E-mail — the main stop on the information superhighway — can
be a blessing or a curse.
It was a curse to Harry Stonecipher,
Boeing CEO, who was ousted when a female employee revealed
through e-mail an illicit affair. It was a curse to Goldman
Sachs when the company paid $2 million to settle federal regulators’ charges
for improperly offering securities through e-mail. And it was
a curse to Enron when sensitive e-mails ended up in court as
part of a congressional investigation.
According to Jean D. Sifleet, business
attorney and author of three books, “Many companies think that having an
e-mail policy is enough to protect them from legal exposure.
That’s just not realistic. Employees use e-mail for all
sorts of activities, and they need to be trained about what’s
okay and what’s not okay.”
Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts, business writing
expert and author of 19 books, states, “E-mail is a blessing when it’s
used properly. Using e-mail properly goes beyond legal and
etiquette. E-mail is a serious business communications tool,
and you must treat it with the same respect as any other business
document you write.”
Training is the key to proper, safe, and
productive e-mail usage. Training is now available online.
Here’s a preview
of what you can expect:
E-mails that Mean Business
Write e-mails that get read and get you the results you want.
For example, think how efficient it would be for the subject
line column of your inbox to read like the “Newsline” column
of USA Today. Your readers view your subject line (as a headline)
and get critical information about your message. That’s
how efficiently you learn to write. Learn to write e-mail
messages with a subject line that shouts “Read Me!” .
. . messages that have the impact you want to have on your
readers . . . messages that get results. Here’s a preview
of what you can expect to learn in this interactive format:
- Craft
a subject line that commands attention and gets responses.
- Deliver
the essence of your message in the subject line.
- Write a clear
and concise message that answers who, what, when, where,
why, and how in the opening paragraph.
- Use e-mail etiquette so each
message is personable and professional.
E-mails that Avoid Legal Pitfalls
Learn to recognize what’s “okay” and what’s “not
okay” in e-mail, and avoid unintended legal consequences.
Extra caution is needed in using e-mail because, unlike a telephone
or face-to-face conversation, e-mail is a permanent record.
For example:
- An exchange of e-mails can result
in a legally binding contract. You want to be clear about
the terms before you hit the send key and make a legal commitment.
- E-mail
can be evidence of harassment. If you state an opinion
in an e-mail and send it to a colleague, remember that the
e-mail can be forwarded on. Before sending an e-mail that
includes disparaging remarks, uses profanity, makes sexual
or other remarks about someone’s appearance or ethnicity,
stop and consider whether it could be harassment.
E-mail skills are critical to your success in doing business.
Training helps to transform e-mail from an informal means of
communications into a powerful business tool (e-mail, the blessing),
reducing the risk of legally damaging or embarrassing situations
(e-mail, the curse).
To register online, go to http://courses.techcomm-partners.com. Or to learn more about the backgrounds of the authors of the
program, check out Sheryl’s website at www.sherylwrites.com.
To subscribe, please fill out the form below.
Jean Sifleet, business attorney, CPA and three-time entrepreneur, is pleased to announce the release of her new book, Advantage “IP”: Profit from Your Great Ideas. Visit the Smartfast Bookstore for details, and to order the book.
