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Dr Monica Seeley - 353 found.Can Instant Messaging (IM) help to significantly reduce email overload? Over the last few months I’ve been working remotely with a client and using their IM in earnest (via Microsoft Communicator). I was able to catch up with colleagues on business and social matters quickly and without ending up with an inbox full of redundant email chains.
At one point urgent help was needed from a colleague whose status was ‘busy’. A quick message and back came the necessary data with a note that all the other matters would need to wait until our planned conference call later that week. Still the vital data was supplied and work could progress.
Would the same have happened with email? No, as he is a strict disciple of the ‘stay focused’ management school. His new email alerts are off and he only checks his inbox every couple of hour or so. He works on the basis that if it is urgent someone will either call or send him an IM.
Email has been around for just over 30 years and is now seen by many as the default communications channel. But is it really that useful for all electronic communications? Mimecast found only about 30% of emails received are read. Meanwhile the Grossman Group found that middle managers are overwhelmed by email and often spend long hours outside work catching up with their email. But what are all these emails they feel they must read or at least spend time deleting)? We and Grossman found that about 25 to 30% are indeed trivial often either chains (ongoing conversations) or about subjects that are no longer relevant (eg fire alarm is being tested at 11.00am).
Email is but one of a range of communications channels (from face-to-face meetings to text messaging). Is it time to start thinking through how we can use alternatives to email firstly to communicate more efficiently and hence secondly reduce the email overload which is crippling many people and their businesses? Have you checked recently how much time you and your business are loosing through unnecessary (internal junk) email?
For me IM is hugely undervalued as a communications tools. If I were CEO of an organisation (no matter what size) I would not ban email internally as some have done but would implement an IM policy.
All message which do not need to be retained and are time sensitive should be sent by IM and not email as per this matrix.
Are you using any form of social media and IM to reduce the volume of email traffic and improve communications? Click here to participate in our new survey.
Tags: alternatives to email, email chains, email management, email overload, IM, Mesmo Consultancy
At last week’s Office 2012 show our associate Luke Williams gave a master class on how to use LinkedIn to improve career and business. Here is a copy of the presentation. Click here to download.office 2012 – Getting more from LinkedIn
Tags: LinkedIn, Luke Williams, Office 2012
How robust is your email policy? Lessons to learn from the Barclays Bank Libor scandal.
Tech Republic – September 2012
One hours training returns about five hour extra productivity. Yet according to a recent survey from the UK Commission on Employment and Skills 40% of UK companies spent nothing on training last year. This supports Mesmo Consultancy’s observations on how poor people’s level of skills is with their email software. Here is the tool which is used most in day-to-day businesses and yet ask people which of the key time saving features they can use such as filters and colour to manage their inbox and on average only 50% know how to use these functions.
Training is the key to improving productivity and competitiveness as has been observed by many including ourselves. Indeed attending a short ninety minute email best practice workshop can help you find up to an extra sixty minutes a day. When was the last time you provided your employees with any email training? Do they use their email software properly to improve productivity or so poorly that they are often the source of unnecessary demands on the IT Help Desk.
Click here to check your level of Outlook IT Fitness and see where you could be saving time. If you need some help call us and we would be pleased to talk through how providing email best practice training (to use both the email and calendar functionality) can improve business productivity.
Tags: email management training, Email training, Outlook IT Fitness
As you trawl through your inbox on returning from leave are you wasting time sending unnecessary emails? Mimecast found that only one in four emails is really necessary. A recent Mesmo Consultancy survey found that senior executives felt that on average 44% of the emails they receive are not needed.
You return from leave to a severe attack of email overload as your inbox is overflowing. The temptation to scan the inbox and fire off a few replies will be hard to resist. Now you have little or no chance of creating an empty inbox as the chain mail syndrome kicks in. Here is a seven point plan to help you clear your inbox quickly and take some steps to reducing not only the holiday email overload but move towards inbox zero.
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| Seven steps to reducing holiday email overload |
The result – no email overload and you should reached inbox zero by reducing the rounds of unnecessary email ping-pong. Now you have time to turn your attention to other important tasks.
Do you have any tips to share about dealing with the holiday email overload backlog?
Tags: email overload, empty inbox, inbox zero