Email

 
You crank up your computer every morning, click to your e-mail and--whap!--a slew of messages demands attention.

E-mail can be a great tool, but many misuse it, turning what should be quick, easy communication into a laborious, time-consuming management chore.

"Many people use the inbox as a to-do list, calendar and filing system," says Mark Hurst president and founder of Creative Good, a consulting firm in New York. "File some messages and delete most of them, but without a doubt, don't let anything stay in your inbox permanently."

Hurst says effective e-mail management is built on filters, filing and ruthless use of the delete key.
He offers this distinction to better define the problem: The number of new messages received each day is "volume" while the number of e-mails sitting in the inbox is "message count." The second is the key measure of effective e-mail management.

"A user who gets 100 messages a day may not be overloaded at all if the message count is low," Hurst says. "Conversely, a user who gets ten e-mails a day may be overloaded."

If the number of messages stacked in the inbox becomes too large and difficult to manage, you're overloaded. The e-mail system then becomes a black hole rather than a productivity tool and your output will suffer.

"If overload is the problem, then removing the load is the solution," Hurst says in a special report, "Managing Incoming E-mail." "Here's how to manage incoming e-mail: Keep the inbox empty--clear out incoming e-mails before they pile up or you lose your ability to manage them effectively."

But there's just one catch and, unlike catch-22, it's not the least bit philosophical.

"It may be a simple solution, but it's not easy," Hurst says. "Achieving simplicity--or emptiness, in this case--takes time and continued improvement. It's difficult but better than drowning in e-mails and becoming less effective. Only an empty inbox will allow users to take full advantage of the benefits of e-mail."

The first step is deleting all spam. Never reply to spam because the spammer will know your e-mail address is active and sell it to others at a premium. The result: more spam.

Next, read all personal e-mail from friends or family and save selected messages as needed elsewhere on your computer or print out important notes. It might be a good idea to check your personal e-mail account at work and use it to chitchat and exchange goofball jokes with your lunatic friends while reserving your company account for (gasp) work-related items. Admit it: This would sharply reduce the volume of incoming mail on the company e-mail system.

Hurst says messages should be sorted by date with the oldest message at the top of the list. Each message should be opened and the appropriate action--filing or deletion-- should be taken quickly. This will prevent the accumulation of a 500-message stack in your inbox.
Hurst says newsletters should be read or scanned quickly, but never filed because then you'll have two cluttering up your inbox when the next arrives. FYIs, or non-actionable information such as an answer to a question or notification of an event, should be read quickly, filed if necessary and deleted as soon as possible.

Hurst urges use of the "two-minute rule" for to-dos. If the task outlined in the e-mail takes two minutes or less to complete, even if it means getting out of your chair, do it immediately and delete the message.
If you're way behind in managing your e-mail, Hurst recommends a ruthless cleaning out of the clutter in the inbox to allow users to manage e-mail effectively with just a few minutes work each day. It may take several whacks to get through all the old junk, but once it's cleaned out, it's done and future management of the inbox can be handled in just a few minutes each day.

E-mail arrives throughout the day so it's impossible to keep the inbox empty at all times. Hurst recommends dealing with e-mails as soon as possible after each arrives or setting aside a few minutes several times a day to complete the task.

"Users shouldn't let an inbox go more than one business day without emptying," he says.
Filters will screen out most of the junk. For starters, Hurst recommends setting up your filter to accept mail from everyone in your address book. Suspected spam, including any e-mail containing viruses or unknown attachments, gets sent to purgatory--a folder for suspected junk mail from unknown senders. Any e-mail with three or more consecutive exclamation points gets zapped. Set the filter to automatically delete any e-mail containing raunchy words you'd expect to find in sexually explicit spam.

Have the filter kill any e-mail with "adv" in the message line. Expand the list of subject lines to kill starting with obvious pitches such as "Free Long Distance," "Find background info about anyone," "Quit Smoking" and "Be your own boss." Compiling the list requires some thought because many spam subject lines appear in legitimate e-mail such as free, mortgage, university, diploma and life insurance.
Software will thin the thundering herd of spam seeking to graze and fatten your inbox, but it's not the final, or best, way to manage e-mail.

"'Delete' is one keystroke," Hurst says. "I don't know what's easier than that."

Article written by Scott Reeves© Forbes.com Inc.™

Being conscious of how you communicate and having a well-thought out strategy is key to being an effective and influential communicator.
We come into contact with so many different people during the course of a normal week, we can't just have one mode or style of communicating. Your boss, your direct report(s), your partner, your clients, your colleagues - they all need and expect different things from you. Being able to communicate in the appropriate way and match those needs will make your life easier!
I call this 360° Communication and here are a few tools and techniques you can employ to deal with those different groups of people:
1) Your Boss
He/she is expecting you to do your job, that's why they hired you so when they interact with you, they want to hear about what you've been doing especially the things you have completed that will make their life easier.
• Keep positive - if you have a challenge then have a solution as well
• No surprises - as much as you may not want to tell them something, honesty is always the best policy. If it's a genuine mistake then admit it, be upfront and give your Manager a chance to prepare for any fall-out there may be. Depending on what it is, your Manager may be as much on the line as you so have him as your ally as opposed to your enemy
• Be inclusive - don't complain about other people to your boss. Don't be seen to be self-seeking or obsequious, it's not attractive and only makes you sound desperate. Like the 'comedian' who can only make people laugh by poking fun at others; be credible and great at what you do without having to malign your colleagues
2) Your Direct Report
Just as you will want to impress your boss, your direct reports will want to do the same thing with you, or at least your high performing direct reports will. They also need something in return - they need to hear information from you about the business, they need to know how their job fits in with that and contributes to the bigger picture. The also need to know you care about them and their development. Lots of things huh?! Here are a couple of easy ways you can meet those needs:
• Set the Communication temperature - set up regular briefings with the team informing them of things happening in the business, within their department and even the industry. Let them know that open communication is a given and that you are committed to sharing things with them and giving them an opportunity to share their own ideas.
• Set up regular Engagement Interviews - these need to only be once a quarter or maybe twice a year depending on how many people you have in your team. Spend at least 1hr speaking to individual direct reports about what they are passionate about, what they enjoy about their job, how you can make their lives easier, why they stay with the Company. This information is like gold dust and will give you great insights in to how your team can be more productive and how to keep them engaged.
3) Your Client
This can be one of the more difficult relationships to manage as it really is about positive influence, without any positional power. You need to rely on your personal power - the traits you have that set you apart and make you someone your Client wants to do business with. Be a person with integrity, who can be relied upon to do good work. Build a track record based on success and delivery. Be an expert in your field and use your knowledge and network to add value to your Client. All good in theory right, so how do you put this into practice:
• Be a skillful enquirer - ask lots of questions, gather information and really understand your Client, the needs they have and where you can help and add value. Have a Question Strategy - think about the questions you will ask at the next meeting, use open questions to encourage your Client to talk and share and make sure you plan enough time so it doesn't feel rushed and like it's the Spanish Inquisition
• Know Their Style - we all have a preferred style of communication. Some of us like data, others value relationships; some like to make decisions and do so relatively quickly and others prefer to consider all angles and make a more informed decision, over a period of time. There is no better way but we have more in common with some styles than others and that can impact how well we communicate and ultimately influence. Knowing if your Client is more about data or relationships could be the key to getting the next deal signed!
So, ultimately, it's all about knowing how to change your communication style to suit others and having an arsenal of tools and techniques you can readily deploy for any given situation. Good luck!
.........................................
Based in Singapore and proud of her English heritage, Sarah Schubert unleashes people's potential through their voices. Many Leaders and subsequently businesses struggle to excite, energise and lead people through business growth. They don't talk enough or when they do they say the wrong thing or say it in the wrong way, leading to confusion and misunderstanding. Sarah coaches and trains Leaders to use their voice and communication skills to empower and excite people; she partners with businesses to implement transparent and successful communication strategies to ensure everyone is aligned. Success does speak for itself - would you like to know how?
Visit her website http://www.newvoicecommunications.com, email her at sarah.schubert@newvoicecommunications.com or call her on +65 9789 0802 for more information on the services offered.

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