showed that staff who receive work email on their mobile devices report that , because colleagues know they are always accessible , this heightens the perceived pressure to respond quickly . Staff consider it stressful to leave a message alone when the sender knows that it has been received .
Chronic Distraction
2 The opposite of attention is distraction , an unnatural condition and one that can kill — chronic , long-term distraction is as dangerous as cigarette smoking . In particular , there is the great myth of multitasking . No human being can effectively write an email and speak on the telephone . Both activities use language and the language channel in the brain can ’ t cope . Multi-taskers fool themselves by rapidly switching attention and , as a result , their output deteriorates .
Evidence from research shows that people in chronically distracted jobs are , in early middle age , appearing with the same symptoms of burn-out as air traffic controllers . They might have stress-related diseases , even irreversible brain damage . But the damage is not caused by overwork , it ’ s caused by multiple distracted work — the new norm for many workplaces .
Attention Deficit Disorder
3 When a manager is desperately trying to deal with more input than he can possibly handle , the brain and body get locked into a reverberating circuit while the brain ’ s frontal lobes lose their sophistication , as if vinegar were added to wine . Those affected do not have what is considered clinical Attention Deficit Disorder ; they simply cannot focus on a task without compulsively checking their e-mail , voice mail and / or surfing the Internet .
The result is black-and-white thinking ; perspective and shades of grey disappear . People with ADT have difficulty staying organised , setting priorities , and managing time , and they feel a constant low level of panic and guilt .
Lowered IQ
4 The advent of highly mobile technology offers massive productivity benefits when used responsibly , but inappropriate use can be negative for not just productivity but also for our IQ . It seems workers are literally addicted to checking email and text messages during meetings , in the evening and on weekends .
In a series of tests carried out by Dr Glenn Wilson , Reader in Personality at the Institute of Psychiatry , University of London , an average worker ’ s functioning IQ falls ten points when distracted by ringing telephones and incoming emails .
Constant pressure to respond
5 In many studies , staff at all levels have revealed a strong sense of pressure to respond to incoming email in a very short time frame . While prompt responses are sometimes part of explicit organisational policy , this pressure to respond quickly has developed as a norm and several studies report a tangible impact of this normative pressure to respond quickly can lead to strain , overload , compulsive checking and reactive decision-making .
In addition , a culture where email use has become highly embedded in one ’ s work ( and therefore likely to consume major portions of people ’ s daily work activity ), combined with norms for quick responding leads to these behaviours becoming automated / habitual and even compulsive , creating addictive tendencies for the individual .
Lack of Trust
6 When there is a lack of trust within an organisation , a ‘ covering your back ’ email norm can emerge that is reflected in overuse of ‘ cc ’ and ‘ bcc ’ emails , presenteeism ( being busy with email instead of undertaking productive work ) and the suspicion that leads to keeping audit trails of email conversation threads / chains .
When email is used to ‘ cover your back ’ in these ways , it arguably not only reflects but exacerbates the lack of trust . Because email is so convenient there is a danger that workers can end up ‘ hiding behind ’ email — using it to avoid sensitive or controversial conversations , or even to avoid personalised face-to-face contact . Hiding behind email in this way creates a lack of respect and regard for the initiator and can diminish trust .
The impact for EAs is that they are faced with a higher volume of email than necessary and it takes a whole lot longer to clarify what the messages are about as they are often not directly involved . For those EAs who manage their bosses ’ email , this problem is even bigger as so many executives receive a large volume of ‘ cc ’ email .
Self esteem
7 When individuals feel overloaded by email a lack of capacity to deal with email effectively with all its demands , it has a negative impact on their self-esteem and confidence . For example , when asked to estimate how often they checked their email and compared this with objectively derived software monitoring figures , workers predicted they checked email around once every hour , when in fact it was more like once every five minutes . This demonstrates a misalignment of objective measures of physiological strain with well-being . S
You can read the full White Paper of this topic at www . steuartsnooks . com . au / resources .
THE EXPERT
Steuart Snooks is an email and workplace productivity expert who works with busy professionals to help them get control of all their emails . He has developed a series of workshops , presentations , webinars , coaching and resources that outline the best practice skills for mastering your email .
Summer Issue 2021 | Executive PA 63