Don't Send E-mails.....Ever...

Are you an inbox slave? Do you use Outlook as the record of everything you do at work? Your safety net? I have questioned people with the largest mail histories in various companies and none have ever actually gone back through their mail history to prove a meaningful point. By this, I mean saving them from losing their job or helping them get a pay rise or promotion.

Live in the moment. Delete your email history regularly.

Then start the new habit of never sending an e-mail unless you absolutely have to. This is a goal. An unachievable goal you may say. Having a go at reaching this goal will change your life. When discussing what takes up time in the day with people in the business workplace, the volume of emails is near the top. People feel slaves to the email machine. Sadly, I remember the days before email, and I am sure my physical inbox was lower volume than my electronic one. The reason for this is the ease with which we can create communications electronically and the ease, that we can send them far and wide. My email rules are as follows:

1. Don’t send an email if you can call, speak to in person or direct message.

2. Read and delete. Never reply to an email. Especially never say, thanks or okay.

3. Tell people to assume you have read it if they have sent it—they will ask why you didn’t respond.

4. Tell people you will only respond if asked a direct question to you as a named individual.

5. Do use email to share a document or for mass communication to your teams.

6. Delete every email that gets into reply all wars.

7. Work on the basis that if it’s that important people will call you.

8. Unsubscribe from every sales email—including the internal ones.

   
   

The basic rule of thumb is the less emails you send the fewer you will receive. I have been running this method for 10 years and on average receive less than 20 emails a day. I always end the week with fewer than 10 emails in my inbox. Impossible I hear you say. Frankly, if you choose to use your inbox to cover your rear; keep a history of all interactions; your delegated task manager; your project management tool and so on then it will be very full.

Amazing what happens when you talk to people. The culture around you morphs into something rather lovely.

This is one of the 10 don'ts in my successful leadership model. For more hints and tips on how to be a better leader, more efficient and take control of your work self - read the book - How to be the Grit in The Oyster