5 Strategies to Overcome Communication Overload
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Are you distracted from an overflowing inbox that seems to haunt you 24/7? Do you struggle to keep up with all the Slack threads, zoom requests and messages you get in a day? Do you find yourself cringing at the dulcet tones of your mobile phone message notifications?
In this era of instant communications, social media and rapidly changing technologies, communication overload is becoming a very real and increasingly common issue. Read on to find out what communication overload is and learn 5 strategies to help reduce the overwhelm you’re feeling and to keep you focused on the top priorities in your work and life.
What is communication overload?
Communication overload occurs when you have more communication demands and channels than you can handle. In the workplace, you’re likely to experience communication overload when you’re overwhelmed by excessive emails, instant messages, phone calls, texts and social media updates.What are the effects of communication overload?
Communication overload can seem like a minor gripe, or at least something that we all have to put up with; but in fact it can have seriously detrimental effects in the workplace, such as:- Reduced productivity due to constant interruption and context-shifting.
- Communication overload can be enervating, sapping staff of their mental energy.
- Analysis-paralysis or decision fatigue can impair effective decision-making.
- Bury important information underneath communication “cruft”.
- Communication overload can also contribute to stress and burnout.
- Some research even suggests that it can lower your IQ by 10 points.
How to deal with communication overload
So communication overload can be a real problem, but what can you do to overcome it? Here are five strategies we recommend for overcoming communication overload so you can reclaim your focus and productivity.1. Check your emails at set intervals throughout the day
If you have some flexibility in your work, close your inbox or turn off notifications so you don’t get prompted every time an email is delivered. Then use your time strategically and focus on your priority tasks in blocks of time throughout the day without interruption. You can still check your email often and be responsive, but is it really necessary to respond to every email within 30 seconds? Probably not.2. Create folders in your inbox to triage important information
In the same way that triage works in a hospital to determine priority patients, creating folders in your inbox can help you to prioritise and usefully categorise incoming mail in order of importance. Consider the following folder categories to help you get started:- Urgent
- Useful resources
- Reading
- Personal
- To action