| |
| |
|
Management Information |
|
|
|
Spotlight on Productivity: How to Overcome E-Mail Overload
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by e-mail? Have you ever spent more of your day wading through your e-mail than managing your work? Are you looking for ways to spend less time creating, managing and answering messages? Discover how to overcome e-mail overload and be more productive by writing more effective e-mail messages and reducing the volume of e-mail. Write Effective E-Mail Messages Start improving your e-mail effectiveness by creating and formatting easy to follow content, and by using pre-written responses. Create Clear Content Consider these strategies to upgrade your communications with understandable, e-mail messages: ? Help others prioritize how to act on your e-mail by including a clear, specific subject line and repeating important subject information in the body of the message. ? Define your expectations in the body of the message. Do you want your recipients to act, respond, read, or is the e-mail FYI only? ? Include only one topic per message. If that isn't possible, then describe and number multiple topics as in 5 items to add to the Wednesday meeting agenda. ? When you type the addresses for your message, check who is getting your e-mail. Many programs attempt to auto-fill an e-mail address which may not be your intended recipient. ? Be careful with your tone and language. As with any other communication, match the message to your audience. Unless the reader understands your dry sense of humor, for instance, they may be confused or offended rather than amused. ? It may be tempting to use acronyms in the world of the Blackberry and IM (instant messaging), but only use extremely common abbreviations, such as FYI or ASAP, unless you are absolutely certain that the individual receiving your e-mail knows what they mean. ? Clearly identify yourself to strangers within your message and in the message signature. Format Readable E-Mail Messages Simplify the e-mail messages you send with clean, easy-to-read formatting: ? Get to the point. Shorten paragraphs to no more than five or six lines to reduce reading. ? Limit e-mail text to a single printed page. If you have more text, reduce the message or consider attaching a Word document. Delete previous responses that are no longer relevant to the current exchange. ? Use fonts between 10 and 12 points in size except for headlines and choose a font style that is easy to read. Apply colors sparingly. ? Add blank lines and white space to separate paragraphs and areas of detail. ? Run the spelling checker and re-read messages one last time for clarity and grammar before clicking Send. Use Prewritten Responses If you send a few basic messages over and over again, such as a reply to a request for product information, consider saving those responses as signatures that can be inserted into e-mail so that you don't have to retype them. For a majority of messages, create a default signature that includes your full name, position or title, phone, website, and other contact information. Reduce the Volume of E-Mail Some of the top ways to cut the amount of e-mail you receive is to manage the number of messages that you send, reduce unnecessary follow-up replies, and determine when person-to-person communication is a better choice. Decrease the Number of Messages You Send Before you write your next e-mail, seek to actively reduce how much e-mail you send: ? Read all replies on a topic before responding to the original message. Resist getting involved with e-mail threads that don't impact your objectives. ? Don't send, and discourage your staff from sending, "chime-in" messages that are simply unimportant responses such as "Thank you" and "You're welcome." Don't respond to junk mail. ? Avoid Reply to All unless all recipients need to see your response. Otherwise you are contributing to their e-mail litter. ? Use the Cc (carbon copy) line only when the topic impacts the recipient's work. Although it may seem easier to send a message to everyone in a department or your organization, first ask yourself, "Who needs to know? Why?" Most people who get a carbon copy assume there is something they are supposed to do. ? Use Bcc (blind carbon copy) to hide large distribution lists or to disguise the names of select recipients. All recipients can respond to a message but replies will not be received by anyone in the Bcc list which reduces the amount of e-mail they get. Eliminate the Clutter in Your E-Mail In addition to initiating fewer e-mail messages, look at other ways to reduce the messages in your Inbox: ? Publish frequently requested information on your company website and make sure that the website is quickly updated when changes occur. ? When you are sending out informational messages that do not require feedback, discourage unnecessary responses by using formal language and begin and end messages with No Reply Needed or FYI Only. ? Unsubscribe to electronic newsletters that you don't read and move others out of your Inbox to folders for reading during travel or other down times. Don't unsubscribe to mailings that you never initiated or you may further open the flow of junk mail. ? If it's an available option, setup an out of office message that responds to incoming messages when you are not available to answer your e-mail. Clearly state your response time, when you will return, and who can be contacted during your absence. Choose Voice Instead of E-Mail There are often times when phone or face-to-face conversations are a superior choice to e-mail. Pick up the phone or arrange a meeting when: ? Building rapport is critical. ? The topic is emotionally charged. ? There are many intertwined issues to resolve or there is a need for lengthy interactive discussions. Implementing these strategies for overcoming e-mail overload can help you become more productive and free you from your Inbox. © 2005 by Dawn Bjork Buzbee Dawn Bjork Buzbee is The Software Pro? and a certified Microsoft Office Expert and Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor. Dawn shares smart and easy ways to effectively use software and technology through her work as a speaker, trainer, and consultant. Visit http://www.SoftwarePro.com for great Microsoft Office software tips and tricks or to contact Dawn.
MORE RESOURCES: This RSS feed URL is deprecated, please update. New URLs can be found in the footers at https://news.google.com/news
Google News |
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Knowledge Management - Leadership Behaviours Which Encourage Knowledge-Sharing The concept of knowledge management or knowledge sharing makes intellectual sense to the leadership teams in most organisations. Why wouldn't we want to learn from our successes and failures, and translate that learning into value?However, there is often a gap between the conceptual understanding, and their own behaviours as leaders - and that can be a problem? How do you engage leaders both intellectually and emotionally, in a way which will make a difference to their day-to-day behaviours? It requires more than a set of competency frameworks!The examples below are taken from the bestselling fieldbook "Learning to Fly ? Practical knowledge management from leading and learning organisations", written by Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell. Inspirational Power ( Part 1 ) The Fundamentals of Strategic Marketing, Some Key Traits for Greater EffectivenessProbably, the greatest challenge to marketing management in the next five Years will be to change quick and fast enough, in order to keep pace with new technologies, new markets and new corporate values According to the definition of the AMA, "Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. "Customer focus has nowadays become a cliché among marketers keen to win competitive advantage. Minimising Conflict With Effective Communication Did you know there are 5 types of communication that lead to conflict? Let's look at them.. Why Employees Are the Best Source of Cost-cutting Ideas Cost cutting has become a necessary and important reality in the modern corporate world. Yet many executives do not realize that their people are actually the best source of cost reduction ideas. Avoid Outsourcing Pitfalls in the Injection Molds and Stamping Dies Markets When looking to outsource overseas for Plastic Injection Molds or Stamping Dies there are many things to consider. Usually price is the first thing to be looked at, that's probably why you're looking overseas for a new mold or die source-to save money. Designing Your Healthy Administration - A Management Overview Management or Leadership?Simply stated, management ensures that things get done, in accordance with accepted policies, based on the reality of a situation. It involves deciding the how, and the when and often the who. Its All In The Systems Have you ever noticed french fries taste the same at every McDonald's? The same can be said for Subway and its Italian BMT. How do these fast food icons replicate themselves at nearly 40,000 locations when some eateries struggle to get it right in a single restaurant? The answer is simple: it's all in the systems. Creativity and Innovation Management - Hierarchies Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. Is Your Business Ethical? Ethics - in a profession or trade - is that branch of philosophy which studies the principles of right and wrong in human conduct.Is your business ethical?What I mean is "Does your business do the right thing when faced with that decision?" It's a simple question, which many businesses struggle with. Influencing Change - A Guide for Sellers, Coaches, and Supervisors When people or groups make a decision to purchase something, they go through the same decision cycle that an individual goes through to decide upon a personal change, or an employee goes through to change behaviors at a boss's insistence.Until now, our communication rules have assumed that when we kindly or persuasively offer others good information that could solve problems and achieve successful results, or coach them toward making a much-needed change, or even just pitch a product they sorely need, we can expect a positive reception. Employee Discipline: How to Nip Problems in the Bud Are you uncomfortable with delivering disciplinary action, even involving employees you know deserve it? You're not alone. Disciplinary action is one of the least favored tasks a supervisor must occasionally perform. Creativity Management and Time Pressure There is a pervasive belief that time pressure stimulates creativity. This is both true and false. Managing the Human Resource Project We obtain strategic results by aligning HR mission, vision and values. The following overview highlights a macro approach to project management. Building the Trust in Your Employees - 12 Easy Tips In Stephen Covey's great book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", he talks about the 'emotional bank account', where you have to build a credit in your relationship with the individuals who you work with (and everyone else as well!).If what you do isn't 'trustworthy', then all you have done in your gentle listening and asking great and interested questions to build, is to 'debit' your account. Why Soft Skills? The industrial age is over. Organizations still stuck in the industrial age business models are going out of business very fast. 11 Strategies on How to Work in An Open Plan Environment Many work environments now are open plan, with only a few senior managers having offices of their own. This style of work can have great benefits for team building - fostering cooperation and collaboration and can be wonderful for developing the social aspects of teams, but on the flipside, it can drive some people crazy and be damaging to productivity. Great Hires: Avoid Costly Mistakes Picking people for a job is like going to the store to buy apples. Before you go, you ought to know whether the apples are to be eaten fresh, make into applesauce, baked into a pie or made into juice. What are Your Best Practices? Best Practices StudiesThese studies can be defined as inquiries into the skills and methods of your high performers to recognize their achievements, document their methods and skills and then share this information with team members to improve overall performance. The responses generated from your study may hold the solutions to a variety of team challenges in the Call Center. Performance Appraisals: Questions for Smarties and Dummies In numerous programs I've conducted on performance appraisals, with Human Resource people (who are responsible for developing and implementing programs) and with line managers (who actually conduct the reviews) are often foggy about performance appraisal procedures. Here are some frequently asked questions. Planning a Productive Retreat What value is there in leadership or team-building retreats? Just consider the following. An executive committee of an association, deliberating on strategic planning issues, identified "who we are" in terms of their membership.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2007 |