you called, name of the person you spoke to, and say everything very frankly (this comes very handy when later on for some reasons, call records needs to be replayed for that day to know what exactly transpired between you and Call Center Executive that day on the subject matter). Follow-up after 3 days.
Keep Bull's eyes in mind when you write.