Credits: Social Media
Biopsychologist says Jeff Bezoss question mark email can stir up big emotions
Let’s talk about Jeff Bezos’s intimidating email to his employees. How would you feel if you received a “?” from your boss without further explanation?
The Focus asked etiquette experts, psychologists, and even a biopsychologist what they think of the email method the founder of Amazon uses, and they all said it boils down to the company culture in certain organizations. But does it impact individuals mentally? Scarily, it does.
Why Jeff Bezos uses the question mark method
Jeff Bezos’s question mark method is for everyone to know. He admitted to sending emails to his employees with nothing but one character which can imply more than one thing.
The billionaire was interviewing at the George W. Bush Presidential Centre in 2018 when he explained the meaning of the question mark email.
He said he has an email address customers can write to and he sees “most of those emails”. When he comes across customer queries that need to be addressed, he forwards them to the person in charge of the respective department.
“I see them and I forward them to the executives in charge of the area with a question mark. It’s shorthand [for], ‘Can you look into this?’ ‘Why is this happening?'” he said.
The email that needs to be looked into is sent to the relevant team for further action. Even though the single-character email is supposed to get the work done, experts think it can still impact the person on the receiving end negatively depending on the context.
Experts comment on the controversial technique
Etiquette experts, a psychologist, and a biopsychologist explained to The Focus the impact Jeff’s technique can have on the employees, which depends on the relationship the employees and the upper management share.
Sarah Jeffries, a Mental Health First Aid Trainer based in the UK with a Master’s in Psychology, says: “The first time an employee receives the question mark email could be heart-stopping, so to speak. But your typical employee would feel under a huge amount of stress being the individual finding answers for such a high-level executive, with or without a question mark.”
She thinks the method Jeff uses is more of a call to action and a “push to get answers, rather than to inspire fear.”
Whereas, Lifestyle & Etiquette expert, Lisa Mirza, says the question mark method may come across as intimidating, but it can be effective in getting the task done.
She said: “Jeff Bezos didnt get to be number one in his field by diplomacy. With email and other forms of nonverbal communication, a lot can be misconstrued because of benign interpretation.”
“When there is no face-to-face contact and we rely heavily on digital channels for understanding, ‘misunderstandings can easily occur,” the etiquette expert continued. The extent of the question mark’s impact depends on the individual’s perception.
Biopsychologist says it ‘stirs up big emotions’
From a psychological viewpoint, the single question mark can negatively affect an individual with uncertainty attached to it. Dr. Mary Poffenroth, Biopsychologist/STEM Faculty at San Jose State University believes that getting a question mark email from the boss can stir up big emotions.
She tells The Focus: “Regardless of whether this approach is deemed ‘rude’ or ‘unprofessional,’ it is unquestionably stressful from a neurobiological perspective and, if utilized frequently, may have a negative impact on employees’ long-term mental health.
“Nonetheless, it can be a useful tactic for prompting quick action in some situations, especially in high-stakes settings where a prompt response is essential,” she added.
Although Jeff doesn’t intend to cause any trouble, the biopsychologist says a more effective approach without “stress detectors and more clarity” on the reacquired task will reduce fear or demotivation.
