Managing willpower, for better work skills and greater workplaces.

There is a trend brewing in the world of work; one that is taking us away from reading to skimming to not wanting to read lengthy matters at all. We just don't have the time, patience, or bandwidth to read that long email at work, more often than not. More of us are finding it cumbersome to read lengthy communication; and eventually find ourselves wishing everyone could draft short, sweet, and effective emails.

It is the age of communicating the message + call to action in one look.

As communication gets divided into many slices of the pizza (social media, email, in-app, tv, print, publication, websites..), attention is divided yes. But so are priorities. Consuming the whole communication pie is a challenge and viewers are forced to develop and hone new skill sets associated with effectively consuming and processing online content for one’s work/personal awareness. And so, we continue to be unwilling in the face of lengthy comms.

What's interesting is, this recently developed unwillingness to process large amounts of information online has trickled down to our very jobs. While the crisp email is always welcome, the verbose one is treated with ignorance and instant judgment, no matter how articulate, pertinent, and filled with important information.

The internet and the app boom have connected humans like fungal hyphal networks, and communication is seamless today. We are nearer and faster than ever before. With response rates timed at seconds now, so are the expectations & deliverables.

Our days are getting increasingly packed with apps, websites, platforms, and technologies to stay on top of; besides staying connected with other human beings. Meanwhile, we are expected to deliver everything faster. At this pace, we are bound to become unwilling. The longer the mail, the more our irritation with its writer. Given the variety of digital touchpoints that hold our attention constantly; the shorter + quicker + simpler matter is taking preference and precedence. Are we slowly and subconsciously training ourselves away from the ability to process information of all kinds, especially lengths?

Now is the time to realize that increasingly expecting the world to fix its email and length game is preventing us from receiving the full message and sometimes retaining great candidates in jobs they are good at. Critically put, the more we practice it, the more our unwillingness barrier could stand to become a bias that hinders growth.

I believe we can adapt and upskill to willingly read and register everything we receive at work. It begins and ends with managing our willpower; to see things clearly, process them critically, decide on a course of action, collaborate, engage and add value where we must. Not only will we save a lot of time at work, we may also prevent ourselves from developing a bias towards the writer of the mail or better yet to the length of the mail. Are these things to be put off by, in times when the devil lies in the fine print?

To read what the other person is trying to convey, irrespective of length is still our job. We seem to be moving away from making time for what matters, and cutting short an interaction that is definitely part of every one of our jobs, no matter the department/function/team.

If a colleague caught you at the end of the hall and wanted to rationalize a project decision/client relationship strategy with you; will you tell her she is thinking/sharing/speaking too much? By dismissing that conversation, you might miss the dope of the negotiation, and might even miss the right trigger to crack the strategy. How else do we have meaningful discussions, on record, in this fast-paced hybrid world? This momentary unwillingness, now becoming a habit, could eventually become a long-term barrier to our attention to detail, focus, and ability to learn.

It is safe to say, effective email communication is a unique and novel skill that has become magically valuable over the recent decades. In India, barely one decade.

This is a civilization where one primary language may not overpower the diverse local languages and dialects. How then, do we expect our mass workforce to transform their communication styles over multiple platforms while they continue to excel at their core job roles? Assuming that writing an effective email is an essential skill for any job outside of the communications/marketing functions, creates a limited filter. One that sieves out candidates who are good at their jobs, but constantly caught in the clutter. Assuming that this skill comes naturally without intended training and practice, could be a bigger blunder.

It’s understandable when someone dismisses a long promotional mail from a brand/person/website; they clearly missed the marketing train. But I think it's time we realized how much slips between the work mail and its reader these days. Feels like love lost. The dear details of a complex project, buried in the folds of a long email that nobody bothered to read top to bottom.

The fact is if every one of us took out time to read every single email that was written to us; our jobs may take us double the time we normally take today. The second fact is, Rigorous experiential upskilling. We are getting better at filtering, skimming, speed reading, registering, and analyzing emails; no matter how cluttered or crisp. Then there is a third, deeper fact to consider. Judging the writer is easy, judging ourselves for losing the patience and time to read and register what is being conveyed on a long mail, is what is taking time.

It has become a matter of convenience to attach value to what is quickly, sharply, briefly conveyed. Thus the unwillingness is born and it remains to be seen if, these little behaviours and unwillingnesses affect our ability to process complex matters in written conversation. Brings us right back to managing will for better behaviour patterns and best outcomes.

Shall we pick up the pace then?

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