When you were making a list of what you wanted for Christmas last year, did you by any chance ask Santa for more e-mails?
Of course you didn’t. If you asked for anything (other than the Porsche), it would have been for fewer e-mails, not more.
Why would you ever expect to receive fewer when you send out more and more every day? (Note: This is where you blame other employees and your mean boss for sending the e-mails. It is called Denial.)
Here are a few solutions for cutting down the number of companywide e-mails:
• Reply All.
Think before using the Reply All button (or as I call it, the Button of doom).
Three people sending 3 e-mails to one another, and then Replying to All of them, and then Replying to All of them again, means 54 e-mails being created and circulated among 3 people.
• Combine.
No, not the farm machine, bunch them together. Rather than answering every e-mail one at a time, think about combining answers using one e-mail.
• Talk with.
You can store e-mails to answer in a folder called Talk with or Discuss in your e-mail program under the Batched Action Category.
• Call.
Calling allows you to come to a conclusion and decision much faster than e-mail ever will—especially with complex issues.
• Ask out.
Let the sender know in a polite way when you don’t want to be copied. Many workers aren’t sure if you want the information or not so they send it. This is your chance to let them know that you absolutely, positively, definitely, do not want to receive it.
Someone has to stop this insanity.
If you send it, it will come back again, and again, and again.
© Greg Vetter 2019. All rights reserved
