Managing Email Overload

by Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

A strategic planning executive starts her day by opening her inbox and sorting all of her emails alphabetically. She answers messages from her boss first, followed by emails from the company’s management team and then she responds to everyone else in the organization. The whole process usually takes the first two hours of her day.

A former vice president in a technology firm, used to spend her day running from one client meeting to the next. “I was never at my desk,” she says, “but I felt compelled to answer every email I received within twenty-four hours.” She spent most of her evenings answering emails until 10 or 11 at night.

These two women could save time and increase their productivity if they knew a little secret about email: You don’t have to clean out your inbox.

So says Stever Robbins, an executive coach and creator of “You Are Not Your Inbox“, a 3-CD audio program of tips to manage email.

“No one will die if you don’t answer every email,” Robbins says. “Don’t operate under that illusion. If something isn’t important enough for another person to pick up the phone and call you, then why is it important enough for you to read and respond to the email?”

This is a radical concept for many women. It is culturally ingrained in so many women that their role is to take care off everyone, whether that be friends, family or coworkers, they can easily fall into the email overload trap. And many women feel that if they don’t appear responsive, they will not get ahead at work.

According to Robbins, just the opposite can be true. Successful people, he says, are the ones who set their own priorities and agenda; not the ones who let email set the agenda for them.

So how can you break the email habit and increase your productivity, and possibly your sanity, at work?

“Set expectations,” Robbins says. “Let your colleagues know that you check your email at certain times during the day.”

Keep in mind that just because you set up email time, doesn’t mean your colleagues will do the same. You may log on and discover that decisions have been made over email while you were focused on other projects. If that is the case, Robbins says you have to make a choice.

“You might choose to forgo input in some decisions,” Robbins says. “Or you can choose to go crazy reacting quickly to everything that happens on email. A third choice is to ask your coworkers to work with you to create a process that is respectful of your long term projects.”

Some work cultures might value quick responses over longer term strategy and planning. If that is the case, then you need to decide if you are willing to work like that Robbins says.

He prefers electronic bulletin boards over email when it comes to getting input and making decisions. These message boards allow people to start a thread where others can post ideas or discuss projects. They give employees the opportunity to share their perspective on a variety of topics and to log on and read whole threads without having to sort through a list of cumbersome emails.

When you send an electronic message, keep in mind that email etiquette is key in managing email overload. Use email in a way that sets an example for your coworkers. Robbins suggests these two etiquette rules:

• Never blind copy someone on email. If you find yourself wanting to send a “bcc”, it is probably better to call a meeting and handle the discussion in person.
• Don’t manage emotional issues on email. Face-to-face is always the best method. When that isn’t possible, then pick up the phone.

The key to managing email overload is just that: manage your email – don’t let it manage you.