Build a Process and System for Managing Email

If you are spending more than two hours per day dedicated to working on email, you are likely spending too much time on it. Depending on your role, that can vary a bit, but in general, I believe that would cover most roles — from Store Manager (two hours feels like WAY TOO MUCH), a District Manager, Regional Manager, or above. At a corporate level, I tend to get a lot of emails. It is far too easy for me to get sucked into email for several hours per day. The real trap is doing it in small bursts, as it doesn’t feel like a lot of time because it happens in ten minute intervals.

Before you set out to change your email process and system, I would recommend reviewing or beginning a time-tracking study to understand how much time you are already spending on email. Apple’s devices now have a screen time tracking tool built-in, which is a good starting spot. There are other alternatives available as well. It can be very helpful to understand where and how long you are spending your time.

Making the commitment to change your email habits as well as the system and process you use can be a daunting task. There are a few things you can do to get started to ensure you build a process that will work for you.

Set up based on your specific needs

What makes the most sense for you? Everyone has slightly different needs in an email system. I will share some of my processes throughout this and the next article, but that doesn’t mean it will work for your exact needs. Hopefully, it will provide ideas on how you can look at your email differently, but adjust it to suit your needs. Your email volume might be more than or less than mine.

There is no right or wrong way to build an email process. The best way will always be what works for you and one that you will use. You do not want a system that is too complex to easily work for you because then you won’t use it. Or, if you make it too simple, you may not get the efficiencies you were hoping for. Tailor your process to your needs.

Determine how you will bucket and prioritized email

You are going to need to understand what types of emails you get and the actions you typically need to take on each type. The most important point to recognize and build a process for is not holding on to email ‘just in case you need it later’. These are the types of emails that clog up email boxes and prevent you from finding the important pieces of information you actually need.

The most important point to recognize and build a process for is not holding on to email ‘just in case you need it later’.

As you define the actions you need to take, you can then build folders, tags, or places to move those emails to come back to. The next thing to remember is that your inbox is not a storage facility. It is a short-term staging area. What comes into your inbox needs to come out as quickly as your system will allow. Without fail though, if your inbox has emails that are more than forty-eight hours old, then that is too long for that specific location. (I would actually say more than twenty-four hours is too long, but baby steps...)

The next thing to remember is that your inbox is not a storage facility. It is a short-term staging area.

Working your inbox as a method of prioritization should be the first step in your email work sessions. This is the hardest step. You will be making a lot of small decisions in a short period of time; that can be hard. It can also wear you down. Suddenly it becomes easier to say, ‘I’ll come back to that.’ Or, ‘I’ll leave this here and work it as soon as I finish everything else.’ Pretty soon you’re back to having dozens of emails in your inbox with no clear next step for action. And remember, this will take practice. This is the step that will be the most difficult. I still struggle with this myself. It will take forcing yourself to deal with the email and place it into one of your buckets. In the next article, we’ll discuss what those buckets might be.

Build a system for both work and personal email

We all have at least two email inboxes — the one we have for our work email and the one for our personal email. Your process does not have to be widely variant from each other. You may have different timelines and buckets for each, but they can be worked the same way. I am in the process of figuring out the best way to organize my personal email system again to work better for me. I no longer obsess over reading my personal email every day. I have a system to notify me if a VIP email comes in, otherwise I know that there are likely no urgent messages in my personal email box. Thus, I can work it at a more leisurely pace. I have also built a lot of rules for my personal email box to bucket new messages for me, so I can prioritize which areas I check first. In a later article, we’ll look at other applications, tools, and processes that can help to automate a lot of that work for you.

Practice and have patience

Any new process or system will feel clunky to begin with. It is no different from any other new habit or activity that you start. It will take time to get used to working in a new way and break away from old habits. It is not about the twenty-one days (a myth by the way) of doing it a new way, it is building a routine that is easy and makes to you that matters the most. You will have to practice this new activity. You may even have to force yourself to not slip back to a more comfortable way of working. Avoid the trap of, “I’ll just do it this once, it’ll be faster if I just do it the old way for now.” It won’t, and it will take you further away from what you set to achieve for yourself in the first place. If your old system was working, then you wouldn’t be working to adjust it now. Have patience and give yourself time to make the transition to your new process.

Your system and process for working email will become the most important step to successfully wrangling the email overload. Thinking it through is critical. Often we want to jump right into making folders or tags, and we do not think about how they may end up working together. Invest a little time in planning out how your system will work. Try it for a couple of days and then don’t be afraid to make adjustments and tweaks to make it work best for you.

In the next article, we will look at the specifics of setting up the buckets for managing your incoming messages. From there we can define the actions and timelines that go with each of those areas.

How will you define your email process so that it works for your situation?

Join other retail leaders in continuing their development journey with Effective Retail Leader.com. SUBSCRIBE today to receive FREE leadership tips directly to your inbox and monthly newsletters that provide many tools to help further develop your leadership skills all at no cost. JOIN NOW!

No spam ever - just leadership goodness.