October FAQ — Email and Communication Overload
One Friday, each month, I dedicate the post to looking at some questions I have heard recently from developing leaders. Sharing those questions and my thoughts for them is a way for me to spread the information to as many leaders and future leaders as possible. If you have a question about leadership, or just a situation you would like some additional insight on, please email me at Effective Retail Leader. Let’s take a look at this week’s question.
I receive a lot of email in addition to the communication I receive from the corporate office, how do I manage this better to stay sane?
This is a great question and one I have heard often over many years. Time Management is usually part of any conversation I have with anyone I am talking about what would be most helpful to them. I believe that how companies and leaders communicate to their teams may be the single biggest impact on their success. That said, how you manage the incoming communications, especially email, can also be the single biggest factor in your productivity and ability to be successful. If you allow email to overwhelm you, it creates a burden that can be difficult to overcome.
If I had one thing I could eliminate from email systems and from many retail leaders’ typical actions, it would be the use of the ‘forward’ button in email. Store and Field leaders, how often do you receive an email followed by another email from your boss containing the original email everyone received, now with a short note? Typically, and I’ll paraphrase here, the follow-up message says, ‘do the thing that this email tells you to do.’ Now you have two emails, one that provides the information you need and adds no value and another that tells you to do something that you were just asked to do. Either way, both emails need to be read, and because one is from your boss, you give it a little extra time to ensure you’re not missing anything.
So how can you manage all of this? There is likely no easy answer, and will probably require some partnership and potentially difficult conversations with your peers and supervisor. Email is a curse and a blessing — it is an easy form of communication yet can create so many complexities. Figuring out to get email to work for you instead of against you has created entire industries.
What doesn't need to be in email
Most companies or field leaders have also adopted some form of messaging communication with their direct reports. DMs text or message their Store Managers. Regional Managers text or message their District Managers. Used correctly, this can be helpful. However, it can add more communication to an already overloaded communication channel. Work with your peers and your supervisor to define what messages and emails will be used for.
Messages are great for a quick check-in or to share a quick idea or a birthday wish. I have to admit, seeing an email wishing someone a happy birthday sets off my frustration meter. Not because I don’t like birthdays, I do, but what I know is about to follow is what grinds at me. 17 other emails will get the ‘reply all’ treatment, and “happy birthday — have a great day’ will now flood everyone’s email. It seems like that would have been an excellent text message to send. That way, I don't have to do anything else with that message.
Working with your peers and supervisor to define when and how to communicate can be a great time saver for everyone. This benefits the entire team, including your supervisor. Discuss what needs to be forwarded. Can the email that follows another email with no value-added information be skipped? Can an assumption be made that everyone will see the original email and will take the appropriate action? DMs and above — if you cannot skip this step, then you probably have a different problem that needs to be addressed outside of email.
Talk through the best way to share ideas and cross store information. Again, messaging may be the better method here instead of emails. The less time you need to spend in an email application the better — it frees you up to be with your team and your customers.
Take the lead and schedule a discussion with your peers to talk about how you can work better as a group through different communication channels. Then present that to your District Manager as something you, collectively, want to implement as a team.
Taking a different approach to communicating within your store or district can be a huge win for everyone involved. This is a common challenge that retail leaders face; you are not alone. But change can happen. Be proactive in finding options for how you can work differently. Even if you cannot change how much comes from your corporate office or even from above your District Manager, concentrate on what you can control and influence. You never know, when other people see how well it works for your store or your district, they may adopt it for themselves. Then you have a movement. Change can happen.
Here are links to a recent series of articles I wrote on how you can manage your own email overload situation.
Working Your Email System to Success — Save Time and Energy to Focus on What’s Most Important
Email Tools and Resources You Can Use to Reduce the Burden of Email Overload
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