Showing items posted by Dr Monica Seeley - 353 found.

Email overload – reduce it by learning to use your email software

Posted Tuesday March 29th, 2011, 8:00 am by

Have you ever been trained to use your email software to help reduce the email overload?  Here is a tool which we use constantly for business yet few people have ever been trained how to use the software properly.  Most say it’s intuitive.  But is it? Often it is far from obvious and especially to those who are not digital natives.

So how much time do you either wast hunting around for a function or becuase you did not know there was a function which could save you time.  For example can you:

  • write rules to help you save time managing your inbox:
  • add expiry dates to emails with a shelf-life (eg testing the fire alarm, cake to celberate my birthday etc) to save people time reading out of date email;
  • switch off all those new mail alters which interrupt you and mean each task takes at least fifteen minutes longer complete:
  • use keyboard shortcut keys instead of replying of the menu to save yourself about a minute an email?

To see how well you use Outlook use our Outlook IT Fitness Check

For users of other software eg Notes, Entourage and Groupwise, your software will have most of these functions so the Fitness Check will help you too.

It never ceases to amaze me that so few people receive any form of email software training.  Software is changed even upgraded and users are just left to ‘get on with it’.  The more foresighted do provide training and have found that one hour spent training can add as much as five extra hours productivity per week.

This week there are a series of email software time savers.

What is your experience?

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Email overload – using alternative communications options

Posted Wednesday March 23rd, 2011, 9:30 am by

Email is only one of many communications media, yet consistently we seem to default to it.  Is it pure either email addiction or lack of understanding about how to communicate effectively?

Increasingly I am asked how to change people’s email behaviour towards talking more and using more effective options. 

One way is clearly through training and change management programmes.  The other is to produce clear guidelines about what is available and when they are best used.

However, all too often these guidelines are steeped in techno speak rather than features and benefits.  From the user’s perspective, with Instant Messaging the recurring question is ‘isn’t this just another way to check up on me and have me respond immediately’?

IM is a powerful way to communicate messages which are here and now, and ephemeral (eg who has an iphone charger, the fire alarm is about to be tested) and not needed as a business record.

One conversation is still often worth nine rounds of email ping pong especially if there is some negotiation involved.

The motto should always be talk first email later.

Some organisation have very successfully tried email free periods.  The result is always amazement about how much people learn when when they walk and talk.  Perhaps not surprising as email is so devoid of emotions and external contextual information. The added benefit is a reduction in the email overload factor.

What works for you?  Should we even be thinking outside the email box?

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Team email management

Posted Monday March 21st, 2011, 9:30 am by

When a team manages an inbox what is best way to ensure every email is dealt with and keep track of outstanding actions (for example boss’s; sales@;info@)  Here are some top tips on team email management.

Team Inbox Management

The PA/EA and manager relationship is always interesting if only because few talk about how best to handle the email.  For example:

  • Who is responsible for filing and deleting old email?
  • What is the best way for each party to draw to the other person’s attention emails which still need action, printing etc?
  • How do you cope when the boss dips in and out?
  • What is the process for telling their PA/EA what action either has or has not been taken?
  • How much time is the PA/EA wasting simply deleting emails which they know is of no interest to their manager?

Here are three simple tips for team email management to save some time and reduce the email overload.

  1. Agree who is ultimately responsible for managing the inbox, eg filing retention, archiving etc.
  2. Work out a process for highlighting emails which have been dealt with and those  which still need attention, eg flags, a ‘traffic light’ folder structure, even edit the email itself.
  3. Audit the volume of incoming email and discuss how to reduce it based on what is automatically deleted.

What are your top tips for handling a team inbox?

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Does spelling and grammar matter in an email?

Posted Tuesday March 1st, 2011, 9:30 am by

Yes, according to a recent survey we conducted. 21% consider spelling mistakes are unprofessional and 79% feel they convey a sloppy image of you as the sender.

Most people like the emails they receive to be grammatically correct. 29% feel poor grammar is unprofessional and 63% feel it makes you look sloppy.

Indeed one of the fist questions I am often asked when running a workshop is ‘will you teach people how to write a good business email’.  Not surprising so few young workers have good email etiquette when school teachers send out emails littered with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

What is your opinion? Does a poorly worded and constructed email annoy you?

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Email overload – managing it during half term

Posted Wednesday February 23rd, 2011, 9:00 am by

Ways to reduce the volume of email awaiting your return after a break for half-term include:

  1. Prioriting what you really need in your inbox and using rules to divert the rest to folders to read later in the week.
  2. Sending the lot to the Deleted folder and then including a line in your Out of Office message to tell people to re-send it if its urgent.
  3. Using colour and views on your return if it’s too late to do 1 or 2.

More suggestions can be found in ‘Brilliant Email‘ which of course you could always buy in any good book store and read on your break!!

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