Do you receive too much email? Are you bogged down and frustrated by how much time it takes to handle these snippets of online communication? According to a recent global study conducted by IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) the resounding answer is YES! In fact, so much so that our drowning in email is actually causing us to be less productive.

According to the study, the biggest culprits, or sources of email overload are:

• News sources and professional subscriptions (61 %)
• Co-workers (39%)
• Professional networks (34%)
• Team/department sources (29%)
• Company wide corporate sources such as senior mgmt and HR (23%)

Source: http://www.urgentbusinessforms.com/employee_handbook.asp

Julie Freeman, President of IABC, stated that ,

…most people are struggling with how to manage it all and it’s having a significant impact on productivity around the world.An overwhelming majority (85 percent) said that it was having a negative impact at least some of the time. It was even higher (93 percent) for users of Blackberry devices and other personal digital assistants (PDAs).

So how can you stop spinning your wheels and get control? How about starting with yourself – stop sending so many emails! This can be done by considering the need to send… could you make a trek down the hall or pick up the phone instead? And what about the “reply all” and “cc” options? These options are hugely to blame for email overload and widely overused. Ensure that you aren’t misusing these options and train others to do the same.

Secondly, make a conscious decision regarding how much time you will devote to email daily – keep in mind that most people report spending about 40% of their time on email, which is considered lost productivity. Perhaps turning the volume down on your computer will help in avoiding the urge to review/answer every ping. Scheduling specific time for email is another possibility – “I will handle email 1 hour in the morning, 30 minutes after lunch, etc., etc.”

Thirdly, write better messages. Since people scan and don’t actually read anymore, make sure your subject line is strong, clear and descriptive. Then it’s important to be specific in your text. Yes, pleasantries are vitally important, but only to ensure that recipients aren’t offended or get wrong messages. Content should still be clean and simple. If you’re spending too much time writing and rewriting for context, then it’s probably smarter to call or meet in person.

Fourthly, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE! This means creating a limited number of folders based on content and moving messages after reading them into appropriate folders. If the trash can is the appropriate folder, don’t be afraid to throw it away! De-cluttering your email life will not only prove beneficial to you as an individual, but should increase work productivity too.

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