The disparity between managing email and managing MS Teams often goes unnoticed, yet companies are paying a hefty price for overlooking it.

Consider Teams as your virtual neighborhood and Outlook as the broader world encompassing your neighborhood. While you can invite external parties to your Teams neighborhood, the invitation process is selective. In contrast, Outlook operates on a “come one, come all” basis; anyone with your email address can join the party. Despite spam protection acting as a gated complex, it’s challenging to distinguish between neighbors, well-meaning visitors, and manipulative marketers seeking your attention.

In general, most communications in Teams are internal, which doesn’t diminish their importance but underscores a difference in focus compared to customer interactions, particularly in sales and customer service.

Now, envision assigning a monetary value to each email in your inbox. While some emails enhance...

What if you recognize the value LeanMail could bring to your team's productivity but you're hesitant to introduce a new tool?

While this caution is reasonable, keep in mind that your team is unlikely to discover such specialized solutions without guidance. Remember the Post-it Note story? Peer Collaboration is Key to Make Innovation Happen.

What if, instead of seeing sharing LeanMail as an imposition, you saw it as empowering your team to manage email more efficiently. By not introducing LeanMail, you're missing an opportunity to provide a tool that cuts through the everyday chaos of information overload.

A practical way to introduce LeanMail is to invite your teams to our workshop.  Perhaps you've already been to one?  This isn't merely a presentation; it's a forum for dialogue, and questions. Framing it as a learning opportunity adds value and makes the initiative more appealing.

By showcasing LeanMail, you're giving your team a firsthand look at its...

Introduction:

In the workplace, reminders from bosses have become a common practice to ensure tasks are completed on time. However, relying too heavily on reminders can hinder employee growth, foster dependency, and stifle productivity. In this blog, we will explore why constant reminders are a counterproductive habit and provide practical strategies to wean employees off this reliance, fostering a culture of self-responsibility and empowerment.

1. The Downside of Constant Reminders
   
   Constant reminders may seem helpful in the short term, but they have several negative effects in the long run:
   
   

1. a) Reduced Accountability: When employees become accustomed to regular reminders, they may develop a lack of ownership and accountability for their responsibilities. They rely on external prompts rather than taking personal initiative to manage their tasks effectively.
2. b) Stifled Creativity and Problem-Solving: Reminders often focus solely on the completion of tasks, disregarding the...

Our marketing team receives similar responses to this one on a daily basis.

Thank you for your interest, but we recently received training and consultancy on ‘time management and the use of outlook’, so let’s not waste your time, thanks again.

 
Here’s why it’s a shame that many leaders share this attitude.

 In today’s fast-paced business environment, email has become the primary mode of communication for our customers. While many view email management as a matter of time management, it encompasses much more than that. Reassessing how teams handle email can have a profound impact on productivity, collaboration, client relationships, and ultimately, the success of the business. Let’s explore why email management goes beyond time management and why it deserves a closer look.

1. Efficient Communication and Collaboration: Email serves as the lifeblood of team communication. By reassessing email management practices, teams can ensure...

In my latest blog post, “Harnessing the Potential: Unveiling the Benefits of Setting Limits on Information Consumption,” I debunked the myth of information overload and emphasized the significance of establishing boundaries for our intake.

Today, I will delve deeper into the advantages of embracing these limits, including heightened focus, diminished stress and anxiety, and amplified productivity.

1. Increased focus: Setting limits helps us direct our attention to what truly matters. By filtering out irrelevant information, we can concentrate on the essential knowledge and insights that support our goals and aspirations.
2. Reduced stress and anxiety: Overwhelm often arises from an uncontrolled flood of information. By setting boundaries and managing our intake, we regain a sense of control, reducing stress and anxiety levels associated with information overload.
3. Enhanced productivity: When we are no longer drowning in a sea of information, we gain clarity and can...

The Eisenhower Matrix is a well-known productivity tool that is widely used to help individuals prioritize their tasks and manage their time more effectively. However, while many people are familiar with the concept of the matrix, it is not always easy to apply it to our daily lives, particularly when it comes to managing our email.

One reason for this is that, until recently, there was no universally accepted tool or system for applying the Eisenhower Matrix to email management. While there are many different email management tools and apps available, few of them are specifically designed to help users apply the Eisenhower Matrix, specifically, to their inbox.

Another challenge is that email is a constantly evolving and dynamic system, with new messages arriving every minute. It can be difficult to keep up with the incoming messages and apply the matrix in real-time, particularly when some messages may shift from urgent to important or vice versa over time.

Despite these...

A recent report by Mail Manager has found that email is still the most widely used and important communication tool in the business world. However, the lack of proper email management has a significant impact on productivity. The Email and Document Management Usage Benchmark report surveyed over 1,000 decision-makers in the UK and US and found that one in three employees spend almost a whole day each week managing their inbox, while 91% of respondents use email for client communication and 61% prefer it to other communication tools such as Slack or Skype.

Despite its importance, email also presents a major productivity drain and workplace stressor. As many as 70% of respondents believe it is one of the biggest productivity drains in the workforce, and 73% think too much time is spent trying to find emails. The study also found that email is an essential part of good record management and quality management for the majority of respondents, while 62% still keep hard copies of...

I asked ChatGPT how we should fix email.  Here’s what it said:

1. Establish clear communication guidelines: Set expectations for email usage, response times, and when it’s more appropriate to use alternative communication channels. 
2. Encourage concise and clear writing: Emphasize the importance of brevity, clarity, and focused messages to improve understanding and reduce miscommunication.
   
3. Use subject lines effectively: Encourage the use of descriptive subject lines that summarize the email’s content, making it easier for recipients to prioritize and search for specific messages.
   
4. Limit unnecessary email threads: Discourage excessive “reply all” and encourage individuals to respond only when their input is necessary, reducing email clutter.
   
5. Implement folder and tagging systems: Encourage individuals to organize their emails into folders or use tags to categorize and locate important messages quickly.
   
6. Explore alternative...

Executive Summary: Email overload is a common issue that affects productivity and causes stress for many professionals. In today’s fast-paced business environment, managing email effectively is essential to ensure efficient communication, collaboration, and information sharing. LeanMail is a comprehensive email management solution designed to help users optimize their email workflow and minimize the impact of email overload. This white paper provides an overview of the key features and benefits of LeanMail and demonstrates how it can help users achieve better email management and boost productivity. 

Introduction: Email is one of the most widely used communication tools in business today. However, it is also one of the biggest sources of distraction and time-wasting. Managing email effectively can be a challenge, particularly when the volume of emails received each day is high. To address this challenge, LeanMail provides a comprehensive solution that allows...

Working by priority and then by urgency, using the Eisenhower or Stephen Covey quadrant method, is the best way to manage your email because it helps you focus on the most important and urgent tasks first. This method is based on the idea that tasks can be divided into four categories: important and urgent, important but not urgent, not important but urgent, and not important and not urgent. 

By sorting your emails into these categories, you can prioritize the tasks that are most important and urgent, while putting less important or less urgent tasks on hold. This can help you to be more productive and efficient with your time, and to focus on the tasks that will have the greatest impact on your work or personal life. 

Here are a few examples of how you can use the Eisenhower or Stephen Covey quadrant method to manage your emails: 

1. Prioritizing important and urgent emails: These are emails that require immediate attention and have a direct impact on your work or...