e-mail

e-mail

Question # 1 How can we avoid using ”cc”?

Consider how necessary it is to use the “cc” function.

https://twitter.com/_SabrinaSchell/status/1599402600587485185

Every 100 people needlessly copied on an e-mail results in 8 hours of lost productivity, when accounting for the time it takes people to read, delete and return to work.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-ATWORKB-621

Hi leaders, how important is it for you to want to be copied on every e-mail that people, whom you serve, send?

How much in control do you need to be?

http://www.wnyc.org/story/everybody-hates-micromanager/

Question # 2 How can we avoid writing e-mails using CAPITAL LETTERS?

IF YOU WRITE IN CAPITALS IT SEEMS AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING. http://fusion.net/story/42057/caps-lock/ http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eikh45femi/all-caps/

Question # 3 How short is your e-mail?

If you need to write an e-mail, make it brief.

http://hbr.org/tip?date=052013 http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4438.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/technology/25apple.html?ref=technology

It improves the productivity of others, when you communicate rapidly and briefly.

https://joshbersin.com/2018/10/what-emails-reveal-about-your-performance-at-work/#

Instead of sending an attachment, what about sending a

link?

Question # 4

How useful is the title of your e-mail?

Use the e-mail title to summarize the e-mail.

Sources http://hbr.org/tip?date=052013 http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4438.html

When people are busy, the emails that get read are the ones with practical e-mail titles.

Example: ”How to get to the event location in Beijing.”

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130624114114-69244073-6-ways-to-get-me-to-email-you-back

Question # 5 How can you avoid using abbreviations?

How sure are you that the e-mail recipient is aware of the meanings of the abbreviations you use?

http://www.emailreplies.com/

Question # 6 To what extent do you focus on the needs of the person you write an e-mail to?

We tend to be overly focused on ourselves and our own goals.

https://hbr.org/2015/04/the-dos-and-donts-of-work-email-from-emojis-to-typos

Question # 7 Do you know where the recipient of your e-mail is?

Before writing ”have a good afternoon” in an e-mail, consider in which time zone the person, you send the e-mail to, is.

Question # 8 How often do you check your e-mails?

A study shows that regaining our initial momentum following

an interruption can take more than 20 minutes.

https://hbr.org/2014/07/the-cost-of-continuously-checking-email/

Question # 9 How good are you at keeping your inbox clean?

3 actions to keep your inbox clean # 1: Delete.

Delete any messages you don't need to read or keep. # 2: Respond.

Reply to messages that can be handled immediately.

# 3: Archive.

If it’s a task for someone else, archive the e-mail. https://www.good.is/articles/clean-up-your-inbox-pro-tips-from-a-gmail-insider https://hbr.org/2012/02/stop-email-overload-1.html https://hbr.org/2009/05/how-to-keep-your-email-under-c.html

Question # 10 What would happen if we reduce the use of e-mail?

An increasing number of company leaders are banning or at least restricting email.

Research shows it works: Banning or putting restrictions

on email can dramatically increase individual productivity and reduce stress.

https://hbr.org/2016/06/some-companies-are-banning-email-and-getting-more-done

Dealing with after-hours emails produces anxiety that is damaging not only to the worker, but to their family.

https://hbr.org/2018/09/protecting-company-culture-means-having-rules-for-email

If you’re a leader, your actions influence the culture.

If you choose to refrain from sending late night e-mails, people whom you serve won’t feel pressured to check their devices.

Adapted from https://hbr.org/2015/09/fixing-our-unhealthy-obsession-with-work-email

It is hard to get your heart to show up in an email . e-mail is a very impersonal form of communication.

https://youtu.be/1nJfV1fufFY

The most damaging cost of thoughtless e-mail:

It prevents us from doing our best work.

http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2014/11/09/quitting-email-helped-company-team-communicate-better/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/10/25/i-banned-all-internal-e-mails-at-my-company-for-a-week/ http://www.managementexchange.com/hackathon/contribution/big-enemy-good

The companies Atos, Klick, and Exformatics

stopped using internal e-mails.

Sources http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204452104577060103165399154.html http://atos.net/en-us/about_us/zero_email/default.htm

People, who work for https://vynamic.com/, do not send e-mail on weekends.

https://hbr.org/2015/03/your-late-night-emails-are-hurting-your-team

When leaders of a London-based company reduced the number of e-mails they sent, other people, who worked for the company, did as well.

http://hbr.org/2013/09/to-reduce-e-mail-start-at-the-top/ar/1

Question # 11 What are alternative ways of communicating besides e-mail?

A 5 minute chat, for example via WhatsApp, may be more efficient than writing an e-mail.

http://hbr.org/tip?date=011713

A call, for example via Zoom, can help you to hear

nuances in tone, silences, and other data, which can help you address emotions.

https://hbr.org/2015/03/you-can-have-constructive-conflict-over-email

A face-to-face request is 34 times more successful than an e-mail.

https://hbr.org/2017/04/a-face-to-face-request-is-34-times-more-successful-than-an-email

People, who work for https://automattic.com/ Automattic, the company that runs Wordpress, rarely use email.

Instead they use blogs, chat rooms, and Skype.

https://hbr.org/2013/03/how-wordpress-thrives-with-a-1.html