Empowering People Through Electronic Mail

By Theo Gantos, CCP

Many organizations are re-engineering these days for the information revolution. And corporations are asking, "What can we do? Where should we start? How will we improve our operations? What should we change?

My suggestion is: don't change your organization; change the way your organization works. Enrich the jobs of all your people so you can increase everyone's accountability and responsibility while dramatically raising their productivity. The focus is on work.

Don't be misled, however. This isn't a minor tweaking. This is real blow-it-up-and-start-all-over stuff. Forget for a minute about managers and workers, departments and titles. Empower your people. The key technology driver is electronic mail.

Increase Responsiveness

Give everyone access to all the information they need to successfully and efficiently do their jobs-access to people's advice, input, criticism, experience. They don't have to play phone tag or be available at the same instant in time. They don't have to socialize in order to break the ice. They simply need to get to the point and say what's on their minds. The reciprocating party would do likewise. What needs to happen is to bridge the departmental and office barriers-to evolve from a rigid, inflexible hierarchy into flexible self-managed working groups. Electronic mail helps to facilitate this transformation.

What results is real productive work getting done in record time. We're not talking about spewing voicemail dictation for 15 minutes straight. Just send me what you need-let me make changes and fire it back to you. You can't do that with voicemail or faxes. Just try negotiating a contract by fax sometime. It just doesn't work smoothly. You waste more time than you're saving by using these "point" technologies. Fortunately, there's a better way.

The Integrated Approach

What is needed is a complete, integrated approach to improving the way we work by leveraging technology. Start by improving the way everyone communicates in your organization. E-mail is a great equalizer. If you're abrupt, soft-spoken, a different sex, a thinker, or merely not on the A-list your good ideas will get recognized for just that - being good ideas. No more shouting matches in office meetings to get your point across. The best ideas will help all succeed, period.

Accuracy of Print

Putting your thoughts down in print is more efficient. But it may require new writing skills. Some, notably author and ex-Apple executive Guy Kawasaki, say E-mail should be stream-of-consciousness. They say to forego fixing minor grammatical and spelling errors. If your message is understood then it is "good enough...speed is more important than quality."

Others, myself among them, disagree. We believe that the need for strength and clarity in your communications is absolute. The ancient Chinese hold that wisdom comes from thoughtfulness, not impetuousness. There is a time to act and a time for preparation. The Samurai does not rush into battle haphazardly. Likewise, modern professionals should not send out drivel merely because they have the technology to do so. Spelling and grammatical errors may cloud your message or prejudice others negatively. Remember, your correspondence will reflect on the corporation as a whole. Make sure it's sending the right message.

Where's the savings?

Forget saving money; concentrate on making money. That's what will happen when you cut your organization's response time in half. You'd be able to handle more business with better response and less stress. Most of the justification for E-mail comes from helping to win and handle more business with the same-or fewer-experienced staff. The goal is to maneuver like a canoe and hit like a battleship.

What about Voicemail?

If we have voicemail we don't need E-mail, right? Wrong! I personally despise voicemail. Voice-mail is an overused crutch-a high-tech answering machine. When confronted by voicemail, most people will hang up if their need is too urgent when confronted by voicemail. Could you imagine voicemail for a furnace repair company? Or a pediatric physician? You need an answer now. There's no accountability, either. You're not sure they get your message.

Competitive Edge

So, only big companies use E-mail, right? Nope. Small companies can run leaner, meaner and keep their edge by plugging each employee into every potential opportunity. We have only four people and use E-mail to collaborate on all our projects. Everything from phone messages to time sheets to social invitations. We can send directly to fax machines right from our desks, too.

What if you already have E-mail? Why isn't everyone using it? If you're not benefiting from your E-mail then you may have one of these three problems:

Your system may be too difficult to operate
Not everyone is connected to the system
The leaders aren't using it

Let's examine these problems one at a time. First, E-mail needs to be easy to use. Think of how simple a telephone is. That's all that is required. Most of the systems we recommend don't use menus at all, because menus require memorization. Everything is designed to be accessible from one window using buttons on the screen. The program takes about 10 minutes to learn and all the commands fit on one quick and easy reference card.

Second, everyone must be connected for the system to be of value. Yes, even your receptionist. If you have a mailroom attendant, especially part-time, don't forget them-just print their mail out for them automatically.

An E-mail system with only some of your people on it is like a phone that can only call Detroit and Omaha. Think of how easy it will be to communicate with the entire staff. No more photocopies or collating and no more time wasted delivering paper around the office. Some systems can even deliver faxes and voice-mail right to your desk!

Remember to link in your customers and suppliers, too. If they have their own mail system then you may be able to link into them. If they are on one of the commercial systems like CompuServe, America Online, MCI Mail, or even the Global Internet, you should be able to reach them easily. If not then you can at least send documents to their fax machine. Ease of communication with customers is a big advantage so make it a priority.

Your mobile professionals need to be accessible as well. We usually provide dial-in access to PowerBook users (Yes, that's right, I prefer Macintosh) at all of our sites. These are usually the people with whom everyone needs access to anyway. If your receptionist is connected (and puts phone messages on E-mail) then your mobile professionals can call into the system after or before hours and pick up telephone messages.

Third, gather your leaders together to make sure they understand the objectives. Then, get consensus on the system. Install the system; arrange for training and a shakedown period of about a week. Make sure that new computer users get plenty of help. Then remove that old phone message wheel left over from the industrial revolution and instruct your receptionist to put all your phone messages on E-mail. Isn't all this technology going to be scary? Will your people fight it? Not if you lead by example. You'll be amazed at how fast everyone commits to and then masters the system. Commitment is key, and comes before success.

If you're contemplating re-engineering your organization to increase your competitiveness, a good place to start is with a strong E-mail system. Once the people in your organization begin to properly use E-mail, you'll never want to go back to stone knives and bearskins again.

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