To Reduce E-mail, Start at the Top,” by Chris Brown, Andrew Killick, and Karen Renaud.

 September 26, 2013

Help Your Company Cut Back on Email

You can’t control how many emails you receive, but you can control how many you send. In a recent study, one firm’s workers followed suit when their executives reduced overall email output. You can spark a similar reduction and improve efficiency across your organization by doing the following:

• Choose the right medium. Consider whether your communication merits a phone call or in-person meeting, where vocal tone and body language provide real-time feedback on how clearly a message is being understood.
• Be deliberate. Don’t forward messages unless strictly necessary, and limit the number of recipients on each outgoing note.
• Make it real. Set a target for reducing the number of messages you send. Include it in your performance goals to keep yourself honest.

Adapted from “To Reduce E-mail, Start at the Top,” by Chris Brown, Andrew Killick, and Karen Renaud.