Regaining control over email for all communications

June 11th, 2008 by Rowan Purdy

I have worked with lots of teams who want to regain control over email as the dominant mode of communication in the workplace. One of the most effective techniques is to gain consensus on how to make best use of available technologies to support the most effective communications in the workplace. The table below shows communications standards that describe how some of the teams I have worked with have decided to use different technologies to communicate amongst themselves and with others.

Don’t get me wrong email is useful for certain types of communication activity. My point is that it is not suitable for all types of communication activity. In fact, when used as the default or only tool for all communications it can cause significant productivity drain within teams. The table shows the breadth of technologies at our disposal and most importantly describes appropriate usage scenarios. When adopted I have seen profound outcomes achieved such as increased productivity, reduced stress, improved communications competence and better work satisfaction.

I personally prefer to see emails as a form of letter. I use them for formal correspondence where an audit trail is required. Plain English, accuracy, spelling and grammar are vital. The suggested technique of using agreed headings at the beginning of all email subject lines to help the recipient to quickly determine the action they should take is very simple but very very powerful. Another technique I like to adopt is to open my email client for half an hour at the beginning and end of each workday. The rest of the time I use the other technologies as they are more effective and efficient in supporting the communications activities I am undertaking.


Technology
Examples
What we will use it for
Face to face
Team meeting
One-to-one or group communication where shared understanding is important. This might include scoping, planning, setting goals, reporting on progress, presenting ideas and consultation

Supervision

Seminar

Conference

Knowledge cafe

Email
Outlook
Formal correspondence requiring audit trail.

Groupwise
We will use the following headings at the beginning of all email subject lines to help the recipient to quickly determine the action they should take.

Hotmail
URGENT FOR ACTION

Gmail
FOR INFORMATION

Yahoo mail
FOR COMMENT

Zimbra
INVOICE FOR PROCESSING

Mac Mail
BOOKING REQUEST

Thunderbird
MEETING REQUEST

Communicate courteously and professionally

Use plain English and ensure that spelling and grammar are accurate

Target your e-mails at those recipients who specifically need to receive them and do not copy in other people unnecessarily

Do not send ‘global’ e-mails unless absolutely necessary

Avoid sending attachments with large filesize. Attach them to websites and send hyperlinks instead.

Never circulate ‘junk mail’
Phone
Landline
Regular one-to-one communication to support operational activities where the personal touch is important. This might include seeking advice, explaining, negotiating, buying and selling.

Conference calls amongst groups where shared understanding is important and it is not possible to hold a face-to-face meeting.

Mobile

Calendar
Outlook
To keep a record of our meetings and activities to support our work

Groupwise
To inform others of our whereabouts and activities

Google calendar
We will record name of person, detail of activity, location and duration.

iCal

SMS
Mobile
To communicate urgent issues where either party is not available to speak on the phone.

When both parties are online instant messaging is preferred.
Website

Corporate messaging to our customers

Quality assurance is essential
Instant messaging
MSN messenger
To indicate online presence

Yahoo messenger
Asking questions the require an immediate response

AIM
Informal conversation

Skype
Better than email for conveying emotion in conversations through use of emoticons

Adium
Rapid file transfer where filesize is relatively small
Voice over internet
Skype
When two or more people are present on-line and indicate that they are willing to talk

iChat
Do not use with large numbers of participants in low bandwidth situation

Some tools have a conference call limit of 10 users
Video over internet
Skype
When two or more people are present on-line and indicate that they are willing to talk and have video / webcam capability

iChat
Can help to convey presence and emotion in conversations

Do not use video in low bandwidth situation
Newsreaders
Newsgator
Keeping up to date with our favourite online sources of information

Newsnetwire
Useful to overcome reduce email inbox overload and read news in controlled manner

RSS enabled browsers e.g. firefox, safari

Online groups within social networking sites
Facebook
Asking questions and providing answers where persistence provides benefits. This builds up knowledgebase for others to search as starting point when seeking help in future.

Google groups
Debates where the views of more than two people are helpful.

Yahoo groups
Sharing news, links, documents and other media (video and audio)

Ning

Wikis
Media wiki
Collaborative writing to support regular operational activities e.g. creating meeting agendas and writing action notes.

Tiki wiki
Collaborative writing to support the co-production of specific products e.g. reports and books.

Wetpaint
We will put a statement at the start about the arrangements for editing.

Confluence

Video conference

Support team working. When visible presence required.
Webinar
Webex
Online seminar for use where face to face seminar not possible

Tags: ,
Categories: communications
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a comment below , or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply

CAPTCHA Image

Refresh Image

 

Archives

Categories

Syndicate

VAT number: 939270988 © Surepoint

Change Text Only Settings

Graphic version of this page