Email (sigh),,, and again

Some people ask me why so many of our web site tips and my blogs are about email and related topics. It's because I hear more complaints about email than any other aspect of today's work environment -- even more than about "the boss"!

Last time I provided some ideas on things you could do as the "sender" to improve your email communications and reduce wasted time / effort. This time, I'd like to provide a few things that you can do as the "recipient":

1. Don't make any assumptions about the sender's emotional state. Sometimes we assume the sender is angry with us because we receive what  reads as a "rude" response. Many people are not great writers, and a missing word or two can change the tone of the entire message.

2. Don't escalate a conflict by sending an emotionally charged response. It's easy to hide behind your computer and send off an angry message -- making the problem worse. Pick up the phone and set up a fact-to-face meeting to resolve the conflict.

3. Ask the sender for clarification. While you can ask for more information by replying to a message, you might get clarification quicker over the phone or in person.

4. Use your email program's built-in tools to help organize messages. For example, MS Outlook allows you to set up Rules to filter incoming messages into folders and to use Automatic Formatting to have messages from certain people or with certain words/ phrases visually stand out in your Inbox.

5. You don't have to respond to every message right away. Manage the expectations of those who send you messages. Turn off the email pop-ups (Desktop Alerts in MS Outlook) that interrupt you and give you the feeling that the newly arrived message is the most important you have to do.

Email (sigh) ......again

Some people ask me why so many of our web site tips and my blogs are about email and related topics. It's because I hear more complaints about email than any other aspect of today's work environment -- even more than about "the boss"!

Email can be amazingly inefficient. After all, how many times have you messaged back and forth with a co-worker over the course of a day or two just to schedule a meeting? How many times have you wasted hours with co-workers sending "Reply to All" messages to achieve consensus about something? And, how many tasks did you interrupt today alone so you could respond to a message that just arrived in your Inbox?

When you really think about it, you begin to see how much this seemingly great technology tool can actually prevent you from getting important things done. So here are a few things you can do as the "sender":

1. Make sure that email is the right medium to address the issue. Would a phone call or a meeting be more appropriate / efficient to discuss it?

2. Get to the point right away - in the first few sentences of your message.

3. If you are asking a question, be sure to ask the question. don't just state it and hope people will respond. Phrase it as a question.

4. Specify who should respond. With a group message, it's easy for everyone to assume that someone else will respond.

5. Be crystal clear when you need a response. ASAP is not a deadline. It requires an assumption about "when" you really want it.

6. Provide background and context in your message. Don't assume the recipient will know what you're talking about.

7. Since you never know where your message may ultimately end up, don't forget the rules of grammar and punctuation.

8. One message, one topic.

9. Provide a summary when you forward an "FYI" email. Don't forward a whole conversation thread and assume that the recipient will take the time to read it. They're busy, too.

Things You Can Do To Make 2012 Great

Dan Stamp, the Chairman of Priority Management Systems, recently discussed some different things to make life at work and at home better and more enjoyable. Here are some of his do's and don'ts:

Recognize that "passion", "work / life balance", and "purpose" are just words. In reality they are not products, but rather by-products of planning your work life to support what you really want. You will only find these qualities by looking within yourself first and identifying what you want out of life.

Remember that you are not in prison. You can make choices about how you live your life and no one else can live it for you.

Develop your own personal compass. Don't evaluate yourself or your family against what others might have achieved. Do you feel good about yourself and, if not, what do you need to change?

Don't flatter yourself about how important and successful you are because you are so very busy. How much of your busy-ness is self-imposed? Are you using it to escape from something more important?

Listen to what people around you are saying - what they really want to communicate - and absorb the whole message before you start to respond. Remember that you will never have good relationships at work or at home if you are a "speed listener", reducing every message to a sound bite.

Commitments say a lot about your character. Don't make commitments (meeting, lunch, piece of work) and then not follow through or cancel at the last minute. You may feel busy, but so is everyone else! When you fail to honor your commitments, you are saying two things to the person who is relying on you: "My time is more important than yours." and "You are not important to me."

Finally, make 2012 special for you, your colleagues at work, and your important loved ones. Design a work / life worthy of your values, goals, and aspirations.

New Year's Resolutions for 2012 - Time for a Do-Over?

'Tis the season to make and give up on New Year's Resolutions! Yes, by now many people have already given up on one or more of their resolutions / priorities for 2012. Maybe the resolutions were unrealistic. Maybe they weren't specific. After some thought and a dose of realism, maybe we are just afraid of making changes to the way we've been doing things.

Well, it's not even mid-January, so there's still time to hit the re-set button. Here are a few suggestions to help you enhance your life and work satisfaction for the remainder of 2012.

Manage the Anxiety and Fear of Change. Fear is a chronic emotion that can paralyze you into never moving forward in your life. Recognize that it is a learned emotion and that you can re-educate yourself to deal with it.

Fear will never go away completely. As long as you are growing and changing, you will have to confront it. To reduce fear, you need to face it and do it (whatever needs doing)  anyway. "Just Doing It" improves self-esteem. Everyone experiences a feeling of fear when they are on unfamiliar ground. Finally, remember that psychologists say that more that 90% of what we fear never happens!

It's Not What You Are, It's What You Do. To achieve your goals in 2012, you have to recognize that successful people reach their goals mostly because of what they do.

Create a vision of what you really want to achieve and one that is really worth working for. Be very specific. Acknowledge that you need to act. Make your goal a change that you must achieve and one that will not let self-doubt or procrastination creep in. So "seize the day" and decide when you will take each action in advance. Planning will increase your chance of success.

Get Support. Share your  feelings and your goals with close friends and work colleagues. Choose wisely - friends who are supportive - those who are positive in their own lives and don't gossip. At work, choose those who share with you a passion for what they do and for achievement.

At the end of every day, find at least one positive thing to say about your day. Even if the best you can say is, "It's over!" There will be days like that, even for the super star performers. And don't forget, you get to try again tomorrow.

The 5 Levels of Professional Performance: Where are you? – Part 3

As I mentioned in my previous post, we can classify today’s busy white collar workers into one of five distinct levels based on their performance management. Finally, let’s look  at Level Five. 

Level Five: Highly Effective Priority Managers. They’ve mastered Level Four (Organized Delegators) and are going well beyond it. They work surprisingly few hours (40 to 45 hours per week).  They believe in getting things right the first time and expect the same of their organization. Their priorities are clear and openly communicated. They have polished verbal and written skills, and a passion for details. They have come to realize the true responsiveness and versatility are not inhibited by, but rather a result of, excellent priority management skills.

They work from a clean desk. Always.

They have an effective, fully integrated process for managing the rapidly-increasing volume of email. Even during crisis situations, Level Fives never lose their composure. For them, decision-making is a process, not an emotional event. Delegation comes naturally and, because they are surrounded by Organized Delegators, their teams work extraordinarily well.

They also lead balanced lives. They have no trouble taking time off for holidays, family, sports, church, and community.

You may think that reaching such a level of performance is unrealistic in today's fast-paced work environment, but moving from one level up to another is not rocket science. It simply takes a commitment to mastering the right tools and techniques. The benefits will be increased productivity, improved customer service, less stress, greater balance, heightened morale, and of course – MORE TIME.

Make a commitment to get organized in 2012. In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The 5 Levels of Professional Performance: Where are you? – Part 2

As I mentioned in my previous blog, we can classify today’s white collar knowledge workers into one of five distinct levels based on their performance management. Let’s look at Levels Three and Four. 

Level Three: Techno Meisters. These individuals have much improved planning skills compared to The Note Takers (Level Two). Their filing systems are much more effective, usually alphabetical. They have written, long-term goals and they do review them. They do try to plan and set priorities, although it’s hard sticking to them. They spend a lot of time in meetings, a lot more than they would like. But that’s the nature of the beast, or so they feel.

Overall they’re working too hard and running too fast. But that doesn’t bother them as much as it does their families. Even though they’re good at managing their own time, they can’t seem to integrate their system with the rest of the organization. That’s why they’re less productive than they could be.

They're really into electronic technology, and must have the latest / greatest hi-tech tool. For them time management is old fashioned. There must be a hi-tech way to manage appointments, to-dos and communications. This can be good, until they start relying on gadgets instead of on performance techniques.

Level Four: The Organized Delegators. They not only plan their work, they encourage and initiate planning and business goal-setting as a team. The golden understanding they have is that in today’s lean organization with its flattened structure, delegation is no longer a top down activity; it’s just as likely to be sideways. They are not only a team player, they also work as a team builder. Anybody with the right self-management skills can make that happen.

They’re not afraid of technology, and they’re not dazzled by it. They are very systematic in their priority and time management and routinely use their electronic tools. They have a clearly defined mission and goals, personally and professionally, and review them frequently.

They work hard and, because they are so well organized, they cover a lot of ground in a day. They recognize that time management is not an add-on, but a mission critical skill. Above all, despite the pride they take in being on top of things, they are still open-minded enough to embrace new and better ways whenever they come up.

(To be continued)

The 5 Levels of Professional Performance: Where are you? – Part 1

Despite the rockin' and rollin' of an earthquake, the huffin' and puffin' of Hurricane Irene, and the "toasting" of my office computer, I'm finally posting this blog!

While most workers have better educational and job-related skills than ever, they are sadly lacking the most vital skill of all for the information age – performance management. It’s possible to classify office professionals into one of five distinct levels … Where are you?

Level One: Time-Challenged Worker. Their computer and their work space tell the whole story.  Their desk and / or their computer desktop are littered with half-finished projects and documents too “urgent” to file – reminders or action items they desperately don’t want to forget.

They may have a paper calendar around somewhere and when they think of it, may even jot down events like appointments and birthdays. Similarly, they may use their Outlook calendar when they think of it. But the truth is they keep most of their schedule in their head because “hey, who’s got time to write anything down or enter it into the computer?”

Nonetheless, the trusted memory isn’t doing much for their reputation. They miss deadlines, double-book meetings, arrive late for meetings or forget about them altogether, and spend 30 to 45 minutes a day just searching for items on their desk, computer desktop, or email Inbox.

Level Two: The Note Takers. For the most part, people at this level claim to rely on the lined paper / spiral notepad that they lug to every meeting like Linus’ blanket.

But when push comes to shove, anything goes – hieroglyphics on scraps of paper, on backs of envelopes, napkins, and, of course, on the veritable forest of sticky notes strewn east, west and sideways across their cubicle.

They do have more organizational experience compared to Level One colleagues. They’ve probably taken a time management course and are familiar with the principles of goal-setting, preparing to-do lists, and how to prioritize.

Unfortunately, they believe since they’ve taken the course, they can cross that off their list: “Been there, done that. I’ve graduated…time to get down to real work.”

(To be continued)