1.1.2

Appropriate Use of Email

Test yourself

Advice for Using Email Appropriately

How can we ensure that we use email in a way that helps and doesn’t hinder, and what can we do when it’s being abused in full defiance of the email etiquette? Below is some advice.

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Advice for senior leaders

  • Set the tone for your school and be explicit in your boundaries. What is your whole-school approach to email?
  • If you want to make a valid and profound increase in productivity and colleague relationships, and a decrease in work-related stress, consider the guidelines you collectively adhere to as a school.
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Examples for senior leaders

  • Are there specified no-email points for staff once they leave work?
  • Are emails in your school concise, clear and as short as possible?
  • Are emails polite and positive in language?
  • Do you speak directly with staff that misuse the guidelines, without resorting to blanket emails that chastise?
  • Are staff reminded of these key messages regarding email, so that you are regularly endorsing a really healthy email culture?
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Deciding whether or not to email

  • If you are unsure about sending, ask yourself: is this sent to the right person, at the right time, giving the right timescale for the right reason? How would it feel to be the recipient of this email?
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Propose email boundaries

  • If your senior leadership team haven’t set boundaries for email, propose it!
  • If you’re not quite there, then there are some measures you can take to ensure that as a serial recipient, your guidelines are clear to others.
  • There are some example measures on the next slides.
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Set & stick to an auto-response

  • Set an auto-response: you teach and so are able to check email sporadically but aim to respond within two business days.
  • Once the groundwork of an auto-response has been laid, don’t fall into the trap of short back-and-forth emails to attempt to resolve something quickly. The quickfire exchange is scientifically proven to result in nothing except more confusion at best, and the need for a meeting at worst.
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Give emails your full attention

  • Avoid engaging in email responses when you are doing something else at the same time.
    • Give someone’s concerns or queries your full attention, or schedule for a time that you are able to do so. If the reply will be any more than a couple of lines, give two options for a chat at a time that suits you. That way, you still control the demands of your working week.

Jump to other topics

1Conversation & Connection

2Being Human: Effective Relationships in Schools

2.1Dealing with Colleagues, Roles & Resolution

2.2Creating Professional Safety Nets

2.3Educational Leaders

2.4Connections in the Classroom: Student Systems

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