Each time you click “send,” the e-mail being delivered says a lot about you and your organization. Are you practicing appropriate e-mail etiquette, or are your e-mails conveying messages that are hurting your reputation and credibility as well as that of your organization?

More and more businesses are discovering the importance of establishing specific corporate guidelines regarding e-mail practices. There is an assumed informality surrounding e-mail usage, but e-mail is no different than any other form of business communication.

Your contacts form opinions about you and your business based on your e-mail communications and how you use technology. Improper e-mail usage can give someone the perception that you lack education, have limited experience with technology, or lack credibility.

Mastering your e-mail skills can go a long way toward forging the most professional image you can with potential clients, existing customers, and anyone else you communicate with via e-mail.

What do your emails say about you and your organization?

Many managers feel like they are walking a tightrope in the current recession. On the outside, they try to inspire confidence in their team that they will survive yet they worry that making a serious misstep will spell doom, further shaking the confidence of an already jittery workforce.

In times like these, when the business outlook is highly unpredictable, it’s easy to make a mistake when leading your team according to Robert Hosking in a recent Talent Management Perspective. He looks at some of the most common pitfalls managers make in an uncertain economy, along with tips to avoid them:

Thinking your staff can’t handle the truth. If your company is facing unprecedented challenges, communicate them to employees. They’ll feel like they have some measure of control over the situation and may even be able to offer advice for solving problems.
Don’t just let memos and e-mails do all the talking for you, though. Interact regularly with employees in person. That way, you can solicit feedback from every team member.

Feeling people are lucky just to have a job. It’s probably true that many of your employees feel fortunate to have a stable position right now. But that doesn’t mean you can ignore staff members’ needs for positive recognition and career support. Top performers, in particular, need extra attention.

Eliminating incentives. Tight budgets shouldn’t cause you to cancel all rewards. Low-cost and no-cost incentives can have a big impact on staff morale. Recognition is especially important if you expect your employees to take on additional responsibilities or heavier workloads. Be sure to give frequent, timely and specific praise so workers can see you are paying close attention to their individual contributions and not just doling out blanket praise.

Trimming training. Professional development initiatives often are the first to go when budgets are lean but think about it: Enhancing your team members’ skills can pay off in the short and long term.

In today’s economy, you must be the coach who inspires the team, communicating, and giving praise and encouragement. What are you doing to inspire your team?

While no one is “irreplaceable”, Dr. Lawrence Shatkin has come up with six tips to weight the odds in your favor when it comes to keeping your job:

1. Focus on your employer’s core mission. Every business has a central function that is the key to its success - while you may be tempted to serve a peripheral function because it is interesting, perhaps even pioneering. Beware of getting out of the mainstream of your employer’s business; when times are hard, the company is likely to lay off the business units that do not serve its core mission.

2. Keep your skills up to date. It is your responsibility, not your employer’s, to identify the skills you need and to make sure you get the necessary training: join a professional association and check out blogs and trade publications that cover your industry.

3. Be highly productive. Your improved skills will help you turn out work that is of better quality and quantity – work smarter, not necessarily longer.

4. Be visible. It helps for your employer to know who you are and what great work you’re doing. Consider starting a newsletter, bulletin board, blog, or Twitter feed about your current project.

5. Acquire a mentor. Find someone who is knowledgeable about the business. Be helpful to this person and ask a lot of very specific questions, especially about how to improve your work. Be sure to give public recognition to the mentor for the advice you get.

6. Be pleasant. Being abrasive may make you stand out, but for the wrong reasons. Even though performance appraisals attempt to reduce job performance to hard, measurable facts, things people say about you informally still have a huge impact on your employer’s perceptions of you.

What are you doing to make yourself “irreplaceable”?