Draw four columns, labeled "e-mail," "phone," "paper," and "face-to-face," on a yellow sticky note. Stick it flat on your desk. As you work throughout the day, put a tick mark in the appropriate column each time you use that method of communication with your employees. At the end of the day, tally the ticks.
Chances are you're something of an e-manager. A study published in the September 2002 Information Management Journal found that e-mail was the most common method of work-related communication, at 34 percent, followed by face-to-face at 30 percent, telephone at 23 percent and paper at 14 percent. "E-mail is important and even essential for internal communications, sharing information, setting up meetings, et cetera," says Pete Smith, president of the Private Sector Council. But Smith and other experienced private- and public-sector managers warn that there are some management duties that require you to swivel your chair around, stand up and go visit your employees.
Take the extreme case of a federal manager tethered to his computer, as described by one of his subordinates. The manager communicates almost exclusively by e-mail. "Because of this, our organization is seen from the outside as one that is waiting to be told what to do, and most of our people have figured out to just proceed on a course of action, and every now and again, send an e-mail to the boss" with a status report, the subordinate explains. Employees think the manager doesn't care about their work, and the manager is losing touch with reality. "Our ship is sinking, but my boss didn't get an e-mail informing him of this event," the subordinate says.
While the rules of managing by desktop are still being settled, some basic do's and don'ts already are emerging.
- Direction. Send e-mail to give basic instructions, delegate routine assignments, inform employees about upcoming events, and issue administrative and technical updates. "This is especially true if one supervises employees whose job duties make them difficult to track," one federal manager says. Still, some managers make it a goal to have face-to-face interaction with each employee at least once a day.
- Praise. Go ahead and send an e-mail thanking an employee for a job well done, many managers say. "If someone does a great job doing a briefing, for example, it is nice to send them a quick note that lets them know how impressed you are," one federal executive says. But be careful when sending congratulatory e-mails to a large group. If you praise only one employee in a message to the whole team, you could stir bad blood.
- Criticism. Steer clear of reprimands and negative feedback in e-mail. The medium lacks the important nonverbal cues that managers can use to give nuance to feedback. E-mail can also be a crutch for timid supervisors. "Some managers are afraid to confront certain employees," one federal management analyst says. "However, the e-mail system should not be used as a shield." Still, other managers point out that e-mail creates a paper trail to demonstrate a manager's attempts to reform a wayward employee. Such records can be useful if a case goes to court.
When you look at the tick marks on your sticky note, there may be a good reason for a heavy imbalance of e-mail over phone and face-to-face. But make sure you get out of from behind your desk. "You can't manage by e-mail," Smith says. "But you can't manage without it."
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