Do you get a lot of email? Do you want to reduce how much email you receive? Well, buried in this article is the simple secret answer in three words. See if you can find it.
Oh, you want me to get right to the point and tell you the answer? [“Ding!”] Hold please; my phone just said I have a message that has to be read.
Here you will not get information on the proper writing of email, and this make the English majors and self-anointed grammar police crazy. They’ll forcefully argue against this contemporary eroding of proper English in the name of brevity, complicated with technology that only allows brief tweets and single letters to mean whole words. But, it’s that same technology at our fingertips 24/7 that allows our thoughts to instantly flow into tweets, and email to fly at the speed that our thoughts or experiences will allow it to happen.
FACTS
#1 The
average business user receives 19% irrelevant mail daily and spends 1:36 hours
on non-company websites.
#2 No one
seems to have time to read long email, but we all seem to have the time to
write email.
#3 The
need for validation tends to have people writing messages to CYA (cover your 'assets') documentation.
#4 The
fingers are in gear before the brain is engaged. We data-dump the moments we’re having.
#5 Most
people won’t remember whatever email, text or post they read one hour ago.
#6 We assume
that because it was sent, it was received AND/OR comprehended. Email communication gets lost in
translation. 80% of communication is
non-verbal. This doesn’t mean it
comes via electronic method; instead it's all the subtle methods of voice, tone, body language, eye contact, etc.
#7 Email
is one-way communication. We think at
approximately 800 words-per-minute, we talk at approximately 125 wpm, and
generally type less than 65 wpm. It
actually takes more time to achieve an end-result via email.
Do you have friends or colleagues who
send you so much email, or Facebook posts, or Tweets that you have developed an
auto-pilot reaction to ignore them, or always read everything they
send? We have an internal instinct that when certain people send a
message we know what to expect. Maybe you’re one of those
people. When you send messages you’re creating an image and
reputation for yourself that impacts your ability to be heard or
influential.
What impact do you want to have when
you’re sending a message? "Wait!" You're thinking... isn't the question supposed to be how to
get everyone else to stop sending you email? You are
also part of "everyone else." When you are deciding to send a message how quick do you go
from thought to action?
HOW PEOPLE
READ
We “data mine” the computer screen looking for
highlights. Google has
great research on the topic. The
best web designers know how the human eye scans for data and the “hot spots” on
the screen that gives them less than 0.2 seconds to capture your
attention. Speed-readers
look down the center of each page mining for highlights. Each morning the US President receives a state-of-affairs briefing that is summarized on one page. If he can do it, so can you.
REAL
SITUATION – STOP TRYING
A client that I was coaching recently asked for advice on how to get his
emails read by upper management. He is a brilliant man with a
senior position at a mid-sized company. He had a lot of great
business ideas that could significantly help achieve strategic objectives and
grow the organization. But he was very frustrated that he felt
ignored and ultimately disrespected. I gave him one simple
suggestion that completely changed everything. He was suddenly
experiencing responses to his messages, respect for his input, and seeing
actions taken as a result of his ideas. What changed? He
stopped trying so hard and started by reducing the number of emails being sent.
The one thing he wanted the most was the
one thing he was harming the greatest. The more he tried to be heard, the
more he was being ignored. He was creating a reputation for himself
of someone who always bombards people with email messages and
ideas. As the ideas flowed, his fingers typed. His most significant ideas were getting lost among
all of his other ideas the he simultaneously presented.
The solution: He created
structure. He wrote down all the ideas and held onto them until the
end of the week. He emailed them to himself or saved a draft message
and updated it throughout the week. Then, at the end of the week,
decided which idea was the top most important one that should be
sent. He was discovering that the idea he had on Monday was not as
important on Friday. This structure flowed into his personal
life. He stopped providing comments to a majority of emails he received. And he wasn’t getting distracted by posting regular Facebook updates.
TRY THIS GAME
Next
time you’re with someone at lunch or dinner, tell everyone to put their cell
phones in a stack on the table. The first person to check their phone for any purpose has to pay the check. (Talk about a deterrent!) We create the world around us, and how people
perceive us by our everyday actions.
What have you done to self-observe the impact and influence that you have? Have you lost the ability to
control what’s happening around you?
WE’RE ALWAYS “ON”
The constant need we have to be activated is
pervasive. Look around and
see people together in public, but relating to their devices versus each
other. Apps are constantly
feeding us and getting us to respond. We
have a primal drive to be attentive. It’s
why the negative news is more engaging than positive and commercials are
intended to stimulate a response. It’s
also why we recommend not having any “activating” activities at least 30
minutes prior to bed, and thus no TV, computer, email, text, or phone in the
bedroom. This technology
stimulates us and we’re compelled to respond.
ORGANIZATION
CULTURE BY LEADERSHIP – THE STATISTICS
Regardless
of your type of business, internal and external email volume impacts
productivity. The average
business user receives 78 email messages per day of which 19% are considered spam and
24% contain an attachment. If an employee is checking personal email via external
websites, then this further reduces productivity. The average user spends 1.36 hours per
day on external (i.e. not business-related) websites, and spends 41 minutes per day on instant messaging. 1
Leadership within an organization has a significant influence on the volume of email in the culture. Email overload is a symptom of a larger issue, such as ambiguous decision-making processes, lack of clear protocols, and people not getting what they need from peers. If your culture is to drop everything and regularly check email, or you feel compelled to “CYA” (cover your ‘assets’) then your leadership team has the opportunity to reshape the culture. Email overload becomes a performance management issue that impacts efficiency, effectiveness and the financial bottom line. It must be addressed systemically beyond issuing a set of rules.
Leadership within an organization has a significant influence on the volume of email in the culture. Email overload is a symptom of a larger issue, such as ambiguous decision-making processes, lack of clear protocols, and people not getting what they need from peers. If your culture is to drop everything and regularly check email, or you feel compelled to “CYA” (cover your ‘assets’) then your leadership team has the opportunity to reshape the culture. Email overload becomes a performance management issue that impacts efficiency, effectiveness and the financial bottom line. It must be addressed systemically beyond issuing a set of rules.
#1 - Don’t
create a broad set of rules or policies that won’t stick. Creating a set of guidelines or protocols
that can be demonstrated without contradiction, such as “Don’t CC anyone as an FYI”
can go a long way to reducing email and establishing trust for employees who
feel compelled to include others on their messages.
#2 - Establish
if, when, and how someone should update you and others.
#3 - Evaluate
how decisions are made and give clear direction on work assignments.
#4 - Incorporate
a simple protocol in meetings that establishes how follow-up actions will be
communicated.
#5 - Create
standards, such as labeling the Subject line with “Action Required”
#6 - Provide
training, such as communication styles and how to handle meetings. It will reduce
the time to generate or reply to email.
MESSAGE BLACK
HOLES
A "message black hole" is the abyss where your message went without any acknowledgement
that it was received, understood, appreciated, or acted upon. Navigating these black holes requires more about knowing
yourself (personality) and your needs, than about techniques
or actions to achieve less email. But
the end result will still create less email.
PRACTICES
– CREATE STRUCTURE – GET CONTROL
DON’T
#1 Do not
check email first thing when you wake up, or when you arrive into the
office. Set-aside “start-up” time to
plan your day and know “What are the most important things I need to do today?”
#2 Do
not reply unless you were asked, or unless you expect action.
#3 Do
not be quick to reply. “The mouth is in
gear before the brain is engaged” is equally dangerous with a keyboard.
#4 Do
not “Reply All.” What’s important to you
is not to others.
#5 Never use the "High Priority" flag unless it requires immediate attention and action.
#5 Never use the "High Priority" flag unless it requires immediate attention and action.
#6 Do
not send jokes, cartoons, or motivational messages. You’re creating a reputation that your
messages are intermingled with unimportant meaningless content that doesn’t
warrant consistent respect.
DOs
#1 Send
less email, (those are the three magic words!), and it will generate fewer responses.
If you send less, you will get less
#2 Create
structure for when you check and send email.
Spontaneous checking keeps your brain always “ON” and one message leads
to another. The mail becomes your driver
without you in control.
#3 Before sending, ask yourself “What do I want
as a result of sending this?” Do I need an action? If this message
isn’t high priority, then keep it in DRAFT to send 3 – 5 days later.
#4 Get to the point.
Try to use bullets. Remind yourself that the message recipients have just as much
going on in their day as you do in yours. Put action items in an obvious
location. Put “Action Required” or “FYI” in the Subject line.
#5 Communicate expectations with staff, senders,
peers, etc. Let them know that you check email at specific times. Then,
be consistent about it. If you reply during evenings and weekends then expect undesirable consequences.
#6 Turn
off the audible or tactile (vibrate) notification that you have email and/or text
messages. Don’t become a slave to your device's “ding!” You're disrupting your ability to be focused, and you're telling
others that you’re always available and to "contact me anytime."
#7 Unsubscribe to email newsletters and notifications, such as
from Facebook and Twitter.
#8 Recognize your style. Your
personality type impacts your communication style. It determines what you need to say; how much you say; the type, style and frequency of the message; and thus impacts how others will respond to you. Know yourself and your personality
that drives you, and how it shows up in the way you attend to mail. If you don’t know your personality
type, then find a class, take a test, or locate a professional that can help
you know it and how to effectively self-manage to be more influential. One example is if you like lots of
facts and data, then you’ll tend to share that in your communications, resulting in excessive
time writing email without consideration of the receiver, who might not care.
1 = Radicati.com Aug 2012 – A technology market research firm.
- (c) Ken Sergi
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