Picture the scene, you’ve just come back from holidays. It’s 2026, so you’ve already got your “work from home” day to be your first day back in. You’ve had that extra bit of a lie-in. You’ve got the comfy onesie on. You dig out the laptop from your hidey-hole, which you store when you go away. You go over to the kitchen table. You open your laptop and… BOOM – 350 emails! Welcome to The Holiday Email Trap!!
And before the kettle has even boiled, you are already behind.
Not because anything has gone wrong.
But because everything has been left for you.
This is not an inbox problem. It is an engagement problem wearing an email-shaped costume.
Why do we get so much email?
We get so much email because it is the easiest way to pass uncertainty uphill. People send emails when:
- They are unsure who owns the decision
- They want to be visible without being accountable
- They are managing risk rather than making progress
- They are trying to avoid being wrong alone
Email becomes the organisational safety blanket.
Every CC says:
“Please share the risk with me”.
Every long thread says:
“Nobody feels confident enough to decide”.
Your holiday did not cause the problem. It simply removed the illusion that things were under control.
Why email is such a poor communication method
Email feels like communication, but mostly it is documentation.
It works well for:
- Formal records
- Simple, one-way updates
- External messages that need an audit trail
- Sending information from A to B
It fails badly when:
- Things are unclear
- Opinions differ
- Judgement is required
- Humans are involved
Email strips out tone, intent and urgency. The reader fills the gaps with assumptions and stress. That is why the same email can feel neutral to the sender and mildly aggressive to everyone else.
Email does not create alignment. It preserves misunderstanding in writing.
When three emails should have been a conversation
If a thread reaches three back-and-forths, something has already broken.
Three emails usually mean:
- Expectations are misaligned
- Authority is unclear
- Everyone is waiting for someone else to blink
At that point, continuing by email is not efficient. It is avoidance.
A ten-minute conversation with the right people can:
- Resolve tension
- Force clarity
- Enable a decision
A twenty-email thread just records indecision while pretending work is happening.
3 emails should be a meeting
Meetings are not the enemy. Poor engagement is.
Fixing email without banning it
This is not about inbox zero, rules, or switching tools.
It is about how work flows when you are not there.
Some practical shifts:
- Every email should clearly ask for one thing:
- A decision
- A recommendation
- A next action with an owner
- Stop rewarding “keeping people in the loop”
Visibility is not the same as value.
- Be explicit about who decides
When people know where authority sits, email volume drops fast.
- Switch channels early
If clarity drops, talk.
If emotion rises, talk.
If the stakes increase, talk.
Email should support work, not simulate it.
Email should not stimulate work; it should support it.
The uncomfortable truth
If your inbox explodes when you return from holiday, the issue is not absence. It is a dependency. The organisation has learned that:
- Progress equals sending something
- Leaders exist to absorb uncertainty
- Silence feels risky
- Availability equals importance
That is not a people problem. It is a leadership signal.
The real goal
The aim is not fewer emails.
The aim is:
- Fewer surprises
- Fewer bottlenecks
- Fewer people are asking permission to do the obvious
Fix engagement, and the inbox fixes itself.
And next time you come back from holiday, the onesie survives the morning.
Summary
The Holiday Email Trap is not about email volume, productivity, or people behaving badly. It is a visible symptom of unclear engagement, fuzzy decision-making and teams optimising for reassurance instead of outcomes. When leaders are central to everything, email fills the gaps left by uncertainty. The real fix is not tighter inbox rules, but clearer ownership, faster conversations and permission to decide. Get engagement right, and email becomes what it was always meant to be: a support tool, not the place where work goes to hide.
Leave a Reply