Randall Dean Consulting & Training, LLC
Timely Tips January 2015:

Finding Sanity in Your Individual
E-mail Communications
 
  
*Plus, info on next month's Taming the E-mail Etiquette webinar program, and a NEW FEATURE:  Life Hacks! 
January 2015
  
Hello everyone! Well, here we are in a brand new year. Have you made your plans on what it is you would really like to accomplish, both professionally and personally, in 2015?
 
I typically spend about 45 minutes to an hour every holiday season laying out what it is that I'd really like to get done in work and life for the upcoming year. It is one of the best uses of my time each year too, because I then feel ready and focused to take on the new challenges and opportunities in front of me.
 
One of my areas of focus the last several months is to take many of my most popular speaking and training programs, and make them available in streaming online formats, as well as to lead several new webinars this year.
 
And following in that spirit, as you can see to the right, I have a new webinar program taking place on Tuesday, February 24th on Taming the E-mail Etiquette Beast. In essence, I will be building upon my very popular email processing, productivity, and efficiency strategies, and getting deeper into the specific communication issues and opportunities presented by email. I hope you can join me.
 
Related to that, I have written up a new Timely Tips this month that hits on some of the key issues we will be covering in this webinar: 
   
Finding Sanity in Your Individual E-mail Communications 
This is where you can always find your Timely Tip.

 

Let's talk about e-mail communications and e-mail sanity (or lack thereof!) There are two ways e-mail can drive you insane:

1) You just get way too much of it, and you don't have a good strategy for taking care of it. That has been a big part of my focus for the last several years, and I would expect most of you know at least some of the strategies I have been sharing in this area. But there is a second part that may be even more difficult and annoying for many of us: 2) people not using proper communications and etiquette skills when it comes to composing, sending, or replying to email.

You can usually identify a problematic email very quickly -- it usually has some or many of the following characteristics:

- It is "red hot urgent", but the only way you know that is red hot urgent is when you open up the email and find out.
- It is very complex, with too much information and/or info that could be easily misunderstood or misinterpreted.
- Or, it is simply emotional in content. It will most likely cause a negative emotional reaction if sent.
- It could also not even really serve any particular or identifiable purpose. In essence, it is a waste of space and time.
- Or, more commonly, you have to be able to read minds to figure out what it is the sender wanted you to do with it. You have to hunt through the message to find the action items, deliverables, and due dates -- that is, if they even take the time to share the due date.
- And lastly, the subject line has nothing to do with what the email is actually about.

When I discuss these breakdowns in my e-mail management programs, people often perceive at this point that I am anti-email.  Nothing could be further from the truth. I love email -- when it is used properly.

When is e-mail used properly?

- When the e-mail is short and to the point, using proper grammar and spelling.
- When the instructions, deliverables and due dates are clear and upfront. 
- When the subject line tells you which projects, people, and/or activities are included in the message.
- When the people that actually have action items and/or deliverables in the message actually know quickly and easily what action items or deliverables they are responsible for.
- When the message is not critically time sensitive or urgent. E-mail isn't really good for that, because not everyone is checking their email constantly all day long, nor should they be.
- When the email is sharing simple information, tasks, or text. This is when an email is used best!
- And, when the writer realizes that things are about to get difficult, complex, or emotional, the writer of the e-mail actually suggests a conversation or meeting to continue moving things forward, rather than getting into the "nitty gritty" within the e-mail, thus creating more problems than solving them.

Looking at everything mentioned above, I really believe that the biggest way to stop or at least greatly limit e-mail communications aggravation is for the sender to THINK before sending. The sender is the most responsible party, because they have within their power the ability to either create a successful e-mail communication leading to desired action, or create chaos and consternation.  Think about whether the e-mail you are about to send is clear and easily understood.  Think about whether assignments and deadlines are obvious and upfront.  Think about whether the recipient may respond emotionally.  Simply think about whether or not e-mail is the most effective way to meet the current communications situation.  And if it is not, use a different, better communications tool.  

Of course, the devil is in the details.  That is why I created the webinar on February 24th to look at all of these situations and provide guidance and strategies to help people avoid e-mail miscommunication and find e-mail sanity and productivity again.

But just referring to the checklist above (both for bad and best practices), and possibly sharing it with others in your work group or team, might help greatly reduce the misuse of e-mail.  I might even recommend that the topic and information above could make for a very effective and useful discussion at an upcoming staff meeting, with a desired output of people coming to an agreement of what they will do and not do when it comes to crafting, sending, forwarding and replying to e-mail communications.  Good luck in creating the positive change we are discussing here.
Fascinating article and study on reducing e-mail stress by reducing how often you check your e-mail

For years, I have been preaching to limit stress and distraction and enhance productivity by not checking e-mail constantly and instead getting on a smarter, time-based regimen.  Well, once again, science is supporting common sense.  Check out this article on Mashable.com that shows that while the average person checks e-mail 15 times a day!, to reduce stress, the study recommends instead THREE times a day.  Even if you can't get to three, I would imagine just getting down to something approaching every hour or two would greatly reduce e-mail stress and distraction, and enhance e-mail productivity.
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I hope you can kick off 2015 with some new positive habits and behaviors that will help this be one of your best years yet.  Think about any area, including e-mail communications insanity, where you would like to improve, and build a plan.  Then, execute that plan. 

Until next month, stay Timely!


Sincerely,


Randy Dean
Randall Dean Consulting & Training, LLC
http://www.randalldean.com 

 

PS:  Please consider joining my networking list on LinkedIn -- http://www.linkedin.com/in/randydean (would love your recommendation!) and/or becoming a Taming E-mail fan on Facebook here. Follow me on Twitter @timelyman.  (And I'm on YouTube & Google+ too.) ;-) 
 

App of the Month

An Update on Google Translate
Now Incorporating Word Lens and Quick Office being "no more" 

 

Google Translate is available on both iTunes and Google Play
 
I have featured Google Translate in the past, but I wanted this month to share an important update.  Apparently, Google has purchased the app I was going to feature this month, Word Lens, and has rolled its features into Google Translate!

Word Lens was an app (some of you might still be running an older version) that would allow you to bring up text in a foreign language (for instance on a sign, in a book, etc.) on your camera, and translate it to your home language.  That's amazing!

But right when I'm about to feature it in my program and Timely Tips, it gets bought by Google and rolled into their juggernaut Google Translate app.

Thus, if you haven't downloaded Word Lens previously, now you have to get Google Translate instead. 

Similarly, QuickOffice by Google is no longer available.  It was also bought by Google, and has now effectively been replaced by apps for Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides.  I still have an older version of QuickOffice that still works, but no updates are available.

Ah, how things are changing. 
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NEXT MONTH:  Webinar on 2/24/2015
1:00 EST

Taming the E-mail Etiquette Beast:
Finding Your Sanity in Your E-mail Communications

Per my discussion to the left, I have built a full program looking at both effective and poor e-mail communications, sharing best practices on how to make your e-mails easier to understand, easier to act upon, and less likely to create problems.

Just go here to my new Online E-Learning Academy page, and click on the Taming E-mail Etiquette webinar icon to learn more.  Note also the Taming E-mail Dual Combo option that gives you a seat at the upcoming webinar AND access to the on line "anytime" streaming version of my popular Taming the E-mail Beast program, getting both programs at a significant savings vs. buying just one. 

   

Are you a leader of a member group, association, or an author/expert with a large database?  Would you like to share programs like this with your own members or readers?  If so, send me a note on how you can promote this same webinar and my other streaming programs to raise revenues risk-free for your organization.   

NEW FEATURE:
Life Hacks!

Being a nut on saving time, I'm adding a new feature this month -- life hacks!  I'll share one tip a month just in your general life that can save you time and allow you to do general things better.  (If you have any you think are great, please share!)

Here's mine for this month, courtesy of Carol Grainger:

You know all of those aggravating cords and cables all tangled in your computer bag or backpack? Take old mismatched dress socks, and wrap each cable in a sock. No more mess. Time and aggravation saved immediately.