Effective  e  Mail 19th April 2012

Ray Roberston

Ray Roberston

Session  Objectives To review pro’s and con’s of e mail To look at ways we can deal with incoming e mail more effectively To look at ways we can improve the effectiveness of the mail we send To consider how e mail is changing To look at some specific Outlook tutorials.

Ray Roberston

E Mail Servant or Master?

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Blame  this  

man In  1971,  he  developed  the  code  that  enabled  him  to  send  an  e-­‐‑mail  between  two  computers  for  the  first  time.  

Ray  Tomlinson  

Ray Roberston

Do  you  feel  stressed  by  e  mail?

Do  you  check  work  e  mail  at  home?

Do  you  check  work  e  mail  when  on  holiday?

At  work  how  often  during  the  day  do  you  check  your  e  mail. Does  dealing  with  e  mail  distract  you  from  your  ‘real’  work? If  you  are  unable  to  check  your    e  mail  how  do  you  feel?

Quick  Survey  

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The  Benefits  of  e  mail

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The  Benefits

Fast   Paperless

Recorded

Trackable

Facilitates  asynchronous  dialogue  

Mobile

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The  Problems

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A  recent  survey,  conducted  by  legal  information  firm  Lexis-­‐‑Nexis,  found  information  overload  was  a  widespread  and  growing  problem  among  white  collar  workers  around  the  globe.   Six  out  of  ten  workers  said  the  constant  flow  of  email  distracting  them  from  concentrating  on  the  task  in  hand.

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34 % of workers feel 'stressed' by the sheer number of emails they receive and the obligation to respond quickly and a further 28 % feel 'driven' because they see them as a source of pressure. Source  The  Observer

More

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Research undertaken by Glasgow University found that employees working on a computer typically switched applications to view their

emails as many as 30 or 40 times an hour, for anything from a few seconds to a minute. While half the participants said they checked more than once an hour and 35 per cent said they

did so every 15 minutes, monitoring software fitted to

their machines for the experiment showed it was more often.

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62% of workers check business emails while at home or on holiday.

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Workers distracted by email experience a 10 point fall in IQ (more than twice that found in cannabis studies)

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Each day the average office worker spends 49 minutes managing emails.

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4 hours is spent each day managing emails by senior managers.

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E mail should be a tool that

improves communications

Not be A constant interruption to your workflow and a creator of stress

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Improving our e mail practice

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Need to consider from 2 angles: 1. Dealing with mail

2. Mail that we generate

incoming

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Incoming

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Some  suggested  Ground  Rules

Do not continually check your e mail

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Switch  off  alerts Switch off email popup alerts on your desktop Switch off email sound alerts on your desktop Don’t set up email alerts on your smart phone

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Check e mail no more than once an hour (urgent matters)

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Each time that you do check your email, process it immediately (more on this next)

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How  to  Process  incoming  mail

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Devise an e mail routine – and stick to it

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Create Folders

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Folders  for  filing  mail

Working  Folders   • Answer • Read • Follow  Up

Next  Actions  Task  /  List  

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Mail  

• That  requires  no  action

Mail   • That  you  can  deal  with  in  under  two  minutes

Mail • That  needs  more  than  two  minutes

• Mail  that  you  need  to  keep

Process

You may choose to ignore these messages altogether. If they weren’t intended for you are thy important? Delete them or file them in a CC/BCC folder.

CC’d or BCC’d

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Ray Roberston

Don’t give into paranoia i.e. I must read everything to make sure I know what’s going on.

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• Delete E  Mails  that  require  no  action

• Delete E  mails  that  you  have  acted  on  

within  2  minutes

• Put  in    your  working  folders  (Answer,  Read,  Follow  Up)

E  Mails  that  require  longer  responses  or  further  actions

To reply or not to reply? Ask yourself, does this mail need a reply? If you can reply quickly,(under two minutes) then do it straight away it will save time. If it needs action that will take longer, file it in your answer, read or follow up folders. This also helps avoid situations where you forget to take action because you've briefly looked at an email, and it has been marked as read.

Ray Roberston

Ray Roberston

Clear  out  working  

folders  once  a  day

-­‐‑  Reply -­‐‑  Act  upon -­‐‑  File -­‐‑  Delete

Think before forwarding messages. Ask: Ø Why am I forwarding this? Ø  Is the information important to the people

I am forwarding it to? Ø Am I simply passing it through?

Ray Roberston

Ray Roberston

Choose the time of day that you’re least productive to focus on responding to and clearing e-mail

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Deleting Mail Deleting from your Inbox is not sufficient

You must also empty your “Deleted Items” folder

You should also empty your Sent Items folder

Use  the  ‘out  of  office’  message  when  on  holiday  to  reduce  email  volume  from  colleagues.

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Outgoing Mail

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E  mail  is  about  communication

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Email is a good way to communicate, but it isn't an immediate medium. Don't assume people will read and act on your email straight away. If something is urgent, ring them or if possible go and see them.

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Keep it brief. Think about what it is like to be in receipt of long emails.

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