Delegating email: valedictions and other questions

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified)
in
Career Management

Hi

First, I have searched on the forums on this topic but please feel free to redirect me if I'm going over old ground.

I recently listened to the email delegation podcast and am going down this route with my admin. I have about a million questions - the podcast was great but would benefit from more shared experience of how admins can best handle certain kinds of email.

One question I have is how people think the admin should sign-off?

The reason I ask is: one of the classes of email we've identified is simple queries where she has the available knowledge/information to respond.

So far what we've done is for her to reply, sign with her own name and then add 'On behalf of <My name>' underneath. The email still comes from my account/address.

Is this right or do others have better practices?

 

Submitted by Francois Chalifour on Saturday May 23rd, 2009 11:08 pm

Hi JohnMForsyth
My admin sees my entire Exchange Mailbox and when she replies, the From section states
From: "Admin" on behalf of "Frankie"
I had originally wanted it to look completely as if I had replied, however I could not figure out how to do this so I gave up. Any advice on this topic from forum members is welcome.
Anyhow, this way all recipients know she is replying on my behalf. So far we have worked the delegation this way:

  • On topics she and I both know she is more knowledgeable than I, she will reply and copy herself, thereby ensuring she takes over the thread.
  • On topics where she knows what the answer and wants to keep me in the loop, she will simply reply.
  • She also deletes emails she knows I have no use for!!!

Her ability to see both my Inbox and my Calendar is very helpful with keeping my calendar organized.
Frankie
 
 

Submitted by Mark Horstman on Sunday May 24th, 2009 12:35 am

I like both approaches suggested here.
It's generally assumed that an admin, answering an email originally sent to the manager/executive, is answering "for" the exec.  This is not considered rude or inappropriate.  Rather, it is seen as efficient.  It's far more likely than an admin would respond promptly to those queries that are perhaps of low priority to the exec.