From Overwhelmed to Organized: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Email

Admittedly, I hate email. I have written several articles on the subject, many of which provide ideas about how to work with and manage the constant flow of messages that come into your email inbox. I continue to revisit this subject because it is such a problem for so many people. I will also admit that I struggle with this and often find my inbox to be insanity inducing.

I do not subscribe to the idea of Inbox Zero in the sense that you will always be caught up with email at the end of every day. For many people, I simply do not think that is possible. Even if it could be done, it would be because they spend more time working email than on the most important elements of the job. The hardest part of understanding effective email management is that it is NOT the most critical thing you do. However, it can regularly seem that way because we make email do so many things for us.

While I may not subscribe to the idea of ‘inbox zero’ in the way others do, I am a proponent of knowing that you have identified and managed email for the day. I typically complete each day with less than ten emails in my actual inbox, and then varying numbers of emails in other ‘buckets’. I have described my email set up in previous articles and still find this an effective way to manage and stay on top of messages, directions, and general information that is sent to me via email.

There are some common features in most email clients that can help you manage your email a little better, whether you get a few or a lot, or whether you are a Store Manager or higher. Email doesn’t always have to be the burden it feels like.

Stop using your inbox for storage or task management

The email inbox is not the right place for archiving email or to keep things as a list of things to do. Your inbox should only be for things that need to be processed, reviewed, or deleted. This sounds like it should be simple, but it can be challenging to review an email and decide on what to do with it. Having a process for your email will help ensure you can keep your inbox productive and not clogged with hundreds or thousands of emails.

Using the basic GTD method here works to save a lot of time. In basic terms — if the email will take less than two minutes to deal with — deal with it, archive it, then move on. If you know you need to do something with the email, but it will take more than two minutes, assign it to a proper action file or move to your task management list. Finally, if there is nothing you need to do with the email, archive it or delete it.

See only what is new

Using the tools built into your email client will help you see only what is new or what you need. The easiest option and one that is built into almost every application is the ability to simply filter to only ‘unread’ emails. If you still have many messages in your inbox, filtering to just the unread items can help you triage the newest emails and clear them out. Note: This does require at the very least marking email messages as complete when you do view them the first time. Using the recommendation in the tip above should help to eliminate the conflicts of leaving messages unread as a form of task management.

Define times for email

This sounds scary and maybe improbable for many people. I will admit, it is still a challenge for me. Email is unfortunately still seen often as synchronous communication, meaning people expect quick replies for back and forth dialogue. Moving away from that thought process will help you be more productive and speed up your ability to work and manage email. Every time I force myself into this type of workflow, I experience productivity gains. Try setting times in the morning, near lunch, and towards the end of the day to work your inbox. I try to use the morning session to catch up on anything I didn’t finish from the day before. I use the lunch window to work my inbox and move items that require more time to respond to the appropriate folder (today, tomorrow, follow up etc.) and address the quick response items right away. At the end of the day, I do the same process as the midday session, but then take time to address the items that require more time. That end of day session then is the longest of the day, so plan accordingly.

Use the out-of-office message – differently

One interesting use for the auto responder on your email application is to educate people on how you work email, not just for telling people you are on vacation. Update your out-of-office message to explain to others how you work with email. If you are working email two or three times a day, let people know you typically respond at the beginning or end of each day. If they do have a pressing or urgent issue, provide alternative methods to contact you – phone, text, company messaging service (Teams, Slack, etc.). This is a good way to try to move people from that idea of email as synchronous communication.

Use other tools to communicate and share information

Speaking of different messaging services, if you have one in your company, move to that for quick back and forth communications. If you are a district or regional leader, you likely use texting or these messaging services all the time. You know your team is not sitting at a desk waiting to read email all day, so using these types of services can be more effective for sharing information and eliminates the need to manage messages in your inbox.

Triage and prioritize

Move emails you need to respond to into a separate folder or area, so you work only on those. I set up a folder for each of these — ‘quick reply’, ‘today’, ‘this week’, ‘in process’, ‘follow up’, ‘review’, ‘awaiting response’, and ‘reference’. They are in that order and I actually have them numbered in front of the words, so they are arranged in my email application (Outlook) in that order directly under my Inbox. As I work through my inbox items, I review and determine which bucket the email will go into. Then, during my determined email working periods, I work through each of those folders.

Disconnect

Pause your inbox, so it doesn’t feel like the bucket gets filled back in as you try to empty it. Work offline or use the ‘inbox pause’ function if available in your email application. Airplane mode works on mobile devices to accomplish this same thing. All the emails you were sent during this time will catch up when you reconnect. See if this will help you be more productive in your email working sessions.

Email continues to be a challenge for most people in every role. Email is overused and, in most cases, improperly used. But since so many people are used to the way it works and the convenience of it for certain things, it is a challenge to transition away from it. Finding ways to manage it effectively for yourself can be a great way to unlock valuable time and energy to spend on more productive elements of your role. Hopefully, these tips and those shared in previous posts can help you get unchained from your email box.

Which tips can you use to help you break free from your email?

For additional email support, you can check out these other articles on managing email. Many of these go into deeper detail about some of the tips listed above.

Build a Process and System for Managing Email

Email Tools and Resources You Can Use to Reduce the Burden of Email Overload

Working Your Email System to Success — Save Time and Energy to Focus on What’s Most Important

Foundations for Managing Email Overload

Taming Email in an Email Happy World

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