Communication Tools

GMAIL

• Email is a vital form of communication, best used when requesting information or responding to an inquiry where the conversation does not require an instant response.  Due to the nature of work at Dorian, branches and departments are constantly in motion and efficiency is a priority.  As much as a phone call may be preferred, choosing to use email may be a better option.

• One main advantage of using email is to have a clear and concise record of your communication with others.  Emails can be archived and used as a reference down the road whereas a phone call can be misremembered or the details discussed are forgotten.  

• Another aspect of email that is advantageous is the ability to send a single message to a group of people.  You can also create groups in which you may need to communicate information often to the same people.  Often times information will be given to a department or branch manager and in turn they can send out that information to their group in a quick and effective manner.

• Email should not universally replace face to face conversations or telephone conversations with accounts as our relationship with them is important to our success.

• Due to the length of time between emails and responses, it is not an effective tool to use where live conversations are a must.  Those instances are likely better suited to use Google Meet or Hangouts.  When sensitive or relational matters are being discussed, the best communication method is face to face conversation.  It can be helpful to summarize the points of those conversations in a follow up email to the participants so there is documentation that can be resourced at a later time.

Norms and Etiquette

• Use proper subject lines and structure.  Emails should contain subject lines that summarize the main idea and include specific details in a concise manner.  They should not be a single word and should invite the receiver to open the email document.

• Carbon copy all who may have a part to play or may be affected by the request or change.  When replying to a group email, reply only to the sender unless your response needs to be heard by the group.  

• Greetings at the beginning of the email help recognize the recipient.  These should be brief and personal with a professional tone.  Greetings can range with a hope things are going well to a comment about current events that are mutually recognized.

• Always use positive language.  Avoid negative words like never, failed, defective, cannot, etc.  These words can assume blame or accuse the email recipient.  If there is an issue at hand, provide solutions so we are focused on finding a mutually beneficial outcome.  If you do get an email that upsets you, take 24 hours to compose a response rather than immediately sending a reaction.

• Keep your email on point.  Try not to be long winded or disorganized.  Recipients will fully read and understand an email if it is organized and easy to read.  Be considerate of others by making your message clear and direct.

• Keep your inbox organized and free of spam/clutter.  A good practice is to archive emails in folders and leave only those messages in your inbox that still require action or a response.  This ensures that you do not miss important correspondence and will have a task list built in.  Once the discussion is finished or resolved it can be moved to an appropriate place for future reference.

• Reply to your emails in a timely manner.  Set aside two times a day during the busy parts of the year to respond to emails.  Emails that require a response should be answered within 24 hours.

• If you are on vacation or if there is an extended leave of absence where you will not be able to respond to emails, activate the auto response so the sender does not feel ignored.

• You can configure a “send delay” which gives you a small grace period to cancel the send. This is useful to fix missing attachments, reply-all, or missing recipients.

Sites

• Google Sites allows you to create a hub for information a team can use as a resource.  There is even a Sites app that can be used on your phone to retrieve or reference information quickly and easily.  

• Content can be shared specifically with certain people or groups of people which allows the content to remain within the Dorian family.  Multiple people are able to work on adding and refining content within Sites and changes can be viewed live by all participants.

• At Dorian, we have content that is organized clearly and helpful for many departments. 

Norms and Etiquette

• The information collected and organized should serve as truth.  This requires information to be updated as things change in certain areas.

• When information becomes obsolete, remove it from Sites to keep it free of unnecessary clutter

• Everyone in the field should have the Sites App on their phone to quickly get answers to questions pertaining to their event

• Share and give permissions to Sites with only those who need it. 

• Sites should not be used for direct or immediate communication.  It is best used as a hub for guidelines, instruction, documentation as truth, and as a resource. 

Organization and content

Branch Resources - includes information on job prep, equipment, Timestone functions, Schoolpix instruction, shipping, pre-season process (id packets, inventory, specialty badges, backprint, etc.),  and directories

Photography - includes information on undergrad and undergrad green screen, class group, personality portraits, activity, panos, cap and gown, volume senior, candid's

Employee Resources - includes salaried employees, hourly employees, managers, and travel

Office Managers - includes data, scheduling, accounts, and later orders & remakes

Yearbook - includes both Dorian and Walters published versions as well as resources ranging from the welcome kit, advisor info, design, community, accounting, mail chimp, and sales & marketing

Sales and Marketing - includes brand guidelines, model releases, sales materials, and account information

Meetings - includes information on past biannual meetings, sales meetings, committee meetings, lab meetings, and yearbook meetings 

Drive

• At Dorian Studio, we use Google Drive extensively, including Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and Sights.  Drive is an ideal cloud-based long term storage and syncing service.

• Google Drive is built on a set of shared tools and built-in integrations with Google's suite of products and services.  Not only does it allow our employees to create and edit documents, but it’s also equipped with intuitive tools that allow for real-time collaboration amongst peers.  

• As employees, we can view a document in three different modes: Editing, Suggesting, and Viewing. Editing is self-explanatory; it allows anyone to have full editing rights to the document.  Suggesting puts collaborators' changes in brackets, which the document owner can accept or not. Viewing simply shows the final edited document. 

Norms and Etiquette

• Check permissions on your document:  Before sharing a document, be sure you have set appropriate permissions to the audience you intend to collaborate with.  If your document has sensitive information, set the permissions appropriately so only specific users can view it.

• Use Google Drive to perform document searches:  Drive is the ideal application for searching documents, it contains the hierarchical folder structure to search across all Google applications.  

• Avoid long comment chains:  Google applications are a wonderful platform for collaborative dialogue amongst peers; however, if you find yourself adding onto an already long comment chain, it’s probably best to have a real-time conversation with that individual. 

Calendar

• Google Calendar is a vital aspect to keeping the ebbs and flows of events organized throughout the year.  Multiple calendars can be created and shared among all personnel in the company.  Branches typically create a new calendar each school year to keep each year separate.

• We also use the calendar to invite people to meetings and photo shoots.  When an event is added to the calendar, include notes and details about the event before sharing so the recipient is aware of the task at hand.  Recipients are also able to accept or decline invitations so the organizer/sender is aware of who will attend.

• On the branch level, when scheduling dates for schools, Dorian is able to roll over calendars from previous years to give the branch a head start on the following years schedule.  All of the notes roll over with the event as well so we have information as to what was done the previous year.  The rollover calendar won’t be 100% perfect and some massaging of dates will be necessary, but it will cut down the workload immensely. 

Norms and Etiquette

• When scheduling a photo event for a school/customer, be sure to use the proper naming convention.  Example: UG Mannion MS ORG; ACT Shadow Ridge HS Baseball/Softball; GRAD Green Valley HS 12th; GRAD Judith Steele ES KIN/5th

• When inviting photographers to events, ask them to notify their supervisor if they cannot make it to an event instead of just declining the invitation.  This is important during the busy season so there is as much time to find a replacement as possible.  Otherwise, if the decline goes unnoticed, the event might be short staffed

• For photo events, leave the event as ‘all day’ until it is confirmed.  The arrival and start times should be listed in the notes.  When an event is ‘all day’ it will appear as a solid box on the calendar which will indicate a confirmation is needed.  Once the event is confirmed, switch it to a timed event so there is no solid box around it on the calendar indicating we are ready for the day.

• Use the calendar to schedule time for other activities too such as sales calls, holidays, school vacation or days off, the last day of school, etc.

• When scheduling a meeting, use the calendar to prepare participants such as adding pertinent supporting documents as attachments or links to google drive

• Adding an agenda for the meeting in the notes field so everyone involved will know what will be discussed in the conversation   

Meet

• Google Meet is an intelligent and secure communications tool, built for team collaboration. From direct messages to team chat rooms, Hangout makes team communication easy and efficient.

• To facilitate real-time communication amongst employees that may not work in the same area, Google Hangout offers 3 unique collaborative channels.

  • • Direct Messaging:  This is a conversation between two people who are directly messaging.  It’s effective when asking a quick question.

    • Group Messaging:  Chat directly with a group. For example, use group conversations to have a quick discussion following a meeting.

    • Chat Rooms:  A central place where people can share files, assign tasks, and stay connected.  The ability of having multiple threads is a powerful feature of Chat Rooms.  

Norms and Etiquette

• When sending a direct message, keep the conversation condensed:  If a longer conversation is required, a more appropriate medium like email or a phone call is encouraged.  

• Don't SHOUT (all caps) or use too many emoticons.

• Be patient and don't assume a colleague is available just because the person's status indicates he or she is logged on.

• Make sure to end Hangouts sessions with a clear sign-off message. This avoids any potential misunderstandings between communicating parties.