Managing Emails Effectively

Email can be incredibly useful – or it can be a huge distraction. The strategies in this guide will help you and your people process email effectively, so that you can all be more productive.

Email has transformed the business world. When you use it effectively, you can share information quickly, and increase your productivity as a result. But, email can easily become overwhelming if you don’t manage it carefully. In this 10-Minute Guide, we’ll outline six simple ways that you and your team can manage your email more effectively, so you can get on with the work you’re trying to do.

So, what are these six ways of managing your email better?

1. Check Your Email at Set Times.

If you check your email constantly, you disrupt your train of thought, and you become less productive. So, instead of checking your inbox throughout the day, choose set times that you’ll check your mail – for example, first thing in the morning, after lunch, and at the end of the day. Alternatively, schedule time to read and respond to emails after a long period of focused work, or at the time of day when your energy and creativity are at their lowest (so that you can do high value work at other times). You may be able to set up your email software to receive email at certain times only. But, if not, turn off alerts (including those on your smartphone or tablet), or, log out of your email program completely, so that you’re not tempted to look at it outside your allocated times. Manage colleagues’ expectations, and let them know that you only check your email at set times. If there are situations in which they need to contact you urgently, suggest that they call, or use instant messaging.

2. Use the "Two-Minute Rule".

You can waste hours if you don’t use your email reading time intelligently. Apply time management “Two-Minute Rule” to your email. It suggests that you should assess your tasks (including your email) as you come across them, and immediately do any that will take less than two minutes to complete.For more complex emails, schedule time on your calendar, add them as actions on your To-Do List, or use your email system to flag them up as messages that you’ll need to respond to.

3. Manage Informational Messages Proactively.

Many of us get lots of informational notifications – such as “FYI” emails from the corporate office, or details of updated procedures. If you see your name in the “CC” field instead of the “To” field of a message, chances are it’s an informational message. Consider filing it in a “To Read” folder, so that you can tackle it when you have time. You may even be able to set up a filter or a rule (see below) in your email program to file these emails in a specific folder that you can access when you have spare time.

4. Use Email Folders.

A simple filing system will help you find information quickly, and act on it. You could use broad categories such as “Action Items,” “Waiting,” and “Reference.” You can then use your “Action” and “Waiting” folders as informal To-Do Lists. If three categories sounds too simplistic, you can set up folders for each of your projects or clients. Then, instead of scouring your entire email system, you can simply search in the relevant folder and find the relevant emails quickly and easily. (Whether this works for you depends on the type of work you do. If you need instant access to emails, use folders. If you can spend a bit of time searching for an email, then an email search engine can give you everything you need.)

5. Use Rules

Most email programs allow you to establish “rules” that sort email into a particular folder as soon as it comes in. For instance, you might get several emails each day that notify you of sales your company has made. You want to receive these, because you want to know what’s happening, but you don’t want them to clutter your inbox. So, instead, set up a rule that moves every email with the subject header “sales notification” into a dedicated “sales notifications” folder as soon as it arrives. You can then browse these at a convenient time. You’ll also store all of these emails in one place, which can help you spot trends in the information that they contain.

6. Agree How to Use Email

If email is the main communication channel with your team, then it’s likely that your inbox is full of ongoing conversations about team projects and issues. These can be distracting, and these messages can make it difficult to manage the other contents of your inbox. Agree some simple rules with your people, so that you can all manage your email more effectively:

• If a message is short, suggest that it’s fine to type it straight into the subject line of the email and add “EOM” (End of Message) at the end. You’ll all be able to see the message quickly, act on it, and then delete it without having to open the email.

• Include deadlines in email subject headers. People can use these to prioritize tasks quickly, and to file them once a deadline has passed. 

• If your team members regularly send similar emails, such as time sheets or expense forms, ask them to use agreed keywords in their email subject lines, so that you can filter these emails into folders, and tackle them in a batch.

• You can manage email volume by using the “To” and “CC” fields intelligently. Only include someone’s email address in the “To” field if you expect a reply from them, and use the “CC” field for people you’re simply keeping updated. 

• Likewise, think about who needs to be kept in the loop before you press “reply all.” You don’t always need to reply to everyone included in a message.

• If it’s appropriate in your organization, switch on your “out of office” message when you need some email-free time. Provide a cell phone number or VoIP/IM username in your message that people can use if they need to reach you urgently, and state when you’ll next be reading your emails.

Key Points

Most of us feel overwhelmed by email at some point. However, when you manage it effectively, you can significantly reduce stress and boost your productivity. 

To gain control of your inbox, start by checking and processing email only at certain times during the day. If you’re concerned about the delayed response, let people know that you don’t check your email constantly.

Aim to keep your inbox as clear as possible. Organize mail using folders, and, when you do check mail, use the two-minute rule – immediately handle any email that you can read and respond to in two minutes or less.

Agree simple rules within your team so that you can reduce the number of messages sent, and make them easier to handle. 

Also read :  Common Time management Mistakes.

What is leadership ?

The Successful People Demonstrate - Leadership.

"Leadership is not wielding authority - it's empowering people " - Becky Brodin.

"The Size if a leader is determined by the depth of his conviction, the height of his ambitions, the breadth of his vision, and the reach of his love."  - D N Jackson

Everything rise and falls on leadership : Small victories can be achieved alone : but great victories, the kinds that ultimately being success can never be achieved alone. To accomplish them you must include other people. And any time you start involving others to achieve any goal., you cross over into the area of leadership. Everything rise and fall on leadership.

What exactly leadership is ?

"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality."  In the broadcast sense that is true. A leader is someone who does make vision come true, but you have to include another important element - other people. A Leader makes his vision become a reality through not only his own efforts, but also those of others. Anyone who thinks he is a leader but has no one following him merely taking a walk.

Leadership is Influence : 

In some dictionaries of  English language defines the word leadership as "the position of guidance of leader; the ability to lead." That definition doesn't help much. In fact it promotes a common misconception concerning leadership. Many people believe that leadership get its power from position or title. They think the boss is able to lead because he has the position and the manager because he has the title. But that is not true nature of leadership. A person who can do no more than lead within the narrow parameters of his position is not true leader. As some one said " People do not follow programs, but leaders who inspire them".

The definition for leadership that I have seen is this Leadership is influence. A true leader is a person able to influence others to follow him. He is able to get them to join up and more out with him. He encourages the people  around him to be a willing extension of his vision, goals, and accomplishments. And he empowers them to succeed.

Leadership begins with a person's character and vision the core of who is as a person :

The core of who is as a person. As leadership expert Fred Smith said Leadership get out in front and stay there by raising the standards by which they judge themselves and by which they are willing to be judged. the beast leaders are people who are continually growing, stretching, learning,. They are willing to pay the price of leadership They will make the sacrifices needed in order to keep improving themselves, enlarging their vision, increasing their skills, reaching their potential. Through their efforts , they become people that others admire. 

Positive Thinking, Character vision, communication and motivation are the principles that from the foundation of leadership :

Credible people with good personal qualities are better potential leaders then people without admirable traits, but those good qualities alone don't make them leaders. Those attributes must be coupled with the ability to positively interact with others. Leaders develop positive relationship with people, begin to care about them, and learn to communicate and motivate them. Positive thinking, character, vision communication and motivation are the principles form the foundation of leadership and Self Improvement.

Discover Self

Personal development planning is all about creating a long term goal for you career and then planning how your will get there.

However, before you can know what you want to do in the long term, some serious reflection is in order. What are you good at ? What are you not so good at ? What opportunities are available ? And are there factors beyond your control that could impact you goals?

To answer these question what we studies is management Gurus have accepted two classic tools, SWOT and PEST which can be applied in personal situations. Through this analysis you will gain a solid understanding of where are you now, and where you would be well suited to go with a high chances of success.

Personal SWOT

In business, we use SWOT analysis to to identify the strength and weakness of any organization and the opportunities and threat it is facing. Just like that for single person the strength of an individual say what are you good at, the weakness say what is minus point and where the improvement is required. If person start know where he is not good, he understand that someones help can be taken.

Taken together, you strengths and opportunities help you to identity potential long term career goals. Your weakness and threats you face are the things which you need to manage, mitigate or planned to ensure the goals remain achievable. Management Gurus use four Quadrant to write the question and answers show in Fig 1.

Strengths :
Do not limit your self up to work skills, think of all the experience you have had, opportunities you have ad to grow, which may include your education, aptitude, personality factors, interests. Answers the following type of questions.

1. What are you really good at ?
2. What skills do other people recognize in you ?
3. What do you do better than most people you work with ?
4. What do you get recognized or rewarded for ?
5. What, about yourself, are you most proud of or satisfied with.
6. What experiences, resources, or connections do you have access to that other's don't have.

Remember to ask friends, relatives, partners, neighbor, your peers if required.

Weakness : 

We all have weakness, the trick is to identify and work upon as an improvement area. Use the following question to identify the same.

1. What do you try to do that you are masters of it.
2. What do you do just the sake of doing or just to fill the job requirements.
3. Are there any personality aspects which hold you back by going forward.
4. Where are you vulnerable.
5. Where do you lack of experience, resources or connections where other go more.

Unlike the S section, limit your self to the weakness which actually may affect your career progression.

Opportunity :

Now that as you have looked inside your self, you turn your attention to outside and identify the elements that can build on or take advantage of that will improve your chances of success. This is best done by setting aside some time and brainstorming in an attempt to uncover new and innovative ideas that may not have occurred to you before.

1. In what ways you can maximize your strengths
2. What are the opportunities open to those who do things well.
3. What would you love to do that you are good at ?
4. How can you minimize your weakness.
5. If you weaknesses did not hold you, what could you be.
6. Where do you see the most potential growth for your self, Within your company, in different company, in same industry, different industry or a different career altogether.

Threats :

If the threats are not in control they can be planned for. It is called mitigation plan. That's why it important to identify all possible threats and do a mitigation plan. The more you know about them, the less you are to be "blindsided" by something unexpected. Now you  might feel that you would rather avoid looking at threats as they can cause worry, fears and stress. The reality is you will encounter much more anxiety if you do not think about potential threats.

Remember, a threat loses much of its sting when it is managed and prepared for. Ask your self the following questions.

1. Do you have a weakness that need to be addressed before you go ahead.
2. What problem your weakness cause if remain unchecked.
3. What set backs may I face.