Mastering the Art of Good Digital Body Language - Part II
We are living in a frantic, 24/7 world where, let's be honest, it's hard to keep up. And often times, especially in the last few years, technologies have paved the way to our ability to transmit and access information much quicker and businesses are continually working to stay ahead of the competition. According to emailanalytics.com:
"Between 25-52% of a typical professional’s workday is spent reading, writing, checking, and managing email."
If you are the sender...
In this day and age, people expect a response immediately, within several minutes instead of several hours or days. According to Laura Vanderkam, author of several time management and productivity books, said:
"More than 70% of people expected a response from coworkers within four hours."
Many of us can remember when we used to leave a voicemail for someone and think it was acceptable when they responded in a week or maybe in two weeks. Now just a few hours you may feel anxious about not getting a response and timing anxiety is a big issue if the messengers don't hear back from someone, they may start to wonder what's going on, and they may ruminate about it, and follow-up more often than necessary, not to say that it may also create other health-related side effects.
The general rule of thumb is if you haven't heard back from someone, rather than stewing in your own anxiety, set some norms in your messages around a response time expectations like 2H (two hours), 4D (4 days), or by certain specified date.
And if you haven't heard back it gives you the liberty to follow-up appropriately. If you still don't hear back, then it's time to switch the medium. Pick up the phone if it is urgent!
If you are the recipient...
On the other hand, managers may be overwhelmed with emails needing response. If you are on the recipient end - if you are receiving a lot of messages with expectations around timing, one simple thing you can do is respond immediately and say got it and will get back with you soon or get back tomorrow. This will allow others to know you are on it but will give them the space to not bother you and feel anxious and will allow yourself to give your own space to follow-up appropriately.
Alternatively, there are numerous email productivity tools on the market that allow individuals to set response time so that both ends of the party - the messenger and recipient - can name a date/time for receiving and responding to requests. Usually an alert will display urging the person to take an action.
Takeaways
When a response is expected from someone, be clear about setting response time and use a different medium if it's super urgent.
When you are expected to reply to someone, try to respond immediately with acknowledgement and be clear about when a reply will be made.
Use email productivity tools to improve efficiency and lessen your level of stress!
More on this blog series:
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