Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Here is some great email protocol advice from Kory Kogon, Adam Merrill and Leena Rinne, authors of the book, The 5 Choices: The Path To Extraordinary Productivity :  Consciously decide if an email really needs to be sent. Keep it short to get the best response. Make an actionable subject line. Avoid vague on-word subject lines. Don’t discuss more than one subject. Don’t rely on the high-priority indicator (such as “!”). Write the body of the email first, before filling in the “To:” line. List the action steps first. Be clear about whom you’re asking to take the actions. If the message is short, put it in the subject line. Put “NRN” at the end of your message to indicate No Need to Reply. Use prefixes when necessary to let people know the urgency of the email and exactly how they need to respond. Avoid using too many acronyms. Respond to incoming emails within twenty-four hours. Don’t expect an immediate response to your outbound emails. Use out of office re...

As a leader a time will come when you have to write an email, memo or letter to address an issue of great importance or concern to you. Or, perhaps in response to something that displeased you, disappointed you, frustrated you, or upset you. Write that document. Then, let it sit. Preferably, let it sit for 24 hours. Then, re-read it. It's almost guaranteed you'll end up tweaking the document. You might add a fact that you accidentally omitted in the heat of the moment the day before. Or, more likely, you'll alter the tone so it will achieve a better response from the document's recipient. You may even decide not to send the document at all, and instead will discuss the matter in person or over the phone with the intended recipient. Usually, time and circumstances permit you to let your document sit for a day. And when your document sits for a day, you'll end up ultimately crafting a better message.

As the season of spring vacations continues throughout the U.S, communication expert, David Grossman, encourages you to take his pledge for an email-free vacation.  When you take the pledge you'll also learn from David his recommended  Eight Great Steps to Unplug & Recharge . David has found that a growing number of his clients are looking for new ways to address mounting email overload in their workplaces. Many of them worry about the impact of growing email volume on productivity and their efforts to build a healthy work-life balance. In short, many workers feel they can never turn off email, at work or during their precious vacation time. "Vacation is typically a time set aside to relax and recharge, but few people are able to do so because they’re tethered to their work email," explains David. "In fact, a ccording to recent research,   42%   of employees feel obligated to check their email during vacation and   one in ten   check ...