Forge your own position
Promoting direct exchanges
What is the impact of communication
by email on our interpersonal and professional exchanges? On our
"relational productivity"? Numerous managers complain of the
loss of direct contact between the members of their own team and, at the
same time, a weakening of its synergy. How can you intervene once
people's habits are already well established?
Compare
Remember
Inspiring new practices of communication requires having a clear
vision yourself of the situation to be transformed and the goal to be
attained: what is my position regarding communication by
email?
More specifically:
- What is the frequency of emails in our communication today?
- Of what nature are they?
- Which ones generally produce their desired effect and which ones don't create progress?
- In what ways are we satisfied or dissatisfied with this mode of communication?
- What would I like to achieve?
More specifically:
- What is the frequency of emails in our communication today?
- Of what nature are they?
- Which ones generally produce their desired effect and which ones don't create progress?
- In what ways are we satisfied or dissatisfied with this mode of communication?
- What would I like to achieve?
Involve the team in joint reflection
The members of your team probably see advantages and
disadvantages in communication by email. What's needed is to present it
as a topic for discussion, as much for sharing a diagnosis of the
situation as for defining a common objective that has meaning at
the collective level: what can we improve together and with what aim?
Launch an initial phase of experimentation
There is certainly no universal solution for bringing about
change, but there are stages of experimentation that can be defined. For
example, you can propose that the team work on reaching an
initial objective within a certain time period:
- Only using email for this or that type of subject (notably for factual information)
- Only sending one email on a given subject and then picking up the phone or getting up from your desk if that was not enough to take care of the question
- Never responding to an email with a criticism
- ...
- Only using email for this or that type of subject (notably for factual information)
- Only sending one email on a given subject and then picking up the phone or getting up from your desk if that was not enough to take care of the question
- Never responding to an email with a criticism
- ...
Evaluation
Each question has only one correct response, but be careful: among the possible responses there is one that is "almost correct" and might make the choice harder!
1 / 3
Noticing a lack of productivity!
You find that the use of email has become
counter-productive, both within your team and with the other departments. What
do you do about it?
You send a general email alerting everyone to the
phenomenon "too many emails". ⚠
Little chance you will be
heard...by email!
You suggest, to your peers, starting a working group
"less emails" involving collaborators from each team. ✓
Yes, good idea involving your colleagues and the
collaborators themselves.
You get your collaborators to think about finding
alternative ways of communicating. ⚠
Why not? but it would be better to involve their
colleagues from the other departments.
You implement a “good email practices” charter. ⚠
The charter will have more impact if it is formulated
by the teams.
2 / 3
Dealing with problems
You notice that the majority of problems are dealt
with by email, which creates tension. What do you do?
You ask your team to respect the rules: no colours, no
capitals, just facts... ⚠
Better to help the team answer
in a verbal manner.
You ask your team to use the telephone as soon as
tension mounts. ⚠
Relevant request, but if the collaborators are not comfortable
with managing tension, there is a risk it will have no effect.
You ask a team member who uses the telephone to deal
with problems to show the team how he does it. ⚠
Interesting question, but for later (to be associated
with response 4) because what works well for one won't necessarily work for the
others.
You organise team training on
how to convert email replies into verbal replies,
based on real situations. ✓
Yes, for example, based on recent contentious emails
and using role plays, on the theme of "I pick up the telephone". The
objective: showing that talking is more effective when it comes to solving
problems.
3 / 3
A source of stress
Several studies show that emails reception is a source
of stress. What do you do to reduce this adverse effect?
You determine, with your team, standard response
deadlines. ✓
Yes. Indeed, stress comes from a feeling of having to "reply
immediately".
Defining a response deadline, known to all, will reduce
the pressure.
You organise stress management training. ⚠
Best first determine with the team the response time
rules to reduce the feeling of urgency caused by emails.
You ask your team to not reply to emails other than those
with high importance. ⚠
Risky because they could miss out on important
information. And this will not necessarily reduce the stress.
Your score is
0/3
You finished!
To review the questions and responses, please choose from the list below.