TO EMAIL OR NOT TO EMAIL - That is the question!
With apologies to Shakespeare on his question of existence in the famous play Hamlet, my thoughts today turn to the vexed topic of email.
As you read this article, be comforted in the knowledge that your inbox continues to receive correspondence. In fact, almost 2.7 million emails are sent every second, over 300 billion sent and received daily in over 5.5 billion accounts across 50% of the world’s population.
Depending on your world view, this is either a miracle of modern technology or a curse upon Mr Ray Tomlinson. What you have never heard of the father of email?
Ray Tomlinson is credited as the inventor of email, all the way back in 1971. In fact the first email containing the profound message "QWERTYUIOP" was sent by Tomlinson to himself some 50 plus years ago. Thanks to the genius of Mr Tomlinson, the average email user now sends and receives approximately 71 emails a day. How do you rate against this average?
The use of email and access to email as Executive Assistants employed in professional settings with Educational Leaders is more controversial that one may imagine. I was surprised recently in a sample of experienced and exceptional EAs that I met with, to learn that only one of these individuals had access to their executive's email. In unpacking this further, it was apparent that a range of issues were at play here.
My own experience as an EA who accesses my Executive’s email provides an interesting perspective. Initially I did not have access to my Boss’s email and he was hesitant to change his practice where this had not previously occurred. We discussed this and his reasons probably for over 12 months and whilst I accepted that he was seeking to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of those who contacted him, I was also frustrated. I felt that in accessing his email, I could better assist him in his role and that our mutual understanding would be improved.
In having access to his email, I have a greater sense of his day, his challenges and issues that are urgent and non-urgent. As he travels quite a bit between campuses and doesn’t use his phone for Outlook, a quick conversation enables him to understand the issues that have arisen whilst he has been in meetings. A quick scan of his sent box also allows me to appreciate what he has been working on. Of course, there are confidential, private and sensitive matters that come through these channels and this discrete management of such communications is integral to my role.
These are important conversations to have in forging your “dynamic duo’ and I am glad that I pursued this important element of communication. Of course, it means my inbox traffic is doubled and for that I have myself to blame and of course Mr Tomlinson!
What do you think about email and accessing your executive's inbox? Essential, important, non-essential in your role?
