Email Enigma: When the Boss's Reply Is Cryptic. Updated March 11, 2014 9:15 p.m.
ET Many employees labor over emails seeking guidance from the boss, only to receive a cryptic reply such as "Great! " or "Sounds good"—or no answer at all. The result: Confusion and frustration. The potential for email misfires between bosses and subordinates is mounting, as the volume of email grows and more people read it on the fly on mobile devices. Jill Campen was baffled recently when her boss Marty Finkle fired back a one-word reply to her carefully thought-out email asking for his approval on a client-training presentation she had prepared: "Done! " Mr. The number of emails sent or received daily by the typical corporate employee is expected to rise to 136 by 2017 from 121 this year, based on projections released last November by the Radicati Group, a Palo Alto, Calif., market-research firm.
Some bosses don't answer at all. Managers sometimes use silence to pressure employees to come up with a solution on their own, says Joyce K. Mr. In time, Ms. Are Employees "Pulling" Less Internal Info? Is the Need for Companies to Push Key Info Rising? - Cut Through Communications. Chris L sent me a blog post today from Columbine Communications in South Africa that included the following: "There is a decline in employees accessing or "pulling" information from available internal information sources.
The world of work is becoming increasingly complex and information overload is a common syndrome. Employees simply don't have the cerebral bandwidth to absorb it all! In response there is an increasing requirement for communicators to push information to the corporate user that not only grabs their attention but motivates and prompts them to respond. " Ha! I'll keep you posted on what you find, but please do comment here if you have any data we should consider! Ways to Reduce Internal Email Overload. “Our target audience notice our communications, they’re not getting lost” Cosima Wagner, Marketing & Communications, Wipro Retail. 9 Alternatives to Internal Mass Emails Tip 1- Recognize the Impact of Internal Communication Emails "The Communications team worked out that they are asking reps to read the equivalent of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird every month" CTC Multiple, uncoordinated mass internal emails from different parts of the business such as; planned outages from IT, product information updates from Marketing, new policy information from HR, social club notices, and so on, can add up to an incredible flood of uncoordinated information hitting employee inboxes.
This can cause important messages to become buried and employee productivity and engagement to drop. Tip 2 –Aggregate Mass Emails into a Single Format. The Definitive Guide to Taming the Email Monster. Workplace Email.
It's out of control. You'd love to spend your day doing your job so that maybe, just maybe you could get home and enjoy uninterrupted time with your family or get out with friends. Instead, you spend so much time every day managing your inbox that everything else in your life--real work, family, play--is practically an afterthought. It's not a pretty situation for employees or employers. 4 Reasons Why Email Overload Is Your Own Fault [OPINION] How To Manage Your Emails. Email is not always the best tool for the job.
Photo: Michele Mossop How many emails do you have in your inbox? Five? 10? 500? An overflowing inbox is the enemy of productivity, according to experts. University of Queensland strategic communications lecturer Sean Rintel said companies around the world were tackling inbox management, completely eliminating internal emails and using micro-blogging, scheduling and instant messaging platforms instead. Help is at hand to manage the bulging inbox.
“It's using the right tools for the task – that's the problem," Dr Rintel said. Advertisement. Save Our Inboxes! Adopt the Email Charter! Avoidable Email Disasters. Self-expression in email is important. So is keeping your job, and keeping a clear line of communication with your team, your boss, your co-workers…and your significant other(s). Here are some brief guidelines on how to make sure you are using Email appropriately (and effectively). Of course, it’s just a matter of time before all email is called “Google+” (yep, you heard it hear first) – but, in the meantime, consider this a roadmap to netiquette, until Facebook falls. From a recent post on westfallonline.com, here are the 12most common email disasters: 1. No porn, no pictures of your body-business, no sharp language. Why? You can’t unring a bell so choose your words (and images!)
Always use a subject line, appropriate greeting and a smart signature ~ no need for fourteen lines about your academic and professional accomplishments, if we work together every day. 2. Freedom of speech is a right, but exercising that right means using it the right way. 3. 4. Laziness, plain and simple. 5. 6.