how can we improve e-mails?
DESCRIPTION
14 questions about the use of e-mail. Includes research.TRANSCRIPT
How can we
improvee-mails?
Question # 1
How can weavoid using ”cc”?
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.
Jonathan Spira, chief analyst at research firm Basex.
http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2012/12/28/the-productivity-crushing-power-of-reply-to-all/
http://www.wnyc.org/story/everybody-hates-micromanager/
Hi leaders, how important is it for you to want to be copied on every e-mail people whom you serve send?
How much in control do you need to be?
Further inspiration
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Questions-to-discover-your-values-1329394
Question # 2
How can weavoid writing in CAPITALS?
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=052013http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4438.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/technology/25apple.html?ref=technology
People are more helpful when they’re given
clear directions on how to contribute.
ExampleOne student got an answer from then-Google CEO Eric Schmidt by asking him when in his life he was happiest. Schmidt responded: “Tomorrow.”
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130624114114-69244073-6-ways-to-get-me-to-email-you-back
Question # 4
How relevant is thee-mail subject line?
Use the subject line to summarize the e-mail.
Sourceshttp://hbr.org/tip?date=052013http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4438.html
When people are busy, the emails that get read are the ones with practical subject lines.
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 do weavoid abbreviations?
The e-mail recipient might not be aware of the meanings of the abbreviations.
http://www.emailreplies.com/
Question # 6
How often do you send a link instead of an attachment?
Question # 7
How is the language in your e-mail?
Further inspiration
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Dialogue-or-discussion-1567510
Question # 8
How can you mimicthe person you are
communicating with?
One strategy that has been found to be very effective across settings is to engage in behavioural mimicry.
ExampleUse emoticons as well as words / slang / jargon in the same way as the person, with whom you are communicating, is using them.
https://hbr.org/2015/04/the-dos-and-donts-of-work-email-from-emojis-to-typos
Question # 9
How well do youserve the person
you communicate with?
We tend to be overly focused on ourselves and our own goals, while
failing to amply account for other people’s perspectives.
https://hbr.org/2015/04/the-dos-and-donts-of-work-email-from-emojis-to-typos
Question # 10
At what time of the day do you send e-mails?
At Vynamic, a healthcare consultancy in Philadelphia, e-mail is discouraged between 10pm and 7am during the week, and all day on weekends.
https://hbr.org/2015/03/your-late-night-emails-are-hurting-your-team
Question # 11
Do you know where the recipient of your e-mail is?
http://www.timeanddate.com/time/map/
Before writing ”have a good afternoon” in an e-mail, consider in which time zone the person, you send the e-mail to, is
Further inspiration
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Globalization-2173145
Question # 12
How often do you check your e-mails?
A study shows that regaining our initial momentum following an interruption can
take, on average, upwards of 20 minutes.
https://hbr.org/2014/07/the-cost-of-continuously-checking-email/
Further inspiration
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/769046140
Question # 13
How good are you at keeping 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.
3 actions to keep your inbox clean
https://www.good.is/articles/clean-up-your-inbox-pro-tips-from-a-gmail-insiderhttps://hbr.org/2012/02/stop-email-overload-1.htmlhttps://hbr.org/2009/05/how-to-keep-your-email-under-c.html
When executives at a London-based firm reduced the number of e-mails they sent, other employees did as well.
http://hbr.org/2013/09/to-reduce-e-mail-start-at-the-top/ar/1
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 fromhttps://hbr.org/2015/09/fixing-our-unhealthy-obsession-with-work-email
Question # 14
What about using chat and/or other social media
instead of e-mail?
A 5 minute chat may be more efficient
than crafting a message that adequately explains the situation.
http://hbr.org/tip?date=011713
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The instant you read emotion in their response, or feel it yourself - change mediums.
Even a phone call lets you hear nuances in tone, silences, and other data that help you address emotions. Skype or video conferencing gives you even more information.
https://hbr.org/2015/03/you-can-have-constructive-conflict-over-email
People, who work for Automattic, the company that runs Wordpress, rarely use email.
Instead they use internal blogs, chat rooms, and Skype.
http://blogs.hbr.org/berkun/2013/03/how-wordpress-thrives-with-a-1.html
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
Sourceshttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204452104577060103165399154.htmlhttp://bc.pcworld.dk/art/204243/her-er-aarsagen-til-at-vi-har-lagt-e-mailen-for-hadhttp://epn.dk/teknologi2/computer/article2745851.ecehttp://atos.net/en-us/about_us/zero_email/default.htm
The companies Atos, Klick, and Exformaticsstopped using internal e-mails.
https://twitter.com/frankcalberg