September 29, 2003
Volume 1, Number 4

E-Mail a Friend

The Safe Side of the Send Button
Handle E-mail Attachments With Care

Dees Stallings Send your comments and questions to Dr. Stallings at safeemail@ pubsector.net.

By Dr. Dees Stallings

In today's writing-intensive environment, e-mail provides communication power to individuals and organizations. The power of e-mail includes:

• Speed: The ability to quickly compose and send messages.
• Flexibility: The ability to send and receive messages whenever and wherever it is convenient, to any number of people, across any distance.
• A record of our communication: E-mail provides us with a convenient and easily accessible record of our requests, decisions, and directions, and the replies we receive from our readers.
• Informality: When communicating via e-mail, it is conventional to be informal, and "write like you speak."

These capabilities reward government organizations by allowing them to operate more efficiently and cost-effectively, but there are also risks. This column is about reducing risk and increasing value of your e-mail communications.

Don't Lose Control of Your Communication: Handle Attachments With Care

I recently heard of an instance in which accidental mishandling of an attachment caused significant embarrassment. The CEO of a small company had just hired a new Chief Financial Officer. In his enthusiasm and haste, the CEO accidentally attached the job offer letter (with salary) - instead of the CFO's resume - in the introduction e-mail message he sent all employees.

John Birdsong, e-mail policy consultant, says that attachments often ". . . cause unwanted disclosure of material." He recommends three measures to reduce risk:

• Open and read the document before attaching it.
• Use the file-naming feature for documents to identify them to you as confidential or otherwise sensitive (example: use "C-" as the prefix to confidential file names).
• Send the message to yourself for review before sending it to the recipient. Set a policy for labeling attachments

These and other techniques promoting care in handling your attachments will help to make your e-mail environment less risky.

For further techniques and strategies for improving e-mail communications, consider attending seminars conducted by your organization or by specialists such as High Stakes Writing, LLC. For convenience, also consider taking online courses such as Techniques of Clear and Effective E-Mail , designed specifically for busy government and corporate managers and knowledge workers.

Dees Stallings column will focus on safer and more efficient e-mail for government and business. Contact him with your questions at safeemail@pubsector.net.

Dr. Dees Stallings is Managing Director and Chief Learning Officer of High Stakes Writing, LLC, (www.highstakeswriting.com) where he focuses on safer and more efficient e-mail for government and business. Dr. Stallings was chief of the Army Communicative Skills Office in the Center for Army Leadership, Command and General Staff College, which manages all Army training in writing, speaking, reading, listening, memory, and reasoning. Before that he was Director of a 400-person telecommunications training department (Switching Department) at the Army Signal Center, Fort Gordon, GA, where he also wrote the installation's Information Systems Plan.

Photo courtesy of ACN.