I have fond recollections of the early days of e-mail. What a cool way to share information and, at the same time, save our schools printing and duplication costs, not to mention the staff time spent making copies and stuffing mailboxes. I worked with like-minded colleagues to install an intranet program just so we could exchange internal e-mails among staff. In those days, our main challenge was to get people to log in and take a look.
Fast forward ten years and you might have seen me tremble—literally—as I opened my e-mail for the first time each morning. My bleary eyes bulged at the sight of 100 or more chronologically listed messages. California Department of Education listservs, county office bulletins, colleagues, parents, concerned citizens, e-blasts from numerous publications that I had at some point asked to receive, and notifications from various services overflowed my screen. I lived in constant fear of losing key information, forgetting to show up at important events, and generally being unresponsive to the overwhelming flood of incoming mail.
Fortunately, I wasn’t alone. In conversations with other school leaders, I heard their frustration with their own attempts to manage e-mail. I began to approach the problem analytically. I read books, pored through articles, watched videos, and connected with bloggers. I found some ways of processing, organizing, and responding to e-mail that fit my own way of organizing time and tasks, and I set out to implement them.
Despite a few bumps along the way, I definitely feel now a greater sense of control and much less anxiety. I have systems to identify which messages are most important, which ones require responses, and a sequence of steps to deal with those tough e-mails that require interpersonal responses. While some days are tougher than others, I am able to start every day with an empty inbox.
In addition to improving my effectiveness, that empty inbox symbolizes a refreshed way of thinking as well. For me, this shift has been transformative, and so I feel compelled to share some of what I’ve learned. I have created some resources to accelerate your own learning process. As an orientation, I recommend the 7-minute Quicktake called Taking Control of Email that is posted on the TICAL website. Additionally, I have created a blog by the same name with links to articles, videos, and other resources that I think may be useful in your journey. Also, TICAL Leadership Cadre member Gabe Soumakian has posted an excellent presentation on e-mail etiquette.
You, too, can achieve a sense of control and comfort with your e-mail!
Tags: e-mail