4 Tips on Information Overload

We are surrounded with data - email, spam, twitter, facebook, direct mail....oh how as leaders do we help our teams, break through this communication overload? Well, in the past your team often needed you to find the answer, now they can often find that through Google or their social network.....now they need you to help them find the relevance of the answer, the importance of it to them and the organisation.

Information and facts are now open to all. It is often the understanding is often missing...

D = Distill the core of the message. What is the one critical aspect of the information or message that they need to understand,try and sum it up on one sentence for clarity.
A = Ask which areas could be moved to a wiki. Great for arranging meetings, projects, events.
T = Trim your own e-mails - if they don't add value, don't devalue other people's inboxes.
A = Arrange regular sessions to discuss issues, communications, objectives....hold them informally not with your direct reports but their direct reports. Find out what messages have got relayed, what has not....where communication is not working. Work with the team on how they want to be communicated to rather than doing what is easiest to you.