Those Who Fail to Respond to Your Email

In the last tip, I discussed working with a boss who was non-communicative. In this tip, I will cover those who fail to respond to your emails, or whose response is so short and curt that it is unhelpful. These situations can frustrate you, hurt your morale and/or potentially disrupt your work. A repeated lack of response (or a poor response) to your emails from a supervisor could occur for a variety of reasons including:

Inbox Overload: Supervisors often receive a high volume of emails and simply miss or forget to respond to some.

Triage Mindset: They may prioritize urgent or high-level matters and unintentionally deprioritize emails they see as routine or not requiring an immediate response.

Slipped Their Mind: They may have read your email and meant to come back to it but never did because they became busy or sidetracked and simply forgot.

Conflict Avoidance: If the topic is difficult, unclear, or sensitive, some supervisors may procrastinate responding.

Lack of Awareness of Impact: Some supervisors may underestimate how important their response is to your work, or they may not realize their lack of response is hurting your morale.

Disengagement or Poor Leadership: In some cases, a lack of response can be a sign of disengagement, disorganization, or poor leadership and communication habits.

 Here are a few ideas to help you deal with a lack of response to your emails from someone who should know better:

Follow-Up Thoughtfully: Wait a day or two, depending on the urgency, and then send a short, polite follow-up email.

Check Before You Send: Before sending a follow-up (or another follow-up), review your original email to ensure it adheres to professional standards. Clear subject lines, concise content, and a polite tone. Well-crafted emails that respect the recipient's time and workload are more likely to garner a timely response.

Ask a Question: While I try to respond to every email, even if it’s just to say “thanks” to indicate I received it, some people only respond to questions. So, if you didn’t ask a clear question in your initial email to which you received no response, follow up with a question—even if the question simply asks if they received your last email.

Polite and Clear: Keep your follow-up emails concise, clear, and polite. 

Make it Easy to Respond: Use clear subject lines. Some people browse subject lines and delay responding to things they filter out as not requiring an immediate response.

Consider Alternative Methods of Communication: Some people have a preference for phone calls or in-person meetings over emails. If you don’t get the response you seek from email, consider alternative forms of communication.

Don’t Take It Personally: People are busy, and even well-meaning people miss things (like your email). Some are clueless about email etiquette (good etiquette always requires a professional and timely response). And some are just poor communicators.

TIP: To effectively manage a lack of email responses or short, unhelpful responses, start with concise, clear, and polite follow-ups. If there is still no response or the short response is still unhelpful, consider alternative communication methods like phone calls or in-person meetings. 

 BONUS TIP: Don’t be one of the supervisors mentioned above who fails to respond to emails. Poor communication or a lack of communication from supervisors (even by email) impacts trust, hurts morale, and feels disrespectful.