Written by Melanie Huet – Vice President, Marketing at Kraft Heinz

For most of us when we start our careers we are in an individual contributor role. Managers are sending us constant requests of things to execute. We are on project teams accountable for timelines, actions and follow up. In general it is a task oriented position. The best performers in these roles execute flawlessly, quickly and without prompting from the boss. This generally means answering and executing every email we receive.

As we get promoted new behaviors are required to succeed. An insightful book that deals with this topic is What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith. A common issue for many is the skills that helped us stand out from our peers and earn a promotion at a lower rank are no longer relevant as we climb the ladder. The inbox is precisely one of those traps.

If an email inbox is not managed properly it can drastically reduce productivity. Even worse if success is defined as no email in the inbox then the achievement of that goal could mean that dealing with email is taking priority over thinking strategically.

The issue with the inbox being the to-do list is we are allowing other people to determine our priorities. To strategically deal with your inbox consider these helpful steps.

1. Define what success looks like in your role. Simplify this to the 2 or 3 things that matter the most. A good filter for this activity is to think about what answer would senior management give you if you asked them what are 2 or 3 most important things we need to achieve this year? Once you have your list then set up your calendar and all of your activities to drive hard against these key priorities. Prioritize any emails on these topics first. Be in control of the situation and don’t allow the other distractions to take you away from the top priorities. Once the top priorities are handled then deal with the remainder of issues. It’s ok if you don’t respond to every email. In fact it is wise to not respond to every email. I worked with a CMO that did not email. He managed through meetings, in-person discussion and texting. He was a phenomenal leader and understood that if people were clear on the vision and where to head that email wasn’t critical to leading the organization.
2. Don’t let the monkey jump on your back. Just because somebody sent you an email asking you to do something or trying to make their issue your priority does not mean you have to accept it. For more about this read Who’s Got the Monkey? This is especially important when dealing with direct reports. Don’t let email put the monkey on your back. Make sure the team knows if they have an issue it is their responsibility to try and solve. Also ensure they understand that just because one email has been sent does not mean they are relieved from dealing with the problem.
3. Conduct a periodic check and balance. Take a self assessment occasionally. If your time dedicated to your key priorities? If not, why not? Take stock of where you are spending your time and determine what caused you to slide over into other activities. Set up a plan to get back on track.

What tips can you share for successful email management?