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Twenty five top tips to save time

A couple of weeks or ago I had the pleasure and honour of running a Brilliant Email Management workshop for over one hundred NHS PAs at the NHS PAs for Excellence  Wales conference.   Here are their top tips for reducing email overload and using excellent email etiquette to save time.

1. Creating rules eg for Cc’d emails; spam; junk emails; meeting planners; newsletter
2. Drag and drop into folders
3. Subject line – note what is required within the subject line, eg for action/for info/respond by…/
4. One topic – one email
5. System emails on server instead of BB
6. Using information like ‘no response required’ or ‘action required’ in subject line
7. When filing an email in a sub-folder, change the subject to one that fits/is more suitable to your filing or better suits the reason for keeping the email
8. Make sure that the content is polite and no ambiguity – plain speech
9. Switch off new email alert and try to check emails only three times a day
10. Drag and drop emails into calendar/task pad for reminders eg complete survey by ‘date’ in good time
11. Use the Out of Office message to manage sender’s expectations of when I will reply
12. Colour code incoming emails
13. Editing in situ
14. Only put your signature once in an email
15. 4D rule: Deal; Delete; Delegate or Defer
16. Drag and drop emails to task pad
17. Send a link not a file
18. Things change; never be afraid to ask people to remove you from contact lists, distribution groups that are no longer relevant
19. Use the facilities available – learn how to use Outlook to its full potential
20. Check for typos before pressing ‘send’
21. Keep emails succinct and relevant
22. Plan emails, draft, review etc, if needed and ensure that the recipient needs to avoid return emails with questions
23. Say it in the subject line – ‘EOM’ end of message
24. Five bullet points maximum
25. ‘Thank you in advance for your assistance’ is my favourite phrase – regrets having to thank someone afterwards

What would you add as your favorite tip?

Tags: Brilliant Email, email etiquette, email overload, email rules, email subject line, NHS PAs for Excellence, Twenty five top tips

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