Some more alarming email stats for 2012 have just been published and the problem of email overload shows no sign of reversing.

The average worker spends more than 25% of the working day handling email, according to a 2012 study by global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

That puts it second only to completing “role-specific tasks,” which takes up 39% of a worker’s time.

With these facts in mind it is no surprise that 80% of business professionals admit to deleting some work related emails without fully reading them. 

The possible fallout of this behaviour can lead to: missed deadlines, mis-communications, more irrelevant traffic and the inability to solve problems using email.

We are all responsible for ensuring that the messages we transmit make sense.

This means using informative subject lines, writing short, clear messages that are easy to respond to – deadlines and timescales all add value to the emails we send.

And if you receive an email that does not make sense or can be improved in any way – why not offer some polite coaching to the sender?

Successful communication relies on 100% responsibility on both sides – and given that over 65% of our business communication happens over email it is worth creating a culture of continuous improvement when it comes to email best practice.

These are fundamental points that underpin any good email training.

What lessons can your team learn from this?