“Why do you do email support?” a new Samaritans volunteer asked me yesterday.
Providing emotional support on this communication medium has taught me so much.
I learned how to:
🍩 quickly get the gist of emails by skimming through 30 days of email thread, reading the back-and-forth messages between the writer and our volunteers (it’s almost never the same volunteer as the email goes into a pool). 📧
🍩 master our ‘listening wheel’ such as paraphrasing, summarising, clarifying by asking gentle open questions to encourage the writer to explore their feelings 👂
🍩 reframe situations to help the writer see things from a new perspective 👀
🍩 help the writer explore options on how to move forward in terms of what’s within their locus of control 🚘
As a project manager, these skills have been incredibly valuable.
For example, I always ask my team to cc me in every email conversation.
While I don’t always read everything in detail, I can skim through and get a general tone and energy of the thread – allowing me to quickly step in and de-escalate any potential situation before it happens.
I also got very good at writing emails that defuse potential high-conflict situation by reframing situations in ways that encourages problem solving through collaboration.
Written words truly have power to move us and to inspire us.
This is how I keep my finger on the pulse of my projects. 🩺
If you’re a project manager, how do you keep on top of the emotional tone and energy of your projects?