Let's talk about email...

So despite my boyish good looks I am actually old enough to remember a working world without email, and in some respects it was a much better world.

Of course email has many benefits, and I for one would struggle to exist in my current global media role without it, and I would never refute that properly used it can be a wonderful tool for both being productive and also maintaining real relationships in a multi-time zone world where being there in person is not always possible.

However email does have a very dark side, one which wastes almost infinite amounts of our time and can destroy human relationships in the blink of an eye.

And that is because unlike the aforementioned human relationships and the social skills we learn at school, no one is ever given a single lesson on how to use email effectively, rather we are just presented With an outlook or gmail account and told to get on with it, mail away and hope for the best, which often sadly results in our worst.

So here are five behaviours or rules which I constantly try to personally apply to my email life, (although admittedly I fail in this a lot) and which I believe can help you make your email relationship a positive one and one which can help transform your working day.

RULE 1) If you write it, speak it.

In a nutshell this is exactly as it sounds, i.e. never write anything in an email that you would be unwilling to actually say to a persons face.

Okay so if you would actually be willing to call someone a 'damn idiot' to their face, then fine put it in your email, but if not then don't write it okay?

I am constantly surprised by the levels of aggression that is displayed in emails, some passive and maybe some less so, but regardless of the type I always wonder if someone would actually say that to my face or not.

Yep, I thought not.

So the first rule for a better email experience is don't write something you wouldn't say to someones face in an email.

As a further observation too, I often find email to be a very one dimensional medium and extremely blunt in as much as something written with the best intentions can be easily misunderstood or taken in offence without the physical senses of sound and sight to add context.

So try this, if you are not certain if you would or would not say something you are writing in an email, then divert to that wonderful old tool of the telephone, or better still find that person in the real world and see if you actually can say what you intended to them in person.

The chances are you won't, but the chances are that you will have a far more productive and constructive dialogue with them in person, returning back to your email tool afterwards thinking "thank god I didn't send them that email" and also saving the HR department many hours of work too.

RULE 2) Never CC anyone...ever, no really never.

CC is the junk mail of the digital world, it clogs up our inboxes, whilst we are never quite sure if we are being included in the conversation or not.

Yet we are all guilty of generally cc'ing people on email just in case, or to cover our arses aren't we.

Someone more clever than me once said cc'ing people on email was like inviting the wrong people to a meeting and I would have to agree wholeheartedly with that assessment.

And then there is BCC.

Beyond trying to get someone in trouble or create a kick-off, is there actually any other reason for using BCC in email?

I Thought not, but yet again we do it and then live to regret it.

So here is the next tip. Don't cc people. No seriously don't. Ever.

If you want to include them in the conversation then do, add them to the to field, if not then don't include them at all it is that simple.

And if you BCC, then I suggest you un-plug yourself from the internet immediately for the good of humanity.

And talking of the good of humanity that leads me to the next rule.

RULE 3) Less is always more.

Sadly when it comes to email, the phrase why use one word when you can use several hundred often springs to mind.

Everyday I am bombarded with manymini-novels presented in email format, where generally by the fifth or sixth line I have lost the will to read on further, meaning that if I do reply, then it probably isn't likely to be in response to what has actually been asked or written about.

Yet here is the thing.

Most of us are adapt at using short form communication via digital devices, be those text messages, twitter, facebook, instagram posts or whats app, where we summarise our thoughts or communication into a few simple lines or words as a result we don't lose the art of being understood or heard, rather we enhance it.

Yet when we go back to email we then feel the need to write that Shakespeare like essay again, wear out our keyboard and irritate the hell out of our co-workers.

So try this instead.

Try keeping your emails to a maximum of ten lines, or even five if you can manage it and include your greeting and salutation in that too.

Yes you will find you take longer thinking about what you write before putting fingers to keyboard, but as a result what you then type is generally then far crisper, better understood and yes even read all the way through!

And if you need to exceed that amount of content, then the chances are you should really be writing a document to include as an attachment to your now shortened email.

Again it might should hard but it really isn't and trust me when you try this you will unlock a whole new level of your ability to communicate in the typed word!

Now my fourth rule relates to the actual email technology we use to create our email masterpieces, something which we often overlook.

RULE 4) Learn the rules

So I wonder how many of you actually know what all the functions and drop down options on our email programs actually do and use them on a regular basis.

I thought so!

I would venture that probably 80% of people who are reading this have never set a rule in their outlook or gmail to managing incoming emails and to help organise and make their email time more efficient.

Think about CC emails.

If you bought into what I said earlier then chances are these will decline, but sadly there will be many who continue to curse your digital existence by adding you in CC, so why not create a rule to automatically move these into a cc folder and review these just once a day or better still, once a week.

What about another rule to instantly alert you when your boss emails you - I mean how good would you look if you always instantly reply to his or her every whim! Very good I would suggest.

So the fourth rule is simple yet can be hyper-effective as with the other four and that is use the rules and tools in the technology itself to help automate and organise your email life.

Invest some quality time in learning the software and its features, watching YouTube videos on email hacks etc to help automate and get the most from the tools on offer.

At the very least it will make you look like an email god to your co-workers and might just make your email time hyper effective and efficient.

And my final and fifth rule is probably the best of all and that is simply to say no!

RULE 5) Time to Turn off

The problem with email is that it now means we are constantly connected, always available and never able to switch off our minds.

It makes us suffer from things like FOMO (fear of missing out), blurs work time with free time and ultimately turns us into increasingly nervous wrecks centred around that constantly buzzing device.

So here is my tip, turn it off.

Yes Turn it off. Okay so maybe not your whole device but your email program and set a clear time-frame each day when you simply do not email.

That might be evenings, or lunch times but it is clear time to clear your head of the email clutter which can fill its every waking moment.

And if you are on holiday then turn it off for your entire vacation time, no if no buts just do it. Just as nobody likes a BCC'er people also truly hate a vacation emailer, the person who can't even let go for a week from their email fixation.

So there you have it, my simple rules to help wrestle control back into our email lives and make it a more positive work tool for all.

Now you can of course disagree with me on what I have written here, and if so then please feel free to email me your views, but obviously in under ten lines!

#agencyvoices