Why are you sending an EMAIL? Stop and ask yourself; take action - be a disruptor by reinventing how you communicate.
How many emails a day do you get which don’t require any ACTION from you?
How many emails a day do you get where you are on the CC line which requires ACTION from you?
How many emails a day contain file attachments which are INFORMATIONAL only?
How many emails a day contain file attachments where FEEDBACK is requested?
How many daily emails do you put YOURSELF on the CC or BCC lines?
Have you STOPPED and asked yourself; what is the purpose of this email message?
Here is a sampling of a 7-day cycle of emails depicting what was "called out" in the email as ACTIONABLE (2%). This number does not include accepting, declining, or tentative meeting requests.
How do you measure PRODUCTIVITY?
By the number of emails you have in your inbox;
by the number of emails you send;
by Carbon Copying EVERYONE to build your BRAND.
How productive are you with hundreds or emails a day.
Can we reduce the number of emails one receives in a day? Would I be more focused on the working at hand? During a construction project you can see the results of your work through gratification of seeing an outcome. The challenge is for all of us to stop the chaos currently going on within the email platform. My guess is you measure PRODUCTIVITY by the total number of emails sent and received along with the total number of meetings on your calendar. Hmmm… if you are reading or typing email; or if you are in a meeting explain the gratification you might see at the outcome of the meeting?
Okay, I know you are saying that you have shared information, made a decision, brainstorming for content as called out in examples from effectivemeetings.com. Others might be looking at how they get work done using other means to increase their productivity. My challenge is for all to consider alternatives to the following list of emails; I'll bet everyone is sending.
STOP sending stuff that is not relevant to me (IT'S NOISE); taking me away from the work at hand.
To SHARE a bit of INFORMATION
To COVER YOUR BUTT
To ask a QUESTION to a specific person
To start a discussion about a TOPIC
To COORDINATE A MEETING with two or more people
To REMIND yourself that you sent an email by resending to yourself (i.e. CC or BCC yourself)
To gain notoriety by REPLY ALL to an email chain (i.e. Welcome email to new co-worker)
To communicate a story with more than ONE POINT (i.e. Status Report; Sales Update)
To ask someone do take ACTION to complete an active required to conduct BUSINESS
Do you have a subscription to Office 365?
If you do, keep reading…ONLY if you'd like to gain some value from your investment. In my humble opinion, Microsoft has continued to be the software provider for the most complex, comprehensive, and scalable productive tools fully integrated into desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
Discover, Exploit, Disrupt, Explore different technics to purposefully "do work"
STOP sending an email message to random people
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ALTERNATE using Office 365
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SHARE a bit of INFORMATION
Resulting: empower others to determine what is relevant to them by opt-in; or when required to read add a requirement to sign what has been read.
Secret: Millennials really like being empowered; outside of email
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Publish an article on your company intranet
Publish an article to your department intranet
Publish an article to your group (team) intranet
Post a file in a common location
Provide guidance on labeling content to create findable content
Post in an Office 365 Group
Use ONENOTE to capture INFORMATION outside of an email conversation thread
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To COVER YOUR BUTT
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Starting building "TRUST" and "RELATIONSHIPS"
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To ask a QUESTION to a specific person
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Use DELVE to surface who might be an expert
Use SEARCH to surface who might have already asked the question
Use INSTANT MESSAGE to ask them
Submit to a DISCUSSION BOARD to allow many to respond
Voice CALL them leave a Voice Mail; they may be able to reply using an EMAIL or INSTANT MESSAGE
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To start a discussion about a TOPIC
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DISCUSSION BOARDS allow for gamification
YAMMER GROUPS allow for focused topics
OFFICE GROUPS allow for focused topics
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To COORDINATE A MEETING with two or more people
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Share your CALENDAR with others
Leverage add-ins such as FINDTIME
Use a short EXCEL SURVEY
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To REMIND yourself that you sent an email by resending to yourself (i.e. CC or BCC yourself
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To gain notoriety by REPLY ALL to an email chain (i.e. Welcome email to new co-worker)
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To communicate a story with more than ONE POINT (i.e. Status Report; Sales Update)
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To ask someone do take ACTION to complete an active required to conduct BUSINESS
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SEND THEM AN EMAIL :-) add <action> in subject
ADD an item to PLANNER and assign it to them (you'll see how busy they are)
ADD an item to their TASK list
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Grow your company align with the vision and goals by empowering everyone to be experts through advanced Collaboration.
Additional information
Are my documents safe in Office Delve? Yes, your documents are safe. Delve never changes any permissions.
Increased Transparency in a digital world - Ways to think about increasing transparency using technology that is available today
