Email Insanity


Working for GE, I noticed a trend in the corporate world related to communication. I worked with folks right next to my office, and who also passed by frequently, and they insisted on sending emails for the most trivial of items. Instead of old fashioned face to face human contact, I electronically extended thoughts to teams, and vice versa. After realizing this compartmentalized, impersonal, and inhuman way we were interacting, I took the steps to implement genuine and caring communication.

I did not eliminate emails, but in the morning rather than immediately opening emails and being roped into the glowing screen, I went into offices, cube farms, and front desks on my journey throughout the day to extend real time / life hello's, and inquiries. As stated, I continued emails, but noticed about a 20% decrease in emails! There were some folks that were and also weren't aware of my 'case study', until some that noticed brought it up during a presentation I was leading. "I like how you don't email me meaningless stuff Brian", a team member shared as we discussed the integrity and expectations of corporate emails/interactions, as well as the potential for negative repercussions in the workplace. I was honored someone had noticed. Someone shared an article about a business that made it a point to have "No email Friday's", and we attempted this, but it just wasn't possible in any way. The idea great in theory, and also to bring light to the topic of how we communicate in our Information Age.

To expand on this "Email Insanity", I realized that I have 9 email addresses. I can't rightly deny that I brought it upon myself, so I take accountability related to my abundant communication channels. To share my 'portfolio', I have 3 "Yahoo!" addresses, 2 "gmail" accounts, an email for my non-profit, a Xavier University email, a business email, and also an "Outlook" home email. Geesh! On top of that, I engage in communication via facebook, myspace, linkedin, blogs, eBay, and many other networks related to research, marketing, leadership, favorite links, etc. . Communication overload! I wonder how many emails the average computer user has?!

Do you feel we're electronically driven, and if so, if this is a good or bad thing? How do we change/break the bonds to engage in personal interactions again...? I feel with balance, one can utilize the internet and email as wonderful resources to fuel efforts. All too often I am bombarded by lengthy emails that lack focus, a funny FWD (worth it if it's actually funny, and the links/attachments don't mess up my connection), the spam (like telling me I won something, or my dead uncle in some country left me millions, just share personal info, and also collect from the IRS fake emails), and the coveted "reply all" chain emails that I don't have time to dissect. As you read this now, I am electronically communicating, and it's wonderful to share such insight. But, at what risk, cost, and trade offs do we engage in too much online interaction, and causes our real relationships to become "off-line" a bit? It may sound extreme, but just think, how did we communicate and get things done before the internet?

I got on average of over 100 emails a DAY with GE, and on top of that I followed up with my personal email accounts/online interactions, causing a serious dissection of behavior and pattern assessment to see how I can better utilize my time/productivity for connecting and fueling efforts directly with teams/people...

I invite your thoughts and perspectives related to:
  • How many emails do you think you get on average daily?
  • Do you feel technology consumes our lives?
  • What other methods do you utilize to communicate during our "Information and Innovation Age"?
  • Do you feel computers and the internet are the most effective form of communication?
  • Here are some interesting stats on email, computer time, etc.
As the politicians of late have the "mantra", "It's time for change", I'd have to agree... how do you implement change in your behavior and patterns related to communicating with colleagues, family, friends, and your teams? What ideas do you have? Look forward to hearing your insights!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi Brian,

My answers:

- I think I get 40 emails on average daily (far less than most other professionals).

- I feel technology does consume the lives of most people in America.

- I use the phone more than I do Facebook or other online social networks.

- I believe computers and the Internet are the most effective forms of communication in certain situations... like explaining in detail the various costs of service or product. Also, a quick email with a link to a recent article that's relevant to a client, is a very effective way to "stay in touch" even when I don't have any new news.

All in all, I know I've needed to curtail the time I've spent online... although it's been a struggle.

I've set up a personalized iGoogle home page, with tabs that represent the main buckets in my life that the Internet can help me with (eg. Communicating, Networking, Personal Finances).

On each tab I have hyperlinks to the main resources that fall into those buckets. For "Personal Finance" I have links to my banks' websites, as well as a link to Yahoo! Finance.

By having this iGoogle setup, when I hop online, I can log in to my Google account to see my personalized home page. And then I can zip through the items that are most important to me.

Bottom Line: This setup helps me stay on track in getting the info I need to get while online, and then signing off.

Have a good one Brian,

Nick Wright
Brian Siegel said…
it's certainly an irony isn't it! we invest time to save time... a good balance is key I believe. there are great tools/resources to assist us with harnessing the power of the web for our goals, but I somehow always get roped into searching, finding, connecting, etc. to something else while on here! can't argue with the internet's capabilities related to effective, efficient, cost efficient, etc. attributes. great to hear from you Nick, have a good one bud!

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