As slaves to our inbox, we let our attention to the task at hand be dismissed every time a new email arrives. True email efficiency is now a rare skill in the workplace.
It’s a problem. Thirty-eight percent of Americans check their email either throughout the day or 10+ times each day. I checked my email three times while typing this introduction.
This is a headache, since it can take up to 25 minutes to fully refocus on the original task after being distracted. Learning how to maintain email efficiency is imperative to staying focused without compromising attention.
Here are four things to consider if you want to take back control of your inbox.
1. Short emails work.
Savvy business owners who want to save time need to avoid long fluff-filled emails. There’s a reason Amazon’s CEO often sends unnervingly short emails. They save you time and get the point across.
- Stop rambling. Keep it short and direct. Long emails don’t get read and are a sign that a) you don’t know how to communicate effectively, or b) you don’t know what you’re talking about.
- Don’t waste your time. Take a tip from former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. All controversies aside, her emails are shockingly short and to the point. You don’t need to type out a full paragraph with a salutation when “Pls print” gets the point across with only eight characters.
- Use auto-replies and automation when appropriate. If you find yourself saying the same thing repeatedly, save it somewhere you can quickly copy and paste from. It takes less time personalizing an auto-reply than crafting unique messages each time.
- And if it absolutely can’t be short, see point 2.
2. Communicate outside of email.
Learn to open up communication lines outside of email. As a company, begin an honest dialogue about how emails should be treated internally. Ask for feedback about this subject from your employees.
While evaluating your email situation, consider the place other forms of communication might have in your workflow. These alternatives might include:
- Talk in person. When in doubt, communicate face to face and use it as an opportunity to forge closer ties with your colleagues. Remind yourself there are humans on both ends of the conversation.
- Consider chat for remote teams who don’t have the opportunity to talk in person. Instant messengers encourage a more direct form of conversation (we use Gchat in-office). There’s less pressure for long introductions or conclusions.
- Use project management tools. Trying to schedule a meeting? Schedule it on Google Calendars and explain in the body of the event why you want to meet. Additionally, consider using tools time Basecamp to communicate deadlines and priorities.
3. Go cold-turkey to get perspective on what should change.
Have you considered banning all internal email for a week? After a week of no internal emails, Shayne Hughes, chief executive of Learning as Leadership, and his team felt detoxed and free to be much more productive. The experience turned out beneficial, despite some team members originally thinking everything would come to a halt. The ban might sound severe, but it will illuminate a number of workflow inefficiencies.
If your workplace can’t support a week-long ban of emails, try a one-day version of this experiment. Most offices can find ways to implement this trick for at least a short time. At the end of the workday, have a short meeting to discuss what each team member learned from the exercise.
4. Filter out action-required emails.
Not all emails are created equally. Make a system to differentiate emails. File the following types of emails separately:
- Actionable emails require you to follow up by completing a task. Group these together in a folder that you can return to when you have time to breathe and absorb the task at hand.
- Newsletters and industry news emails are extremely helpful when you’re committed to being relevant in your field. These emails are great to save until you have an extra minute waiting for a meeting to start or for your commute.
After using these four points to increase your email productivity, you’ll have more time to focus on other important tasks (like content marketing, running your business or agency, or spending time with customers!).
Want to save even more time? BlogMutt can help.
