Building a Daily Habit of Effective Email Communication
What's the best way to communicate with your team members? Email, right? The problem is, we're all so busy. We're subject to constant interruptions in our day. And try as we might, we can't seem to escape the endless barrage of email messages demanding our attention.
This article will give you 5 concrete steps that'll help you create a daily habit of effective email communication that doesn't compromise your productivity.
What are some concrete steps you can take to increase your productivity?
Behavioral Science: The science of behavior to guide individuals in achieving their goals and objectives. — Psychology Today
5 Simple Steps to Becoming a Daily Email Habit Builder
1. Identify the Pain Points of Communication
How do you communicate when you have too many messages? Email is the most prevalent way we communicate. And, I'm guessing that the number one complaint about email is responsiveness — how quickly you receive it and respond to it. But, there's a lot more to communication than just whether or not we receive emails in our inboxes on time each day.
Now, think of any other significant pain points that come up on a day-to-day basis with your communication. These are the things that can influence our productivity, regardless of when we receive an email:
You get bogged down in email.
You postpone your important tasks/responsibilities because you lack the time to do them.
You're missing out on important conversations/feedback because you are waiting for someone to respond to you.
Sound familiar? If so, I'm sure you'll concur with me that these are all significant pain points for communication — whether it's email or otherwise.
2. Make It a Habit
Now, you need to create a habit to eliminate these pain points. It has to be automatic or you won't do it on a daily basis. Habits are behaviors we do over and over again, without even thinking about them. They become a part of our natural routine — something we do out of force of habit — with little or no conscious effort on our part.
3. Set Specific Goals
The most successful habit builders set themselves specific and measurable goals. This is why this blog article is broken down into 5 steps, each one with a specific action you need to take or habit you need to develop.
That being said, if your goals are too broad or too vague, it's likely that you won't be able to follow through with them. Think about having a goal like 'improving my email communication.' What does that mean? You won't know how well you're doing until the end of the day when you look back on your progress. And even then, there's no way to measure something like this because it's so broad.
Instead, think of something more specific: For this blog article, I chose to focus on writing:
Write an email and send it to your colleagues. — by Tim Harford
That's much more specific. However, for me, the goals can be: Jot down my ideas on an index card and then write a blog post later Write a blog post in 30 minutes or less
3. Make It Easy
One of the ways we procrastinate is by thinking there's a huge amount of work involved when we do just one small thing, like write one email. If you're like this, think of 'write an email and send it to your colleagues'. For this to be a useful habit, it needs to be very specific and measurable. It should also be easy and fun!
4. Repeat It Every Day
If you want this new habit to stick, you have to repeat it every day — at least for a month. Once the habit is built, it'll become easier and easier over time.
5. Make It an Ongoing Process of Intentional Iteration
This may seem like an odd point with respect to building a daily email habit, but I think it's incredibly important: Your email habits will change over time as your communication needs evolve. That's why this should remain an on-going process, rather than a one-time event that never gets revisited.
That's it. Now, all you have to do is start practicing these 5 steps on a daily basis and you'll be well on your way to becoming an email habit builder!
That's all we have for today. In the next few days I'll be posting about other habits you can develop like the power move of taking a daily shower and how this can make your day more enjoyable. Until then, keep laughing and learning (happily)!
— Mike Schatzki is a life-long learner and cartoonist with over 20 years experience of building habits that will improve his performance in business, artistic and personal areas. Follow his daily routines and tips at Habits Made Easy .
Title: What is the Best Way to Communicate With Team Members?
Summary: In this article we will answer a question that many companies struggle with: What is the best way to communicate with your team members? Email, phone, instant-messaging, or video chat?
Date of Publication: 1/9/2014
Date of Update: 6/9/2014
The whole point of having a company is to make a profit. The only way you can make a profit is by operating efficiently. And the only way you can operate efficiently is if all your employees are communicating effectively with one another.
All employees need to be aware of what is happening. If they are not, you cannot expect them to accomplish your company's goals. It is impossible.
This obviously applies to departments within the company as well, such as sales and marketing. For example, someone in sales may be unsure as to the status of a particular order, so he or she will send an email asking for clarification. The question is: What is your best method of communication?
With modern technology, there are many different ways that can be offered for employees to communicate with each other effectively and efficiently . Email is still the most popular way in this business management world because of its simplicity.
Conclusion:
There is no doubt that email is still the most popular way to communicate with someone. That does not make it the best way, however. Email can be an effective means of communication, but there are better choices available to you as a business manager or business owner.
To help you choose a better communication method for your company, in this article we will explore several of the best and worst ways of communicating electronically that you should consider using depending on your needs.
The Best Ways to Communicate with Your Employees
Email: Email is still the primary way people communicate today because it is simple and easy to use. It can be an effective means of communication, if used properly and efficiently .