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While there are many methodologies a leader can use to effectively manage email, a consistent and thoughtful process is the best strategy to structure and reply to emails, and is a step toward management for an effective leader.
I’ve been working with CEOs for twenty years, and almost every CEO has to deal with a huge volume of email and doesn’t know methods to manage it effectively. In one survey I conducted of over 1,000 CEOs and business owners, 93% said that they had trouble managing email. Through my experience as founder of the CEO Experience and working with CEOs of each large and small corporations, I have discovered that effective email management can mean good overall management.
In today’s world, email is a key tool for leaders to speak effectively. Unfortunately, many leaders either neglect electronic mail or lack an effective inbox management method.
1. Segment your emails by your organization’s fiscal 12 months
In business, starts and stops are essential to success. Many things in business are broken down into an annual structure. Corporate funds are often divided into financial years. One of the essential mistakes many CEOs make with email is that they never break it down into fiscal years. They proceed to let their emails accumulate 12 months after 12 months. When you segment your emails each calendar 12 months, leaders can start and stop in their inbox. Each latest calendar 12 months will see your email volume drop to zero.
For example, if your organization’s calendar 12 months ends in September, you need to archive your emails from the previous 12 months and create a latest master folder for the latest fiscal 12 months. Effective email management starts with understanding the starting and ending points of your email information.
2. Create folders for your essential topics
An vital step in effective email management is organizing your messages into folders. Folders allow the leader to categorize key areas of concern that the leader may encounter repeatedly. Folders needs to be created for key topics and key people in the organization. The higher a leader is in a position to discover his folders, the higher he’ll have the ability to administer his email.
3. CEOs need folders for these nine key business areas
Every company, regardless of size, deals with issues related to strategy and vision: accounting and finance, sales and marketing, human resources, operations, customers, personal leadership and issues, kingdom impact, and team development and culture. When a leader knows where to store his or her emails, managing them becomes easier. Many emails remain in the inbox because the leader has nowhere to save lots of them.
4. Create subfolders under the essential folders to make them easier to position
Once you have created your essential folders, you need to create a task to create subfolders to higher organize your emails. For example, you can create a subfolder for each worker in your organization inside the Human Resources folder. They will let you store key worker information that shall be easy to go looking and find. Subfolders are essential for good email management.
Only keep emails that are useful for future consideration or record keeping. Don’t forget that the Sent folder is also a document folder containing information that can be searched when needed.
One example I take advantage of is copying or blindly copying a sent email for archiving purposes.
5. Create email templates for emails you know you may use often
Great leadership is consistent leadership. When leaders perform tasks repeatedly, they shall be successful if the task is done well. There is a lot of repetition in electronic mail. A CEO who uses the emails he or she writes as a template for later emails can save many hours of work and practice good management.
6. Use flags or develop a strategy to discover critical follow-up emails
One strategy to quickly sort emails in your inbox is to flag them for further motion. You can color your emails with flags or save your email with a reminder to work on your email later.
In my experience managing huge numbers of emails, I address each email in one of 4 ways: unimportant emails that can be deleted; FYI or understanding emails that needs to be read and then deleted; Reverse emails that require motion, but at a later time; and urgent and timely emails that require immediate motion.
The third category (turnaround) emails are people who require motion and will often be forgotten unless flagged at a later date.
7. Challenge yourself to answer every email every day
An aggressive approach to email management will reduce stress and make the leader more productive. It could also be helpful to set times of the day on your calendar to read emails. For example, a leader might schedule quarter-hour at 9, 11, 2, and 5 to envision email and respond appropriately. The more consistent habits and behaviors you determine as a leader, the more productive you shall be.
One senior government executive I worked with successfully managed her inbox to zero over the course of her twenty years in government. She says, “Effective email management will reduce stress, improve productivity, and help a leader gain credibility in every area of his or her leadership.”
While effective email management might not be the only key to business success and good management, it is an essential part of the process that many executives devote their time and effort to.
E-mail is now an element of every position and task on the labor market. Managing your emails and responding quickly can mean the difference between success and failure for your online business. When leaders understand methods to effectively use email as a tool reasonably than viewing it as a burden, they may stop responding to emails and use it as one of the core technical elements of the company they work for.