Email is Destroying Your Effectiveness as a Leader

Being a better healthcare leader and manager might come down to how you use one of the most valuable, yet overused, tools in the business world - email.

According to research from Michigan State University, email is directly hurting your ability to be an effective leader. No real surprise here. Each moment away from interacting with our team, holds a potentially lost opportunity to listen, motivate, and collaborate. While the problem started long before high-speed internet, smart-phones, and world-wide pandemic, these things certainly didn't help.

So how can something so essential be so detrimental? And what can you do about it?

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Well, let's start with these daunting facts:

• Professionals check email an average of 15 times each day

• We receive over 120 emails per day at work

• That's 2.5 hours of checking and replying to email on a daily basis

• From there we spend 1.5 hours recovering from email interruptions each day

• 42% of emails are opened on phones and tablets which means we are guilty of checking it in bed, while driving, or "busy" in the bathroom

This all adds up to over 4 hours of email each day or roughly half of each day and week. Given these facts and our own confirmed experience of drinking from the email fire hose, it's no wonder we feel exhausted, behind, and struggle to connect with our teams in a more meaningful way.

How Much Time Do You Spend On Email?

• 0%At least 30 minutes
• 0%1-2 hours
• 0%3+ hours

So how do we reduce our use in a way that still allows us to be responsive and also gives us more time to lead our teams on the floor and at the bedside?

Here are 3 simple steps to take today:

1. Schedule Your Email Use - Easier said than done, this simple, yet effective approach will get you 90% of the way there assuming you can adhere to the approach. Put it on your calendar 3-4 times a day and stick to it. Don't think that's possible in your role? You'd be surprised. Start small and take this challenge.

2. Turn Off Alerts - You don't need a reminder that you have a new email. Given that you likely receive at least 120 messages a day, you can bet that you have one waiting for you. Don't let someone else decide when to check it. Click here for more information on how to turn off alerts.

3. Stop Making Email Urgent - Stop treating email as a way to communicate urgent needs and information. The same goes for receiving email. Share your expectations with others - call or text with urgent needs. Email with things that can wait.

Admittingly, these "easy" steps require some effort in order to break the habit of checking email. It will take time but once you start you'll be amazed at how much more productive you feel, the new-found time you now have, and increased ability to lead in a much more effective way.

Want to learn about more ways to reduce email in an effective way? Click here to receive Elevatial's Email Tip Sheet and other useful information to help you be a more effective, less distracted leader.

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