This is a guest blog from Dr Monica Seeley, founder of Mesmo Consultancy and an international expert on best email practice. Monica has written several books and many articles on email use. Her latest book is ‘Brilliant Email’.
For at least the last four weeks Sony have constantly featured in the press as a result of their systems being hacked. It used to be said that there was no such thing as bad PR but this might not be true for Sony. Indeed given the viral nature of electronic communications, perhaps we all need to be more judicious about what we commit to email (and on social media) as we move into 2015.
Setting aside the political aspects of the hacking incident, it is not just the scale of the attack (possibly costing Sony up to $200M) and the stealing of corporate confidential data which should be ringing alarm bells.
It is all the in-fighting and bickering which the leaked emails disclosed which should be raising the fire alarm in every CEO’s ears (regardless of the business’s size and sector). What lessons are there for the new year in terms of how we use email going forward?
Why is that email seduces us into committing vituperative words to the archives? At the flick of a key we can criticise our colleagues, and friends (even partners). In the past we would never put such words on pen and paper and if we did they would most probably be shredded before they were ever sent. Perhaps one reason is the 24 x 7 x 365 world in which we live and the feeling that we must either respond and say what’s on our mind regardless of what might happen to these words. Equally email does not have the tactile sense of permanency of paper. Although that might change now with such a high profile hacking incident.
In today’s digital business world there is neither an organisation nor person who is completely safe from the cyber criminal, no mater how sophisticated the technology you use. Indeed, the weakest link in the chain is always you and I the users of the systems. We are never deliberately careless (unless we have a grudge against the organisation), but we do create openings for the cyber criminal without thinking.
What can we learn from this very high profile hacking incident and how can smaller less well resourced organisations at least lower the risks of the type of PR disaster associated with cyber crime?
From the email perspective here are my key learning points and which form the basis of my new year’s resolutions to help improve how we use email to communicate and avoid another ‘Sony-Gate’ type PR disaster.
- Avoid using email for any form of negative feedback (e.g. criticism of a person or organisation). Always talk first to elicit what is really happening and causing the problem.
- Before hitting send ask yourself what if hackers found this email?
- Build in a cooling off period before sending emails which contain controversial content. I call this the ‘quiet email’ approach.
- Avoid sending highly confidential information by email. If you must then either send the information as an attachment or encrypt the emails. Also include a line that this email is for the recipient’s eyes only and not for circulation.
- Train members of your organisation in business email etiquette best practice to reduce leaking sensitive and potentially damaging information.
You may also want to review your use of Out of Office messages, taking care to disclose the minimum of information. I know of at least two organisations (one charity and one private sector) where cyber criminals have used the information to enter and obtain information illegally.
What new year’s resolutions have you set to improve how you communicate in your organisation? Please send responses to info@mesmo.co.uk. There is a free copy of ‘Brilliant Email’ for the best one.
I am very happy to talk further by phone and share some of the ways my company has helped other charities improve their productivity through email best practice.