We have a saying here at Double Forte: The point of communication is to stop it.
What’s that you say?
Clear communication is finite. It doesn’t require lots of iterations. If you are delivering an effective message it should have impact upon impact.
Here’s why this matters. The average American worker receives 121 emails a day. Each email is an interruption. An interrupted worker takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task. So if you think about how much time emails take away from our day, well, that math doesn’t even add up….
So it behooves us all to make our emails efificent and clear, and to, quite frankly, stop the email madness. Re:re:re: is not okay. Email chains are so 2015. Cool communicators stop the communication.
How?
Well, it’s simple really. Say something when you send an email. Don’t type words. Don’t promise to touch base or circle back. Really say something. As my mother always said, “If you don’t have something specific to email, don’t email at all.”
Okay, so she didn’t actually say that. I don’t think she ever even sent an email. But you catch my drift, right?
Here’s what else you shouldn’t ever do on email. Never type these phrases: “Let’s discuss” or “We should meet.”
And my personal favorite, “We should think about that.” I mean, if you are responding to a message I sent you about a specific topic with, “We should think about that,” guess what? I already am thinking about that! That’s why I sent the message on that topic.
Say something. Stop the madness. Stop the email chain. Clear, concise and effective communication is way cool.
What do you think? Maybe we should have lunch to discuss.