4 Steps to Improve Your Email Productivity: Guest Post by Alban Smith
Posted Under: Email Productivity Tips and Solutions
If you find yourself working later and later each day to get everything done before you can leave the office, then it might be time to lay the blame squarely where it belongs, and take steps to rectify your system.
No, you won’t need to confront your boss or start delegating to the temp, instead, you need to reassess your relationship with your email program. This can be a hard confrontation for many people to handle, especially since you have been working under the assumption that your email actually saves you time because you can stay at your desk, have fewer meetings and avoid lengthy phone conversations. Of course email does have its productive points, and you can use the following steps to hone in on those benefits, and leave the time consuming aspects of your inbox behind.
1 – Multitask productively
Having your email program open on your computer all day so you can read a preview of every email which comes in is not multitasking productively, because you are stopping what you are doing to check your emails. Instead you need to work with asynchronous technology in order to take an overall multitasking view to your work role, while in practice doing just one thing at a time.
2 – Work in blocks
Rather than having your email open all day and viewing every new message as it arrives, set aside a block of time two to three times each day to check your emails and respond. This allows you to focus on each email which has come in without feeling the pressure to respond immediately.
3 – Write short emails
If you find yourself working later and later each day to get everything done before you can leave the office, then it might be time to lay the blame squarely where it belongs, and take steps to rectify your system. No, you won’t need to confront your boss or start delegating to the temp, instead, you need to reassess your relationship with your email program. This can be a hard confrontation for many people to handle, especially since you have been working under the assumption that your email actually saves you time because you can stay at your desk, have fewer meetings and avoid lengthy phone conversations. Of course email does have its productive points, and you can use the following steps to hone in on those benefits, and leave the time consuming aspects of your inbox behind.
4– Don’t reply all
If you are replying to a group email, or sending an email about a group project, don’t feel compelled to reply to everyone involved. Cut down the recipient list to only those people who will action the points in your email, as this will stop unnecessary and redundant replies from other team members.
Thanks to Alban Smith for his perspective on email productivity. What do you think of his suggestions?
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