Peter's Blog

In today's work environment a lot of communication takes place through email. Have you ever noticed the fact that there is a certain correlation between the amount of email you sent and the amount of email you receive? Take a minute to consider how you use the CC function of your email client, let alone the horrible BCC function. Send an email to one person with a couple of people on CC and there is a good chance that you will get more than one response back. Was email in that case indeed the most effective way to communicate your message, or would it have been more effective to have a direct communication line with the person you were addressing, by use of telephone or opening a chat through your favorite chat client. Direct communication works faster and generates less stuff that needs your attention.

In cases where you need the input of a group then use a channel where the group you are addressing has access to. Discussion databases, Forums and Wiki's are good examples and if you are taking it one step further social media like facebook, Ecademy and Twitter will be great ways of communicating too. The huge advantage of these tools is that everyone will see all responses, no option to forget the Reply All function or the fact that people reply to an older message because they haven't seen the latest response yet. Many of these tools also do offer some kind of closed user groups or have intranet based equivalents, social media can be closed and secure too!

You may want to think about it next time you start writing an email and ask yourself the question: is email the right communication method for the message I am planning to deliver and the kind of feedback I require?