5 Steps to End Email Overload

In my district there is only one email sent out to the district from the entire central office staff for the entire week. 

Yes one!  Not one from each person. One email that has all the information from everyone for the entire week.

Why it that?

The reason is simple. No one reads every email that is sent. In fact the more emails that are sent the greater the chance that someone will not read those emails. That’s the law of communication. Less is alsways more. 

Let’s go a step further. Not every blanket email is necessary. Nothing is more annoying than getting a blanket email that only applies to 50% of the organization, and you’re not one of the 50%. In fact blanket email overload actually leads to less communication and sadly less staff engagement. 

The more communication sent leads to less communication received. Conversely the less communication sent ultimately leads to more communication received.

LESS EMAIL = MORE COMMUNICATION

I mean let’s get real. Who likes getting tons of email anymore? In fact, email consumes my day for at least 2 hours per day if not more. If I feel this way about email, I have to assume that surely others do as well.  We, leaders, owe it to our followers to have great communication skills, and there is one way to optimize your organization’s communication.

5 Steps to End Email Overload for your Organization

Step 1 - Create a Google Doc and share it with the leaders and administrative assistants who send emails every week. Give them editing rights to the document. 

Step 2 - Set a deadline for everyone to enter their announcements on the document at least 2 days before you intend to send the one organizational blanket email from everyone for the week. 

Step 3 - Review the Google Doc with the team to ensure that everything is entered and compose your email on a blog, s’more, or newsletter of your choice. 

Step 4 - Email it out and communicate to your followers that they can expect to receive only one email per week with everything that applies to everyone. 
(special note - send it out at the same time every week) 

Step 5 - Ensure that emergency (or oops, I forgot) emails are rarely sent. 

Our folks are drowning in EMAIL.
Don’t let email be another brick that brings them further under the water. Create less emails that serve as the one stop shop of weekly information, and it will serve as a life preserver to keep them afloat.  It may perhaps lead them to less stress and more workplace success.