E-mail. I can’t name one person who wishes they had more. 25 years ago, it was a novelty. Today, for many, it is an insurmountable burden to productivity.
It shouldn’t be.
Here’s the problem. The emergence of the many forms of electronic communication mediums have created a never-ending blur of streaming noise. It seems there is little distinction across these formats to help us discern the importance, urgency, and our role in responding to all these inputs. As leader, it is up to you to establish the guard rails on how you want communication to flow to support your objectives. Ignore this responsibility at your peril. You’ll quickly find yourself holding on for dear life on a very fast and bumpy ride.
E-mail is still the default electronic communication medium for professional business people. Phone, text and social media platforms have their place, and each can contribute to increased productivity. None of these however, offer the ability for the leader to coherently guide her team forward in the direction of shared business objectives. Consistency, accountability, clarity. E-mail is the tool.
But how do you use this tool to its full potential without slipping into the streaming blur of data overload. You need to think about how you want to receive, process, and disseminate information. You need to think about how you want your team to follow your example of managing information. Then you need to set clear expectations with your team about all of that.
Get started by asking yourself a few questions about Preferences, Priorities, and Pace.
Your Preferences. What are your personal requirements for communicating efficiently? What information do your need and in what format? How do you want others to present their pressing problems to you? Exactly how do you need to receive information to make decisions and implement solutions quickly and effectively, so you are ready for the next situation?
Your Priorities. You have a lot going on. The e-mail that just landed in your inbox is another straw landing on your camel’s back. Is it interesting? Important? Urgent? Is it an emergency? You need a method for quickly assessing questions, requests for your time and attention, problems that require you to take ownership, and opportunities on which to shift your focus. You need to receive this communication in a particular form that enables that assessment.
Your Pace. How responsive do you need to be? Should you respond to each e-mail instantly, or do different circumstances call for different timing? Do you understand the difference in these situations? Does your team? How will you determine your process for tackling some situations immediately, deferring others until later, and declining things that don’t need your input?
Answer these questions by establishing a practical set of practices with your team. Give them guidance.
Establish your preferences by prescribing format. Keep it simple. Subject line should be descriptive of the situation and not cryptic. It should not be shorthand for the first line of a verbal conversation, such as “…just wanted to ask you a question.” As leader, you have no option to defer this message without opening and reading more. A better subject line would be “Your Decision Needed Today for Customer ABC Presentation.” As leader, you know what is needed, that the answer must come from you, and there is a deadline. You can immediately prioritize the request and decide to read the message.
Next, train your team members to write the first 2 sentences in a way that there is no confusion about your role. They should explicitly describe whether they are asking you a question, providing information, or introducing a new problem or opportunity. They should provide a timeline needed for your action if required, and explain in a few words what you are about to read in the remainder of the message. Finally, they should provide context about how this message relates to a current project, business initiative, or customer.
As leader, you have now spent 15 seconds and have an 80% understanding of the situation and your role. You can decide to read further or move on to the next message.
Explain how you’ll prioritize different communications. My own method goes something like this. If I can answer or solve something in 2 minutes, I do. Right now. If the request is related to an open project, and there is not an explicit immediate deadline in the message, it gets deferred to the end of the day when I work on projects. If I can identify a topic where I am not the best person to take an action, I identify that person and either push the message back to the sender with guidance or include the other person myself in my response. If the request requires further dialogue, I explain the questions I have and book a time to speak with the sender. Unless there is a single question I need answered, I like to schedule time to talk live. I avoid initiating a multiple message back and forth to answer questions. I don’t like turning 1 or 2 e-mails into 12. Finally, if the message is for information only, I save that message for the end of the day or first thing the next morning when I do my reading and reflecting. Then I file it.
This is a very important step. You’ll find that if your team knows how you process their communication, you’ll get e-mails that naturally fall into your categories and cadence.
Address misalignments to your best practices. It takes time and personal attention to get everyone on the same page when communicating by e-mail. That’s a result of 2 significant factors. First, as I talked about above, the world is streaming at a dizzying pace. It isn’t getting slower, it is speeding up and that’s going to continue. The pressure on each of us to be smarter and faster is growing every day. Recognize the effect that has on your people, and practice your empathy in helping them to slow things down. The second factor is what I like to call the law of first nature. We each have a first nature to behave in certain ways. One of my first nature habits is to procrastinate. When I’m feeling empowered and energized, I practice my learned time management techniques and I get things done. When I’m overstressed, I go back to my first nature. I procrastinate more.
I believe that each of us go back to our first nature in times of great stress. In fact, I’ve seen myself and others actually overplay our first natures in these moments. Be aware of this phenomenon. Train your people on what you’ve established as best practice. Reinforce your training by applauding behaviors that hit the mark and redirecting behaviors that miss. Then recognize when these 2 critical factors cause a derailment. Don’t panic, just get your people back on track and support them.
The world isn’t going to slow down anytime soon. Each of us has a responsibility to communicate effectively and empathetically. As a rising leader, you can shape the communication across your team. These simple tips will save you hours of frustration and clear the minds of you and your team members, so you can focus on the important stuff.
Satisfying your customers. Achieving your objectives. Advancing your career.
Simple steps that can take you and your team a great distance forward.
Lead well.
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