Email, Schmee-mail

A Note to Minions:

One of the reasons I started this blog was to counter the belief instilled by stay-at-home-bloggers that working from home and office-life tips are easily translatable.  For example, I have read posts that state how emails can easily be managed by “only checking your emails on Mondays” or “setting aside a time each day to go through your emails and sort them by priority”.

This is NOT advice suited for office-life reality where not checking your email for an entire hour can convey to someone you’re ready to commit mutiny.

Nevertheless, emails can (and must) be tamed.

(1) Set up a folder for each of your supervisors/coworkers who send you emails.  After reading each email, don’t let it pile up in your inbox.  Get used to the habit of dropping it in the folder of who sent it to you.

(2) Print out “task” emails and make a physical stack as a reminder of what you were asked to complete– don’t let them get piled under junk in your email.  The last thing anyone wants to hear is why you didn’t do something because, “my inbox was too disorganized and it got buried”. 

(3) Stay focused – just because a new email pops up in your inbox doesn’t mean you have to check it right away (unless it is a flagged emergency, then run for it) – usually this behavior leads to unfinished tasks and a sloppy inbox.  Ignore those notifications until the task at hand is finished.  Check your emails between tasks, not in lieu of completing them.

A Note to Supervisors:

Allow and assist your staff to prioritize.  You are competing with the entire company to get your work put at the top of the stack. 

Think for a moment and assess.

Are you the boss that snaps your fingers when things aren’t happening quickly enough? 

Are you the boss that calls five minutes after sending an email to make sure that your staff got the emails?

Are you the boss that, upon being asked what the priority level is, retorts, “All my stuff is important” or “I need it by yesterday”?

Assisting staff to understand priority is crucial, even when a staff member is experienced.  Acting as if all tasks, even the routine maintenance, are crucial undermines your staff and sets stress levels too high for productivity.