The other week I was discussing time management with Alison (which is not her real name). She had recently been promoted to Marketing Manager and was finding it a real challenge to deal with all the demands on her time that the new role was commanding, not to mention all the extra emails she seemed to be getting.
I therefore shared some tips on time management and dealing with emails, which I had learned over the years. These tips were designed to free up time to do other things.
Alison contacted me yesterday to say that she was having success with some of the email tips and suggested that I share these with others. So here goes:
10 Email Tips
1. Decide if an email is the best form of communication
Too often an email is sent without much thought. Email has its uses, but it is over used and misused. Communication is not about sending a message, it is about ensuring the message is received and understood, not sent. Just because an email has been sent does not mean a communication has occurred. So think whether email is apt or consider picking up the phone or walking over to someone to have a conversation. This will save you time in the long run.
2. Send less emails yourself
This is a guaranteed way to reduce the size of your inbox because a good proportion of your inbox will be replies to your own emails.
3. Turn off email alerts
This means that when you are working on something you won’t become distracted.
4. Set time certain times aside to deal with emails.
I generally look at emails a couple of times a day. When I mentioned this to Alison, you could see the fright in her eyes. Just twice a day! Work out a pattern that suits you, allocating certain slots in your diary to deal with emails, so you can fully focus on other work in hand.
5. Use email rules to filter certain emails into other folders
When I ran a large marketing team, I created a rule that all emails where I was cc’d went into a separate folder. I was finding that those emails were not really for me, just people advocating responsibility. Doing that saved me a lot of time because I rarely looked at those emails, because I didn’t need to. Set up other rules to help separate the important emails from the chaff.
6. Try not to reply by email
Alison was finding a lot of emails came from her new team. So I suggested that she did not reply by email, but instead take time out and talk to her team. This can be applied to anyone who sends you an email. It will not only save time in the longer run, you will find they begin to adopt a similar approach and send you less emails.
7. Keep your emails short
And keep them clear. Otherwise you will prolong the email trail because people have not understood it. If it is too long, go back to the first tip. Others should then follow.
8. Deal with it
It is easy to have a quick read of an email and then think you’ll deal with it later. You might forget, for one, but if you do that a lot, you are wasting time. Just deal with it there and then, bearing in mind previous tips.
9. Use attachments wisely.
Firstly, don’t fall into the trap of forgetting the attachment, as you’ll have a barrage of flippant remarks in your inbox. Secondly, give a concise summary of your attachment and what people should do with it. Remember, communication is not just sending a message.
10. Finally, be careful when sending emails from your handheld device
I have heard of many people sending emails in haste, which creates problems and time wasted later on because the message was never clear. Think before you send.
One or two of these tips may work for you, which will save you time. And if others can follow your lead, your inbox will only have emails that are brief, to the point and contain stuff you actually need. Now that would be nice, wouldn’t it
