Do I Really Need To Get Rid Of My Email?
We are probably wiping out our ability to concentrate thanks to everyday distractors that threaten our productivity.
It is widespread to fall into stressful situations due to the high workloads within our work environments and mainly due to the availability that people demand when implementing work-at-home models.
The reality is that despite saving valuable hours of our life in traffic, working at home represents many challenges for those of us who have set up our work center next to our bedroom.
It turns out that as of the date this article is published, we are faced with a critical dilemma, showing an unclear trend regarding new cases of COVID-19 infections.
It seems that there is an upward trend in the cases of infections, and this could imply the prolongation of isolation measures to try to avoid a greater spread of COVID-19. This, in turn, represents that work at home could continue for many people indefinitely, affecting communication in organizations.
Productivity as a differentiating element in knowledge work
Many industries have entirely transformed the way they work, which demands that workers adapt to the new dynamics of labor productivity and the generation of results.
Generation of reports, communication of relevant data, key performance indicators, scenario analysis, supervision, and communication are some of the most representative activities for a person who works remotely without considering the virtual meetings, calls, and instant messages that predominate today’s production environment.
At this point, there is an essential element of analysis since organizations could fall into information biases related to productivity by incorrectly evaluating the performance of a work team.
Let’s think that despite the time that has elapsed, we are still transitioning in the work culture. Instead of identifying relevant performance aspects, we can assign a high weight to functions that do not add value to an entity.
In short, organizations are at high risk of prioritizing mailing, immediate attention to virtual meetings, and feedback calls as key productivity activities preventing people from focusing on the functions that truly deliver value for an organization.
Therefore, it is crucial to consider some relevant aspects that allow us to better prioritize our daily work plan.
1.- Permanent communication may not be a productive activity
Attending the smartphone all day to answer messages, questions and emails can be an illusion of productivity, moving away from the functions that really produce value in an organizational role. Therefore, it is essential to examine the required procedures to avoid falling into production biases.
2.- Adequate configuration of key performance indicators
The indicators that allow us to evaluate organizational performance must be objectively focused on the intended results. Communicating must be efficient by opting for reporting alternatives beyond prolonged meetings that distract employees from fundamental aspects.
3.- The emails sent are not necessarily a key indicator of productivity
For many organizational structures, communication represents a pivotal factor in adequately achieving the expected results; however, today, we risk assuming that communication by email allows us to assess whether a collaborator is aware of their activities.
This could lead us to create inappropriate conclusions because email could represent a powerful distraction for those who have to perform functions from a distance, preventing them from adequately producing sufficient value to organizations.
Unless we are responsible for a customer service process, sales follow-up, or timely attention to incidents, it is inappropriate to consider that sending 100 emails a day is a critical element of productivity when processing data, formulating proposals, or scenarios. They may be more relevant to the workflow in the organization.
Insights To Boost Your Productivity
Probably within your corporate functions, availability represents a way to meet needs for the correct work process; however, the concentration force required by other procedures such as decision-making must also be prioritized in a balanced way.
To make decisions, we must consume information in a focused way avoiding distractions to avoid making mistakes due to a low level of concentration when analyzing the data.
Therefore, it is vital to rethink how communication is being executed within the organization structure and, as far as possible, migrate towards efficient schemes that prevent people from being unnecessarily distracted by an email or a messaging application.
Some options for managing corporate communication are the following:
Slack
Trello
Podio
Monday.com
The above are tools that facilitate the incorporation of communication channels, even specifically for topics or projects in which only the people who participate in a specific process are involved.
Additionally, I can recommend Cal Newport’s Deep Work, which addresses different topics related to the culture of productivity and the various strategies to achieve it.
Final Thoughts
Nowadays, our attention is like a currency that companies seek to obtain at any cost, and for that reason, they design beautiful visual products to get us hooked on it and benefit from it.
Therefore, channeling our attention in the best way is very relevant since we must be aware that our time is not unlimited, and we must focus it in the best possible way to achieve our objectives.
At the end of the day, this article is an effort to invite reflection on how we invest our time and not fall into states of stress just because we did not focus the way we wanted to.
Simply dedicate your time to what makes you happy and allows you to improve as a human being.
I appreciate the time you have taken to read this article. If you have any comments or suggestions on a topic that you would like me to analyze in the future, I will be waiting for your feedback.
Until next time.
