Tough question. Most times when people are using their cell phones at work, it is for personal reasons. If it is being done blatantly or obviously, it can be a real rub for the management staff. They are essentially using company time for personal stuff — not fair to the employer.

I know several companies that have banned the use of cell phones from the workplace, allowing them only at break time and at lunch. I personally think that this should be the appropriate goal. It is not just an issue with people being on their cell phones, but if they ring or beep with a text message while someone is on the phone with the client, it can be distracting. The other issue that is starting to arise is texting, which does not place the cell phone in someone’s ear, and can be done in their lap — being even more covert. The strong majority of all of this is personal and is taking away from the business. Cell phones should be kept out of sight, and not on desks where people can see incoming text messages, etc. Distractions are costly to business.

I think you know I am an advocate of promoting culture rather than rules. If you can have a companywide or departmentwide discussion on this whole issue and ask them to respect their business time and use cell phones only at breaks and at lunch, unless there’s an emergency, it could go a long way towards everyone being committed to not using them during work. If that fails, then a policy or a rule is the next best choice.

Some businesses do allow personal phone calls if they are kept short. This is the other way to go with it — by saying that cell phones are allowed for very brief phone calls but anything lengthy should be done at break or at lunchtime.

If it is one person who seems to be abusing their work time on the cell phone, then I would take the approach of having a discussion with that person. Sometimesthe resultant “buzz” is enough to get everybody to stop.

If there are people in your operation who use their cell phones for work, enforcement is much easier, because if the employer has given them the cell phone, the records are available to the employer to check personal versus business use.

Bottom line, the excessive personal use of cell phones and texting during working hours is a drain to the productivity of the business, and can be career threatening to the individual abusing the privilege.

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Okay. Now it is time to rant. This past week I received at least 15 e-mail messages with this simple one or two word response, “thanks” or “ok.”

Hey, I know folks are just trying to be nice. BUT – We have got to let go of our need to keep the trail going. With the average worker receiving anywhere from 100 to 150 e-mail messages daily, let’s do everyone a favor and stop with the one word responses.

I actually received this response — “Thanks — and how are the kids?”  Puh-lease! It is bad enough that you send me an e-mail I didn’t need, but now you are asking me to comment on something absolutely and totally unrelated to the original stream of information.

The one exception that I can tolerate as a one-word response is something that relates to a meeting or scheduling or timing. I actually do like to receive a message that says “Confirmed.”

What are your pet peeves?

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Here are some great tips from Fast Company’s Work Smart Column on how to manage your email after being out of the office for several days.

http://www.fastcompany.com/article/work-smart-how-to-power-through-a-mountain-of-e-mail#

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In the first line of your e-mail, place the action request.

Too many e-mail messages are too long, and unfortunately bury the action that the sender is requesting of the reader. By changing your habits to make sure that the action that you intend to be taken as a result of your e-mail message is clearly stated in the very first line of the e-mail, you will be surprised with the results.

Here are some examples:

• Please respond to me by Tuesday, June 4, with your availability.
• This article is for your information only.
• Here are the directions to our off-site retreat, please save them.
• Please submit your recommendations for blah blah blah by this Friday.
• The enclosed documents should be brought to our Thursday staff meeting.

By being direct on exactly what response you desire from the reader, you will help them manage their work, be clearly understood.

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There are some people who intuitively understand and have the discipline to not be interrupted, and there are others who allow themselves to be interrupted continually. The ding or the flash of a newly received e-mail is like newfound treasure.

You can tell who is allowing that invasion by how quickly they respond to an e-mail you send them. If they respond within minutes, they are not being as productive as possible — they are looking up every time a new e-mail message comes in. Of course it’s okay to have this happen infrequently, but those folks who continually respond immediately are most likely not getting anything else done.

If you want to know who needs the most help managing their inboxes, the answer is easy. Just find those people who respond immediately – not just once or twice, but consistently.

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Efficiency Tip: Sort (rather than work) your email

Please forward this tip to every e-mailer you know… Let’s help each other be more efficient.

Here’s the tip:

Too many emailers confuse “sorting” email with “working” email. When you go into your inbox, open it with the intention of SORTING. Don’t get romanced into the need to knock a few off the list. This is one of the reasons people feel like they’re not getting stuff done — it is because they spend too much time on the wrong stuff! Then, when you sort, put them somewhere. DO NOT leave them in your inbox. If you need more help on how to do this, click here.

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Check out this post… http://www.basexblog.com/2010/04/08/am-i-a-supertasker/

Here’s an excerpt from our friends at Basex, the research firm:

The study found that 97.5% of the subjects’ driving was significantly impaired while on the phone, meaning they took an average of 20% longer to hit the brakes when necessary. Word recall dropped 11% and math accuracy dropped 3%. Read more…

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Should I send a blind copy of an email to myself, so that I have a record of it?

NO. NO. NO!

That’s extra work. That will create another email to handle.

If you want or need to save an item that you sent, go into your sent mail, as soon as it is sent, and do whatever you were going to do with that blind copied email. By doing it all in one sequence, you’ll finish the task and be able to move onto the next.

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Email is NOT a meeting! Don’t try to make it one!

Some people use e-mail to “discuss” issues and gain opinions. Each time an opinion question is sent to numerous people or to a group list, the e-mails tend to develop branches: the opinions multiply exponentially, the threads take on different paths, and each recipient is now receives multiple strings of the same subject e-mail that have gone in different directions. It all results in spending much more collective time than a one time meeting or teleconference may have taken. This makes it more difficult for participants to see the big picture and hear the overall opinions. The multiple threads are confusing and time consuming.

Instead of using e-mail this way, it is much more effective and productive to call a meeting and discuss the issue in detail. Invoke the “two-round rule:” when you see e-mails developing circling back the second time, call a meeting to discuss the issue in further detail and put an end to future lack of productivity caused by all those e-mails. Better yet, call the meeting in the first place.

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Viral Efficiency Tip: Top-Down Inbox

Please forward this tip to every e-mailer you know…

Let’s help each other be more efficient.

Here’s the email efficiency tip:

Sort your newly received e-mail from top to bottom or bottom to top. Don’t scroll looking for the “easy” ones – IT WASTES TIME! View each email, either handle it, delete it, or sort it into a folder to work later, and once it is removed from your inbox, THEN move on to the next one in line.

Just think: every time you scroll looking for “treasure” you waste time.

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