Respond even if you can't answer

Let people know you got the message

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to respond to emails even if you can't
give an answer yet. People want to know that you

(00:24):
have received their messages and will deal with them. Letting
them know that that is true can ultimately save you time.
Today's tip, like some others this week, comes from Laura
May Martin's new book Up Time. She works at Google
as the company's productivity guru, coaching executives to be more

(00:48):
efficient with their time. In her book, she notes that
the frequent productivity advice to check email just a few
times a day does not really work in a corporate environment.
Many people's jobs require them to see email more often
than that. Plus, no one likes collaborating with a person

(01:09):
who doesn't respond to email. Martin says, it's just frustrating,
and if you are working with someone non responsive, it
feels like they are putting their desires over the need
for the team to move along. And more importantly, she
writes a lot of inefficiencies in email come from people

(01:32):
checking back in or bumping up an email because they
haven't heard back from someone If you don't respond to
an email, it usually ensures you'll get another email now
If you don't respond to that. Another email is then
followed by an instant chat to get your attention, which

(01:53):
turns into a meeting added to your calendar. Probably it
would be better to answer the email in the first place.
Of course, you don't always know the answer to an email,
or you don't have time to deal with it right now.
That is fine. Even if you can't answer, you can respond.

(02:15):
Martin suggests several holding responses, such as, Hey, I got
your request and need to think about it this week.
I'll let you know next week, or thanks for your email.
I have time scheduled next Tuesday to work on this,
so I'll get back to you Wednesday next week. And

(02:36):
if you really aren't sure, try Hi, this is on
my radar, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it.
If you don't hear from me in the next month
or so, feel free to follow back up. When you
send emails like this, you come across as responsive and helpful,
and most likely people will stop pinging you or trying

(02:58):
to get time on your calendar. As Martin notes, people
just want to be heard now. You don't have to
respond to one hundred percent of your email. I'm sure
we all get lots of spam, but actual colleagues requesting
actual things is a different matter. Being responsive even when

(03:20):
you can't answer, shows that you are a team player
and will probably save time overall. In the meantime. This
is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
most of our text. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

(03:46):
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
does a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

(04:08):
listen to your favorite shows.