Email hurts

This is something that I have been finding bits and pieces on and off for a while. Email is one of the things that I think does more damage than we realize. There are so many cases I can remember where what was an intractable problem when dealt with via email was solved quickly face to face. If you wonder why "email hurts", here are some of the reasons.


There is also the view that dealing email effectively reduces your IQ. This is by as much as 10 IQ points, the same as missing a night's sleep or three times as much as smoking marijuana. Be aware though that there is the alternative view that this hasn't been proved and that email is simply a cognitive task that takes effort while you are dealing with it (i.e. it doesn't lower your IQ).

Actually it is the social aspects of email that is the bigger problem - the effect on your EQ. There are no visual or verbal clues that help people pick up the tone so there is a high likelihood that they will take the negative view on the email. Also, people are less likely to be cooperative and more likely to feel justified in being uncooperative. If you work in an organization with a heavy reliance on email and feel that it is difficult to get things done, this may be why.

The sheer volume of email is also an issue. It seems that some workers spend 28% of the average work week on reading and responding to email (or 23% according to others). It doesn't need to lower your IQ if it takes up a quarter of the day. What is more worrying is that much of the 28% of the day is self generated work. Much of the email that you get is self generated, responses to email that you have sent. This article asks you to think back to the last time you were on leave for an extended period. Most likely the volume of email reduced.

Email is also addictive much in the same way that gambling machines are - because it provides a variable-interval reinforcement schedule. We get a mental reward each time an email comes in. One of the problems I believe is that people have a natural inclination to communicate. We sit them at desks and expect them to stay there working so email is a result. We get used to lengthy email conversations were people talk past each other, when a simple phone call or face to face discussion would clear the issue up.


If you have to use email, here are some tips.

1. Build a relationship face to face or over the phone before using email as the primary source of communication. Make sure you rebuild those face to face or phone connections. Better yet, limit email to low value interactions and use face to face or phone for key communications. Never give surprises or bad news via email.
2. Avoid humour. The only person that it is safe to poke fun of in an email is yourself. Also, it helps to assume that any email you send will be read by the person you least want to read the email. Once sent it is out of your control - completely out of your control.
3. Limit email to certain times of the day. Most email clients can be set to only send and receive manually. It works. Often I find someone else has resolved the problem by the time I have read the email.
4. Don't reinforce bad practices. Respond to emails at certain times and make sure that people know when that is. If they want an instant response they will know to use the phone. 
5. Consider having a cc folder where all the copied emails are collected and then check this once a week.This works very well as I did this for a number of months with no issues. You may want to identify certain individuals where you want to see the copied email and exclude them from the rule. If ever someone complains about this the answer is that no one should be assigning mission critical actions via a copied email.

 


Perhaps it's something that we can do without from time to time. Here's one solution that was taken by one CEO. Certainly the face-to-face and phone communication that I rely on helps me to get things done.


Here are the links all in one place
http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/04/does-email-turn-you-into-an-asshole/
http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/10/how-can-you-stop-e-mail-from-taking-over-your/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-51472855/email-mistakes-at-work-how-to-survive-them/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/10/25/i-banned-all-internal-e-mails-at-my-company-for-a-week/
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/mgi/research/technology_and_innovation/the_social_economy/
http://mindhacks.com/2012/10/12/bbc-column-psychological-self-defence-for-the-age-of-email/
http://mindhacks.com/2005/04/24/does-email-really-reduce-iq/
http://mindhacks.com/2006/09/19/why-email-is-addictive-and-what-to-do-about-it/
http://www.spring.org.uk/2010/09/emails-dark-side-10-psychology-studies.php

http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/10/avoid-email-miscommunication.php