Emails are a massive part of our business lives and they can be immensely useful, however, they can cause real headaches when they are not constructed well.

Ask yourself:

• How many times have you received a chain email from colleagues and do not know what it is really about until you read through all the attached emails?
• Ever read a long winded email from someone and you are not sure what the person is asking you to do?
• An email that assumes that the recipient has a great network
• Why am I being asked to do this?

It wastes time and is frustrating

It’s time to give you and your team’s emails the STAR treatment.

Subject – Be specific about what the email is about not some generic heading

Tasks – List everything you want them to do

Additional Support – let the recipient know who may be able to help them or who will definitely be able to help them or whether they should come back to you if they have questions

Results – What does success look like? What, by when, who etc. also what is in it for them / the team / department etc.? Where it fits in the big picture.

If you find the above structure is taking too long, then maybe it is an indication you should just call the person. It always surprises me the amount of emails being sent back and forward when a 5 minute chat sorts things out.

It may not work for every email but it’s a great tool when you want to keep emails clear, concise and to the point