Russell Bell: Emails clog arteries of communication

Russell Bell PHOTO/FILE

I LOVE technology. I have always been a first mover, so much so that "back in the day" I queued to get my hands on the first PlayStation 2 in Auckland (I think I got number 142, and the flu that resulted was worth it).

So it pains me today to write about a technological elephant which is causing waste in your organisation and resulting in grief for your customers.

Email.

I am sure that email was invented with good intentions. It was hailed as a friend and enabler of productivity to businesses one and all. But rather than a friend, it has become the passive-aggressive bully which makes friendly overtures but kicks productive activity in the knees.

Email has become cop-out communication or, as we used to term it in the 1990s, "CYA" communication (where "A" refers to your gluteus maximus). As a result, millions of otherwise productive people are burning time wordsmithing tomes to describe events or actions which could be covered by a simple conversation.

Add to that, I read on the internet that it takes 64 seconds to recover your train of thought after an email interruption. And if you are in your most effective mode, it takes 25 minutes to get back up to full production.

Yesterday I responded to 24 emails, which is about average, so by the 64-second rationale I lost almost half an hour a day or 92 hours a year. That doesn't include the time taken to write emails from scratch (in excess of the time a simple conversation would have taken).

We must not forget that readers might not quite understand your message, depending on the words you choose or how you structure your argument.

The maxim of "I've sent an email so my job is done" doesn't hold when systems fail and there is no guarantee that your intended recipient actually readit.

Another issue is how emails get saved, almost like love letters, in folders clogging up computer servers and leading to inefficiencies in information transfer and processing. Not to mention people who also print messages out, causing thousands of pine trees in the Kaimanawas to get their affairs in order. Such emails only gather dust in a folder on a shelf.

Just as many of the latest diet techniques are based on how humans were meant to eat, we need to go on a diet from emails - because humans weren't meant to communicate this way.

If you work in the same building, get up and go have a chat about an issue or opportunity. If they are too busy, schedule a convenient time.

Most importantly, if you are communicating, pick up the phone. At the very least you can ensure they got the message.

-Balance Consulting is a Whanganui consultancy specialising in business strategy, process excellence and leadership mentoring. Contact Russell on 021 2442421 or John Taylor on 027 4995872.