It’s good to talk, no I don’t mean the old BT tag line, I mean talking to your colleagues!
Remember the ‘good old days’?
When you returned from a meeting and didn’t have to opened your e mail to find 47 unread messages?
When the most used communication tool on your desk was your phone?
When you knew what most your company looked like by seeing them not by seeing picture of them on their social media profile?
The common believe is that technology improves our lives and I wholeheartedly agree ….. up to a point. When you step beyond that point you have stepped over the border into a land controlled by the e mail warrior. The e mail warrior is a fearsome creature to be avoided at all costs.
E mail is a powerful tool; it allows messages to be delivered immediately, it sends the same message to multiple recipients, its keeps a record of all requests and responses, and it can even attach other files. Amazing vision when Ray Tomlinson invented it in 1971 (note, some credit Dr V A Shiva Ayyadurai from MIT as its inventor but he invented the first integrated e mail system in 1980). If you want the man with the vision its Ray.
But did Ray envisage a system that; stopped people from talking to each other, that ran the risk of offending people by not having intonation (no ;0) does not count), invades home and family life, and steels an average of 2.5 hours every working day (based on a recent UK poll). If Ray was still with us (sadly he passed away 2 years ago) I doubt he would be looking with great pride at how his baby has grown up!
So, we cannot turn back time (unless you are Cher) and not have e mail, nor would I want us to. There is however, e mail etiquette that can control the beast. Here are a few simple guidelines
Don’t e mail colleagues late at night with e mail that they cannot respond to unless they are in work. This could cause them concern and impact their sleep.
Think about who should action tasks and use cc for others as an FYI
Make sure the title of the e mail explains the topic clearly
Don’t ‘reply to all’ unless everyone on the e mail needs to read your message
Don’t replace a phone call or a face to face meeting with an e mail unless
You cannot get everyone together (remember the conference call)
You need a written record
You need to forward on other information/attachments
At my old agency, to ensure that we do not all become so chained to our e mail we forget what our colleagues look like, we have a Good To Talk Day. For one day we ban e mail (a few minor exemptions apply). In the past we have had great feedback not only from people who said they talked more but also people who said they got so much more work done (remember the 2.5 hours).
Ok I should fess up. I say we have GTTDs but truthfully we let this good practice slip a couple of years ago. But the good news is that it is back! May on May 2 we are reinstating the art of talking.
So if you feel that your work place is suffering from too many e mail warriors give it a go, ban e mail for a day!
by Richard Wright
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