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Internal Communications: Getting Ahead of the Inbox

By: Marijean Jaggers | 04/23/2009

In the communications business, there's been a recent surge in getting back to basics; branding and internal communications are in demand. Getting back to basics has meant an upswing in client interest in getting ahead of one of the most frequent forms of communication we business people use: E-mail.

I posted on Twitter (I'm @Marijean if you care to follow) that I was preparing a workshop for a client on "Getting Ahead of the E-mail Inbox," and many were the requests for more information.

I'm happy to share a bit of the information here, but if you or your management team would benefit from a lunch-and-learn workshop about creating and putting into place more effective e-mail practices, or if members of your team need a bit of one-on-one e-mail counseling, contact me at mjaggers@standingpr.com.

I started out the workshop with a disclaimer: "Helping you with e-mail is not unlike being your Weight Watchers coach . . . or your AA sponsor. I can give you the steps, the rules, the guidelines and tips for e-mail success but it's up to YOU to develop the discipline to use them."

That's right. I just quoted myself.

Getting your e-mail inbox to its ideal state, that is, empty and with older messages ordered and archived, takes time, but is the necessary first step in the process. There are methods for doing this quickly and efficiently, and for keeping the system clean going forward. "Clearing the mechanism," I call it, a quote borrowed from one of my favorite baseball movies, Bull Durham. And then, once your inbox is completely empty, going forward, with each new e-mail you MUST take one of four actions:

1. ARCHIVE IT
2. RESPOND TO IT
3. FORWARD IT
4. FLAG IT

With this system, your Follow-up folder becomes your new task list -- your workspace -- and there are techniques to keep this well-ordered and prioritized, as well. Working the e-mail organizing steps makes for more efficient communications, better internal communications (employees want responses to their e-mails!) and less overwhelmed people at work.

Wouldn't it be nice to start each day and not feel overwhelmed by the mountain of e-mail you must face?

Posted in Employee Relations