While on the subject of communications . . .

I wonder how many people are currently cursing the fact that they have email at work?

Are you receiving so many emails from so many people that you find it hard to cope?

If you are there is a solution, but unfortunately as with most good ideas it requires some effort to realise its benefits.

Ask yourself and your work colleagues the following question:

Is there any time when I am sending or receiving an email at work when I do not want someone else to DO something or I am being asked by someone to DO something?

The answer is of course yes! When you want someone to have access to information then you send them an email with the "FYI" header. In this way the person KNOWS for a certainty that the information in the email which is attached is just that, a piece of information which they can read at their leisure.

What I suspect most people will find is that all the rest of the emails which clutter up our in trays are actually about things that people want is to DO something about.

They may want us to attend a meeting, prepare a report, obtain some information, actually DO something in other words. What is generally unclear in an email is how urgent the matter is and what priority or importance the other person is attaching to the request. What is worse when we send out a note to someone wanting them to do something for us, we also do not put out priority on this request nor necessarily a time frame within which we want a response or the action to be completed and of course we can easily forget that we asked someone to do something because we usually do not place the email into some reminder box.

All this could change if people realised that they can and indeed SHOULD send no more emails to people at work but use the TO DO functionality of either Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes or whatever corporate tool suite they are using for communications.

By doing so - the following can be achieved:

1. there is a reduction in email
2. the is an increase in targeted instructions to others about things they need to do for you
3. there is a priority allocated to the request
4. there is a due date allocated to the request
5. there is means by which the person on the receiving end can come back and tell you whether or not they can comply with your request
6. there is an audit trail that enables you to follow up your requests so that you do not lose sight of the work you are undertaking and asking others to undertake for you.
7. there is a greater ability for people in the work place to manage their work instead of their work managing them

Try this solution among some work colleagues who are willing to go along with you and then show others the benefits that can be obtained. You may well be starting a new revolution in the work place.