Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to respond to emails even if you can't
Speaker 1: give an answer yet.
Speaker 2: People want to know that you.
Speaker 1: Have received their messages and will deal with them. Letting
Speaker 1: them know that that is true can ultimately save you time.
Speaker 1: Today's tip, like some others this week, comes from Laura
Speaker 1: May Martin's new book Up Time. She works at Google
Speaker 1: as the company's productivity guru, coaching executives to be more
Speaker 1: efficient with their time. In her book, she notes that
Speaker 1: the frequent productivity advice to check email just a few
Speaker 1: times a day does not really work in a corporate environment.
Speaker 1: Many people's jobs require them to see email more often
Speaker 1: than that. Plus, no one likes collaborating with a person
Speaker 1: who doesn't respond to email. Martin says, it's just frustrating,
Speaker 1: and if you are working with someone non responsive, it
Speaker 1: feels like they are putting their desires over the need
Speaker 1: for the team to move along. And more importantly, she
Speaker 1: writes a lot of inefficiencies in email come from people
Speaker 1: checking back in or bumping up an email because they
Speaker 1: haven't heard back from someone If you don't respond to
Speaker 1: an email, it usually ensures you'll get another email now
Speaker 1: If you don't respond to that. Another email is then
Speaker 1: followed by an instant chat to get your attention, which
Speaker 1: turns into a meeting added to your calendar. Probably it
Speaker 1: would be better to answer the email in the first place.
Speaker 2: Of course, you.
Speaker 1: Don't always know the answer to an email, or you
Speaker 1: don't have time to deal.
Speaker 2: With it right now. That is fine. Even if you
Speaker 2: can't answer, you can respond. Martin suggests several holding responses,
Speaker 2: such as, Hey, I got your request and need to
Speaker 2: think about it this week. I'll let you know next week,
Speaker 2: or thanks for your email. I have time scheduled next
Speaker 2: Tuesday to work on this, so I'll get back to
Speaker 2: you Wednesday next week. And if you really aren't sure,
Speaker 2: try Hi, this is on my radar, but I'm not
Speaker 2: sure when I'll get to it. If you don't hear
Speaker 2: from me in the next month or so, feel free
Speaker 2: to follow back up. When you send emails like this,
Speaker 2: you come across as responsive and helpful, and most likely
Speaker 2: people will stop pinging you or trying to get time
Speaker 2: on your calendar. As Martin notes, people just want to
Speaker 2: be heard now. You don't have to respond to one
Speaker 2: hundred percent of your email. I'm sure we all get
Speaker 2: lots of spam, but actual colleagues requesting actual things is
Speaker 2: a different matter. Being responsive even when you can't answer,
Speaker 2: shows that you are a team player and will probably
Speaker 2: save time overall. In the meantime. This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our text. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.