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Email overload – ask someone to do something and the response is email me! How rude is that? Last week’s post on our total reliance on email was popular. That and my current client work prompted me to post a second blog on this theme of when to use an alternative to email.
One of the most annoying comment I receive when phoning someone is ‘can you put that in an email’. If it’s a client sometimes it’s hard to say ‘no’, but with everyone else my solution is to forget! This has cost some people money as the call was to remind them to invoice me for their commission fee.
I find this the rudest response. If you have been asked to do a task, why do you need it in email? Are you suffering with dementia? Do you not have a device on which to make your own ‘To Do List’ (electronic or paper and pencil). Is it plain lazyness? Perhaps is it that you want an audit trail?
In my pocket/handbag there is always a pen and paper but perhaps that is because my parents owned a stationary business and my love of pens and paper has never left me!
Seriously, if someone asks you to do something, my management school says it is now your problem to remember and get on with it, but certainly not respond with ‘ can you put it an email’. That just compounds the cover my backside and litigious culture which now pervades most organisations.
The only exception is if you are having a corridor conversation in which you are seeding an idea with a senior executive.
What is your opinion and experience.
Tags: email best practice, email management, email overload, pen and paper
There is a disparity between the sender and recipient’s perception of when a reply is expected.
Research for clients and ‘Brilliant Email’ found 42% of recipients feel that a reply is expected within a couple of hours and only a third perceive that within a day is acceptable. When the results were presented to the management team in this organisation they were visibly shocked at the disparity as they thought everyone understood that half a day was an acceptable response time.
Many managers in other organisations often comment on how they are surprised by how quickly people respond saying that their email was not that urgent and that they did not need the information for a day or two. Equally there are those who do expect an instant reply. Journalists are often the worst, expecting an instant reply. Sometimes it’s acceptable when in response to a news story. Other times it is just because of bad planning and a deadline creeping up.
PAs often tell me that their manager expects an instant reply.Yet when challenged about whether they have discussed what is a realistic reply time few have even discussed this issue.
If you are a manager think about delaying sending non-urgent message until later in the day to allow your team to focus on the real job. With most software you can either use rules or you will find there is a ‘delay delivery function’. Try it and see how productivity improves.
What do you think?
Tags: email addiction, email best practice, email overload
Have you ever been trained to use your email software to help reduce the email overload? Here is a tool which we use constantly for business yet few people have ever been trained how to use the software properly. Most say it’s intuitive. But is it? Often it is far from obvious and especially to those who are not digital natives.
So how much time do you either wast hunting around for a function or becuase you did not know there was a function which could save you time. For example can you:
To see how well you use Outlook use our Outlook IT Fitness Check .
For users of other software eg Notes, Entourage and Groupwise, your software will have most of these functions so the Fitness Check will help you too.
It never ceases to amaze me that so few people receive any form of email software training. Software is changed even upgraded and users are just left to ‘get on with it’. The more foresighted do provide training and have found that one hour spent training can add as much as five extra hours productivity per week.
This week there are a series of email software time savers.
What is your experience?
Tags: email best practice, email overload, Email training
Email is only one of many communications media, yet consistently we seem to default to it. Is it pure either email addiction or lack of understanding about how to communicate effectively?
Increasingly I am asked how to change people’s email behaviour towards talking more and using more effective options.
One way is clearly through training and change management programmes. The other is to produce clear guidelines about what is available and when they are best used.
However, all too often these guidelines are steeped in techno speak rather than features and benefits. From the user’s perspective, with Instant Messaging the recurring question is ‘isn’t this just another way to check up on me and have me respond immediately’?
IM is a powerful way to communicate messages which are here and now, and ephemeral (eg who has an iphone charger, the fire alarm is about to be tested) and not needed as a business record.
One conversation is still often worth nine rounds of email ping pong especially if there is some negotiation involved.
The motto should always be talk first email later.
Some organisation have very successfully tried email free periods. The result is always amazement about how much people learn when when they walk and talk. Perhaps not surprising as email is so devoid of emotions and external contextual information. The added benefit is a reduction in the email overload factor.
What works for you? Should we even be thinking outside the email box?
Tags: email addiction, email overload
When a team manages an inbox what is best way to ensure every email is dealt with and keep track of outstanding actions (for example boss’s; sales@;info@) Here are some top tips on team email management.
Team Inbox Management
The PA/EA and manager relationship is always interesting if only because few talk about how best to handle the email. For example:
Here are three simple tips for team email management to save some time and reduce the email overload.
What are your top tips for handling a team inbox?
Tags: email best practice, email management, email overload, Team email management, Team inbox