Transcript
Transcript: Cup of Joe with Joseph Silva: Managing Your Emails
[0:00 A man with a white mug in front of him.]
Joseph Silva: Hello, my name is Joseph Silva.
[0:02 Title "Cup of Joe with Joseph Silva: Email Management" appears next to an animated coffee mug.]
I would like to discuss the management of emails.
[0:12 Text appears on screen "Joseph Silva, Former Director General, Human Resources, Privy Council Office"]
[0:23-2:06 a white banner appears and stays at the bottom of the screen, with the text "Canada School of Public Service".]
It’s an issue that everyone struggles with and as executives we are inundated with a constant flow of emails. How to deal with all this information and not miss anything?
If you have a very good executive assistant who can keep up with all the inflow and outflow of information, this video may not be for you.
However, if this is not the case, here are a few tips I learned along the way:
First, establish clear expectations regarding emails with your staff. For example, you don’t have to be cc’d on all their emails, that you are available for a quick chat if something needs attention, avoid using emails for back-and-forth conversations for complex issues. You need to inform your staff that if they need to write an email that takes the full page, you’ll not read it so why should they bother, that you trust your staff to do what they need to do and to keep you informed via other means such as a quick touch base, bilats or management meetings, with emails only being used for very brief updates.
Second, develop a consistent approach when receiving an email. You should read it, delete it, file it, delegate or action, or set a task for yourself sometime in the future. This avoids having emails pile up in your inbox.
Third, expect that when you’re away, everything is being dealt with by the person in the acting role. That said, keep those emails that came in while you were away for reference in a separate folder in case something comes up but be ready to delete it a few months down the road.
Finally, if things get out of hand in your inbox – and they will – empty everything into a folder and call it old emails. If you don’t go back to it in six months, delete it.
With these strategies, I was able to keep up and respond very quickly to emails from my staff, superiors, and clients, while keeping my inbox at very low numbers.
I hope this helps. See you in the next episode.
[0:02 Title "Cup of Joe with Joseph Silva: Email Management" appears next to an animated coffee mug.]
[2:07-2:17 The CSPS logo appears onscreen. A text appears on the screen: canada.ca/school. The Government of Canada logo appears onscreen.]
