Managing information overload - where to start?

We live in the information age. And we work in it, too. Organizations today have access to more tools than ever before to help facilitate communication. These range from more traditional channels, such as print materials, team huddles and email, to newer platforms, including blogs, wikis, instant messaging and text messaging. Combined, these present an array of options for keeping employees informed, connected, productive and engaged. But can there be too much of a good thing?

For the next couple of months, we’ll focus on understanding the issues around information overload and ways in which you can begin to address it.

Information overload has become a challenge for organizations of all shapes and sizes. Too much email, communication clutter and conflicting messages are making it difficult for many employees to understand organizational priorities and focus on the work that’s most critical to achieving business objectives. In addition, organizations are competing with messages and communication channels that reach the employee from outside the organization as well.

Confusion isn't the only issue
In a recent IABC Research Foundation study, half of communication professionals rated information overload as a critical challenge for their business. Yet only 40 percent believe their organizations are addressing the issue effectively.¹ And there are also real costs to information overload. According to Basex, a knowledge management research firm, unnecessary interruptions on the job account for 28 percent of the typical knowledge worker's day, costing the U.S. economy $650 billion each year.²

So how do you begin to break through this communication clutter that is likely to be costing your organization time and money? Based on the research, we've identified 5 key areas to address to significantly reduce information overload:

1. Assessing the clutter
   Understand where the overload is before working to address it.
   
   
2. Streamlining messaging
   Create a core business context for all employee communications.
   
   
3. Decreasing email clutter
   Understand and address the causes of email overload, where it is a problem and what individual employees can do to help.
   
   
4. Leveraging technology
   Know what information you want to push to which employees, and make it easy for them to pull the rest.
   
   
5. Establishing clear governance Build a communication infrastructure with clear vehicles, guidelines and accountabilities for communicators.

Next month, we’ll dive more deeply into each of these 5 areas and discuss some ideas to help your organization reclaim communication focus and increase productivity.

See you next month.

Chris Gay
Partner, Bridge Consulting
chris.gay@bridgecnslt.com

References:
1. IABC Research Foundation, "Best Practices in Employee Communication: A Study of Global Challenges and Approaches," 2005.
2. Basex, "Information Overload Strategies," 2008.

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