No really, I’m out of the office. Out of the office template emails are usually boring. “I’m out of the office with limited access to email. Email Sally.” Rarely do people oblige by just emailing Sally. They usually email you anyway and copy in Sally. Or email Sally afterwards. Either way, it’s still an email you have to sift through. But, you can showcase your creativity, help your colleagues get to know you, and help with inbox overflow. How? By being a real human and not a robot. Tell them the cool things you’re doing. I recently started doing this and based on my completely non-scientific analysis, it cut down on emails by at least 30%. And many of the emails I did get were simply congratulating me on a cool OOO response. But the best part is, people are asking about my travels when I get back - which leads me to ask about theirs. Now I feel like we know each other better. #communication #vacation #relationshipbuilding