NEWS

E-mail - tool or torture?

Are you a slave to your e-mail system? If so, we have some ideas to help you manage it rather than it manage you.

Most businesses now rely on electronic mail for a significant proportion of their communication.

According to a survey published in the Wall Street Journal, the average person working in a business in Europe spends up to five hours a day processing e-mails!

Companies will often provide a lot of training to help people understand and use the technical side of their e-mail system. Few pay as much attention to educating people in how to manage their use of e-mail to improve their personal and interpersonal effectiveness.

Like letters and faxes, e-mail is a one-way communication medium. There will generally be not only a physical distance between the sender and receiver, but also a time difference between sending and reading. The time-lag can add to the misinterpretation that often accompanies e-mail messages. The communication has only really occurred once the recipient has read and understood the message.

Based upon over 20 years of frustration in sending and receiving e-mails and our experience in interpersonal communication and influence, here are some thoughts about how to manage your use of electronic mail.

Receiving e-mails

Set specific time aside in your day to check and deal with your electronic mail. Some of our clients report that they receive up to 400 messages a day. If you let yourself be interrupted each time you hear the "ping" of an incoming message you'll probably find that your day is disjointed, unproductive and ultimately unsatisfying. Decide on times of day that suit your working pattern and business demands - maybe first thing and last thing, perhaps mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Once established, try to stick with a routine, only breaking it if you are expecting something urgent or important.

Scan your in-tray. Deal with urgent and important items first. Watch out for messages which might be part of an ongoing communication - if you read them out of sequence you may not only misunderstand them, you may also waste time in responding to something that has already been resolved in a subsequent message.

Most e-mail systems have a filing mechanism. Set up subject folders and file any incoming messages you need to keep so that you can retrieve them again later.

Forward things on to others if you need input or action from them. (See Replying / Forwarding e-mails.)

Delete non-essential messages from your in-tray. Don't leave them hanging around, they will not only take up space, they'll distract you next time you open up your mail system.

If you've been copied with a message and don't know why, clarify it with the sender. It can be a good way to dissuade people from copying you pointlessly in future.

Replying to / Forwarding e-mails

Don't use "reply all" unless everyone on the original recipient list is expecting to see your response - otherwise all you're doing is adding to the mass of messages in other people's in-trays. Try to limit any response to the sender only.

If you receive messages from customers or clients, acknowledge that you've received them, particularly if they are seeking information from you or sending you feedback.

Include enough information in your reply to convey a meaningful response as a stand-alone message. This can save the recipient having to cross-refer your message against the original to decipher your cryptic comments.

If you find that you have a strong emotional response to a message, don't immediately send off a strong emotional reply. Some people find it a good tactic to compose a reply, save it without sending it and review it a while later. If you still feel the same way once you've had time to reflect you can then send it.

If you are forwarding a message to someone else, add some value to it with a "compliments slip" of your own. Let them know why you've forwarded it and what you expect them to do with it. Try not to forward things on just "for information".

Sending e-mails

On the assumption that you want to build or maintain an effective relationship with the other person, the first question to ask yourself is "is e-mail the right medium for this message?". Would a phone-call or face-to-face meeting be more effective? If you are looking to influence someone, an e-mail is one of the least effective methods available since you don't get any immediate feedback about how your message has gone down. So, you can't immediately adapt or tailor your approach.

Make your Subject heading as meaningful as possible. Maybe even include a word to indicate any action you need, e.g. For Comment, For Approval. This will help your recipient to decide what to do with your message when scanning their in-tray.

Keep your messages concise. If your recipient gets as many messages as you do they won't want to read through four pages of text just to work out that you're sending them a casual "how are you?".

If your message is likely to be lengthy or complicated, include an introductory sentence which sets the purpose of the e-mail, who you're sending it to and what you expect them to do with it.

Consider limiting the width of text in your messages to about two thirds of a full screen. The viewing window in mail systems can vary. Reading a message on a narrower window than you wrote it can mean that all your fancy formatting becomes confusing and irritating rather than helpful.

Use plain text and fonts. Not all e-mail systems will be able to display the variety of colours and type sizes that yours might.

Since e-mails only convey your words, with no non-verbal component, take your time to ensure that your words are clear and meaningful. Avoid sending messages ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS. To the recipient it sounds as though you're shouting. You can inadvertently have the same impact on your recipient if you have your default font set to a large size.

Try to avoid injecting humour into your message unless you know the recipient well. What left you as a witty aside can be received as a sarcastic put-down.

Avoid copying all and sundry on your message. Only send it to people who will do something with it.

If you are attaching other documents to your message try to use file formats and software versions that the other person is going to be able to open and read. If you have any doubt, it's best to check beforehand.

Final Thoughts

E-mail as you wish to be e-mailed to.

Think about the person at the other end of the mail system. Ask yourself "how can I structure my message to make it easier for them to deal with it and respond in the way I need?" One way to encourage others to send you more meaningful and understandable mail is to show a good example.

Links

Here are a few other sites I've found with ideas about managing e-mail more effectively:-

Managing the E-mail Nightmare: a survival guide for executives, by Brian Brown, published online in Computer Bits

E-mail help for the newcomer - e-mail tips from the site Everything E-mail ®

Steve Bridge
© sheppardmoscow 2000

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