E-mail (cont.)

Email is a great productivity tool, right? Wrong! Email use is out of control. Employee relationships are breaking down because co-workers are avoiding face to face conversations and even phone conversations. They're hiding behind email.

The more email you send, the more you get. Employees everywhere are reporting that they are spending two hours per day dealing with email. Managers at one company in Liverpool, England estimates that its 6,000 employees send each other 40,000 messages a day.

Here are just a few of the negative consequences when co-workers send email instead of talking to one another:

-There is increased gossip and mistrust.

-Issues are not addressed and resolved quickly.

-Silos are formed creating an "us vs. them" work environment.

-Co-worker empathy decreases because employees are simply not getting to know each other.

-There is frequent miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Business leaders all over the world are concerned about email over-use and abuse and are taking a stand. "Never on Friday" is becoming a common theme where all internal email is banned every Friday.

You can establish a "no email" policy one day a week, even if your company doesn't establish an email ban.

-Meet with your co-workers face to face.

-Pick up the phone and call someone--a customer, co-worker or vendor.

-Get up and walk to another department to chat with members of the team with whom you deal.

-In sales? Get out to the field and meet with your customers.

Ironically, one executive sent an email to employees announcing the Friday email ban. He said he looked forward to not hearing from his employees but encouraged them to "stop by as often as they like!"

You could take the idea a step farther by introducing other "no technology" days such as no cell phones on Monday, no PDAs on Tuesday, no web surfing on Wednesdays and no memos on Thursday.

Imagine...people might actually start talking to each other again!

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Debra J. Schmidt, a.k.a. "The Loyalty Leader"®, helps companies boost their profits by leading them to greater customer, employee and brand loyalty. You can subscribe to Debra's free email newsletter packed with loyalty tips at: www.TheLoyaltyLeader.com

E-mail

E-mail is one of the most common ways in which people communicate with each other in modern society. Some people spend the majority of their time each day sending and answering emails.  The problem that exists with e-mails is the fact that they are not expected to be grammatically correct, so people use poor grammar and shortened words.  Many people also hide behind their e-mails and use it as an alternative to face-to-face communication.  Because of this, many people have poor communication skills. In today's society, many people have it set up so that they receive their e-mail on their phones.  People have become so dependent on e-mail that they need to know the second they receive an e-mail.

Internet Search Engines (cont.)

This is a screen shot of a Wikipedia page that we edited, proving that anyone can edit Wikipedia. Obviously, it is incorrect, proving that not everything found on the internet is true.

Internet Search Engines

Internet search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, are easy and convenient ways to find nearly any information available on the internet. Unfortunately, many people overuse these resources to the point of complete dependence. As a result, they no longer think that it is necessary to have the same general knowledge as before. Whenever a question or problem occurs, people rely on internet search engines; therefore, they don't have to actually know anything, as long as they have access to these search engines. Although this seems to be ideal, much of the information that is found on the internet is not accurate.  Wikipedia, for example, is a website than many people use for answers to their questions, but it is also a website that anyone can access and edit the information.

Cell Phone Use (cont.)

As shown in the picture above, texting while driving is becoming increasingly more popular.  It is very dangerous because it distracts drivers from concentrating on the road and their surroundings.

Cell Phone Use

Cell phone use is another form of technology that has negative effects on society. Like social networking, texting causes users to over abbreviate their words.  Many people also loose their basic grammer skills because they are constantly using poor grammar in their text messages. When people spend too much time using texting as a form of communication as opposed to talking face-to-face, they run the risk of losing some of the basic social skills required to have an actual conversation.

The biggest concern in today's society dealing with cell phone use is texting while driving.  This action has resulted in many car accidents and deaths that could've been avoided.  Many states are implementing laws against texting while driving, although this doesn't stop the majority of teenagers.  If more people realized the effects this is having on society, they might think twice before answering a text message while driving.

Social Networking Sites (cont.)

As you can see in this screen shot of a facebook page, the grammar and spelling is very much incorrect.