Reducing Information Overload in Your Company | Employee Experience Magazine

Over two years ago, I shared a Fortune article titled, Why Cognitive Load Could Be the Most Important Employee Experience Metric in the Next 10 Years. Cognitive load (CL) is a theory suggesting that excessive information processing hampers task performance and learning. Increased CL can negatively impact decision-making, performance, wellbeing, and employee experience. Today, with growing digital data and processing demands (e.g., emails, chat tools, video conferences), employees are more likely to experience cognitive load. This new article by Employee Experience Magazine offers an overview of information overload in organizations, its root causes, detrimental effects on individuals, teams, and organizations, and strategies for reducing it. One approach for reducing cognitive load is to practice thoughtful information sharing, such as encouraging colleagues to refrain from CCing and BCCing when not necessary, and avoid sending “FYI” messages altogether. How can you and your team mitigate the harmful effects of information overload? Should you change how you share information, what type of information you share, when the information is shared, and with whom? These questions could make for a fruitful discussion during your next team meeting, and implementing the answers might help to simultaneously boost employee productivity, performance, wellbeing, and the overall employee experience.