[#positivity✨] (Part 5) One reader of #UncleLen’s #lettertothequeen series said he learned many things from the story. I did too.
In this post, I’ll share one of the first things I appreciated and learned about the letter itself:
✨How to make someone feel royally acknowledged.✨
There are many things I thought when I read Uncle Len's letter from the palace.
And while it wasn’t from The Queen herself (we’ll unpack that next), I was content with it, and I want to share why.
To me, there is nothing worse than sending someone an email or letter you have taken great care to write, but to receive a sparse response in reply.
Or receiving a reply that fails to answer each of your points.
Or worse, not receiving a reply at all.
That makes you feel ignored.
It can be quite rude.
And I had harboured a small fear that something like that might happen with Uncle’s letter.
So I was very happy that the one he did receive was full of consideration, courtesy and etiquette.
I think we can draw on these three words, and glean some practical tips from this letter. We can apply the principles to comments, emails and of course, handwritten letters:
The Queen’s Lady in Waiting evidently took the trouble to handwrite Uncle's name, the date, and add her signature on the letter (including it in the photos again for reference). I am sure it would have been more straightforward to type this. And even if somebody else helped type it up, handwriting is always such a nice way of providing a personal touch. At least, it still is to me.
Every part of Uncle’s correspondence is mentioned in the letter. The photos, his memoirs. That is so assuring. They have gone through and made sure they recognised each thing that Uncle Len prepared for The Queen to see, and mentioned it. We can often forget to do this for our students and even ourselves.
The paper, the envelope, the way it was embossed with the stamp of Windsor Castle, the quality of it all, even the ink... to me, it was beautiful. I could see that someone had put this together by hand and taken the time to ensure it was all in order.
Here's a summary of royal letter tips:
💡Names matter in replies. Use them & spell them correctly.
💡Spot all and any effort made and mention it.
💡Go the extra mile. Use the nice pen, that nice paper etc.
In the bustle of life, we can often skip over acknowledgement and proper etiquette. We can sometimes ignore the details. We brush over things.
I think this letter was a great example of good etiquette in acknowledging others.
And as always, I hope these ideas - this time, a letter from The Queen of England! - can weave its way into our teaching practice...
Or maybe simply just into our emailing & commenting etiquette.
They’re down to be a part of mine. :)
P.S. 3rd pic = Uncle Len when he was in the Air Force✨👨🏼✈️
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