Email is the quiet killer of success

Email is the quiet killer of businesses:

Email usage among employees has grown far too reliant. They are working long days and sending emails after hours rather than concentrating on preparation, doing project tasks, or spending much needed time with their people.?

A fresh email notification interrupts real work all too frequently, killing employee productivity and enthusiasm. Furthermore, email inboxes are frequently utilised as project folders, and Outlook is frequently used as a full management and communication tool. This inevitably results in emails dictating the workdays of employees.?

Email not only saps employee productivity but also kills business profitability. Email data is frequently stored inefficiently and erroneously.

Employees neglect to save emails in shared folders, which makes them challenging to search. Because of this, finishing jobs and projects on schedule and within budget becomes more difficult, necessitating longer workdays for everyone. How many of us have devoted hours to finding the one email that will serve as the ideal reply to the irksome one you received earlier? You know you have.

Lighten the load and give your company new life:

Businesses need to put best practises that lower distractions and the volume of email into practise if they want to boost effectiveness and turn onerous email handling into productive duties.

Utilise email management: Tasks can be completed faster than ever before, on time, and most importantly, under budget by disabling new email alerts and only checking your inbox periodically. There are certain people, you know who you are, who upon receiving an email feel compelled to check it out as soon as they see the subject line or sender's name. This only serves as a significant diversion from current obligations.

To maintain cleaner inboxes and more productive work, adopt the 3Ds concept of deal, delete, delegate.

Information highway inbox:

Create a system that when people send emails they identify which are urgent and should be sent in the fast lane and which ones should be sent on the hard shoulder.?

Lessen the number of emails you send: It may sound obvious, but the more emails you send and the more recipients you tag, the more emails you will receive. The efficiency of the business will increase if sent emails are minimised.?

Even more obvious, but very often overlooked, be succinct and to the point: Email back and forth is decreased, and readers may read and answer more rapidly when emails are brief, succinct, well-structured, and error-free.

Lastly, and most important of all, take this into account. You are having a new conversation with every email you do not send. A chance to have a quick moment of shared connection, the kind of thing that successful teams and organisations are built on.?

How often do you hear someone claim, "Yeah, we've worked together in a few companies, we've actually known each other for 10 years, we constantly bounce ideas off of each other, and we've been part of some really successful teams. We never converse; instead, we only ever email one another. I truly know nothing about that person, their life, or their character.” I'd say not very frequently is the answer. Successful teams tend to talk more about things which lead to things like camaraderie, a sense of purpose, and a sense of belonging. Things that can only happen when people cross paths at the kettle, or when you get up from a meeting and there are just two of you remaining and you just start to talk and form a relationship that lasts for years.?

I'm not saying email doesn't have its place; of course it does. However, email will not and cannot replace the sense of personal connection that can only be made by noticing someone's smile during a happy conversation, or recognising someone who is hurting and then being there for them and building bonds that cannot be broken and that will lead to ultimate success.

PS - Yes we do still use a kettle, old school…I mean it’s more authentic. ?

Chris Gibbs MBA