According to the McKinsey Global Institute, 28% of today’s working world spends their time using email. When you Google search “bad email habits,” over 800,000 results come up. A recent article by Kimberly Paterson, president of CIM and a Certified Energy Leadership Coach noted the biggest trends from this search. Some of the top ones include people who don’t respond to emails within an acceptable amount of time, those who over-rely on email and people who ramble on and bury headlines.
Earlier this summer we wrote a blog about the best methods of communication in the workplace/academic world. If a message needs to be conveyed and involves communicating complex information, negative information, trying to reach an agreement on something, etc., one should avoid using email and use face-to-face or the telephone conversation instead.
So, if you’re part of the 28%, check your email frequently, be succinct, and don’t be afraid to pick up the phone if you need to.