For the last 20+ years, email has been an accepted part of work and organizational life. As ubiquitous as it has become, you might think (or hope) that we would have collectively figured it out. Unfortunately, much like meetings, while we know that both are helpful, there is much that goes wrong with each every day. To see and solve your organization’s email problems, you need to start with your email culture.

Email Culture?

Whether organizationally or on your team, you have an email culture. It is defined by the way you use email across the group. It includes the quantity of emails sent, what they are used to communicate and much more. And while you have an email culture now, it doesn’t mean you can’t change it. What follows are four sets of questions that can be asked to describe the current state of your email culture, and help you change it for the better.

The Email Culture Questions

Ask these questions to understand your current email culture.

Who do we send emails to?

  • Are we sending them to the right people?
  • Are we sending them to too many people?
  • What are the expectations on responding?
  • Do we use BCC, and if we do why and when?

When do we use email?

  • Are there times of day that are accepted or employed, or is any time ok?
  • Is sending and replying to email on the weekend common, or even expected?
  • How many emails do we send to each other?
  • Are we using email with other communication tools which might be better or more effective?
  • Are we using email to avoid conversations? If so, why?

What do we send emails about?

  • Are there accepted topics where we use email, or can/do we send emails about anything?

What are our “hows” about email?

  • How long are our emails?
  • How long do we have to respond to them?

Does It Have to Stay This Way?

Like any part of your culture, it can be changed. And the first step to changing your email culture is to define that aspirational culture. To do that, use the questions above to describe not just what you have, but what you want. And have that conversation across the team. If you want to change your email culture, you must know what you want it to be, and that must be determined by the group, not by any individual creating a new policy or edict.

This article begs two simple questions.

Is email serving our team in the best ways it could?

If not, how could we change things so that it could?

Kevin Eikenberry is a recognized world expert on leadership development and learning and is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. He has spent over 30 years helping organizations across North America, and leaders from around the world, on leadership, learning, teams and teamwork, communication and more.

Twice he has been named by Inc.com as one of the Top 100 Leadership and Management Experts in the World and 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference. The American Management Association named him a “Leaders to Watch” and he has been twice named as one of the World's Top 30 Leadership Professionals by Global Gurus. Top Sales World has named him a Top Sales & Marketing Influencer several times, and his blog has been named on many “best of” lists. LeadersHum has named him one of the 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership in 2023.

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