Poor email can carry a big cost and it’s not just about losing money. Poorly communicated email messages are often the cause of productivity mistakes and misunderstandings at work. In your rush to send out a message, do you leave out important details? These gaps can lead to people into making incorrect assumptions.
We’ll define the problem of poor email in this episode of our Productivity at Work video series and you’ll learn why you may want to pause, for a moment, before you send your next email or text message. The less poor email you send, the richer you’ll be in terms of productivity.
Ken Okel’s Productivity at Work video series is designed to make you more effective on the job. Every week, you’ll learn a new, easy to digest tip that you can use right away.
What Productivity Questions Does This Video Answer?
- How can I use email more effectively?
- How can I get less email?
- Why email isn’t always a good communication tool?
- How can I send better email?
- How can I improve my workplace communication?
Video Transcript
Could your use of email be costing your team valuable time and money? We’ve grown accustomed to sending emails but sometimes we don’t communicate very well because email doesn’t include every part of the communication process, especially tone and that can lead to problems.
Imagine that you’re sending an email to someone and maybe it goes through a phone. So you don’t have a lot of words there, you just want to send the message quickly as you can.
The email might say something like, “Call me.”
Someone gets the message. They open it up. They see the words. Suddenly, they think of all these scenarios.
Now maybe the first one is, “Call me. Everything is going great and I’m gonna give you a promotion. Now hat would be the best scenario.
It might be something more like, Call me. That program that I don’t know what I’m doing in, is causing me problems and I need your help immediately.
But I think most of us probably, when we hear, “Call me,” we go to that worst place. It’s more like, “Call me. You messed up. Come to my office. You’re in trouble.”
That is a major concern and you can understand why. The problem is the recipient of that message, if they think it is the third scenario, they’re gonna start to panic. They’re gonna be very nervous. They may be worried about their job security.
All of this time, they’re not thinking about actually doing their job because they’re a panic state, simply because your email did not contain the tone. Make sure you use that email to convey what you need, the importance of it, and the urgency. Let people know what they can expect. Otherwise, they’ll go worst case scenario and that can cost you valuable time and money
Here are the individual episodes of this series:
Productivity Tips Episodes
1. Productivity Tip: How to Control Distractions at Work
2. Productivity Tip: How to Save Time at Work
3. How to Prevent Burnout
4. The College Professor Time Management Tip
5. Productivity Tip: Stop the Endless Questions
6. Productivity Tip: Control Freaks and Distractions
7. Email Less and Talk More
About Ken Okel
Ken Okel works with leaders and organizations to boost productivity, performance, and profits. At conferences, conventions, and company meetings, he engages audiences with new ways to maximize their time at work. To see a sample of his keynote and workshop presentations, visit: http://kenokel.com/video.html.
