Instructions

Write three messages in response to the scenario below. Your messages should all be brief (roughly 75-200 words).

Scenario

You’ve recently left a meeting with your supervisor, Jamie Rosinsky. You’re feeling great. Jamie scheduled the meeting to inform you that you’ve been appointed to serve as the new lead for an important project team at XYZ Corp.

The outgoing project team lead, Allen Hart, is a friendly acquaintance and well-liked figure around the office, but Allen has pursued a project solution that, in your view, was misguided.

In your monthly meetings with your mentor, Sylvia Menendez, you’ve frequently expressed respectful reservations about Allen’s approach. These comments have clearly impressed Sylvia, who, as Jamie noted during your meeting, played a leading role in advocating for your appointment to this new position.

Writing Task #1

You’re incredibly grateful to Sylvia. You therefore return to your desk and write Sylvia a note of thanks. In your note, you aim to express sincere, dignified gratitude to Sylvia while continuing to deepen your professional relationship.

Identify the writing medium you’ve chosen for this task (email, singing telegram, letter, handwritten note, memo, etc.) and write your message of gratitude.

Writing Task #2

While writing your message of thanks, you begin strategizing your next major communication. At your recent meeting, Jamie informed you that she had already spoken to Allen about the leadership change but wanted you and Allen to decide:

· Who would communicate this change to project team members

· Whether Allen would stay on the team as an advisor

Ordinarily, you would swing by Allen’s office to discuss these questions in person. But Allen is out of office on an extended business trip. You therefore use the Outlook scheduling assistant to identify free time in Allen’s schedule and send him a calendar invite for a 30-minute phone conversation. In the body of the invitation, you seek to establish the tone and set the agenda for this conversation.

You want to keep your message short. But you also want to specify the questions you’d like to discuss; express your admiration and respect for Allen; and encourage him to stay on the team in an advisory role. Write your message, complete with a meeting name (rather than a subject line).

Writing Task #3

After speaking with Allen later that day, you’re ready to communicate with the larger project team. Allen has agreed to stay on the team in an advisory capacity: he’ll attend meetings and provide input whenever asked but will otherwise steer clear of team business.

Additionally, you and Allen agree that the project team should hear about the leadership change from their new leader.

You therefore sit down to write a brief email to the project team. Your email should do the following:

· Have a strong, action-oriented subject line

· Announce the change in team leadership

· Set the time and location for a team meeting (at which you will introduce yourself more fully, celebrate Allen’s contributions, and set the team’s agenda for the future)

· Generate some preliminary enthusiasm for your approach to the project