Communications – ARMA Magazine

Do We Really Mean “Responsibility”?

Written by Lewis S. Eisen on April 7, 2025. Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Change Management, Collaboration, Communications, Compliance, Information Governance, Information Management, Policy, Uncategorized.

To make sure a house is sound, we periodically check the foundation for cracks. When we find one, we need to patch it up, because leaving it in place threatens the stability of the entire structure. What if some of the most fundamental statements...

The First 90 Days: A Quick-Start Guide for New Managers

Written by Julia Davis on June 24, 2024. Posted in Change Management, Collaboration, Communications, Leadership & Management Skills.

The first 90 days are critical for any new manager. Whether you’ve been promoted internally and are now responsible for overseeing your former peers or have been brought in from outside and need to get up to speed on a new organization, it can be...

Chronicle of a Records Manager: Controlling the Chaos of Disaster Response and Recovery

Written by Kimberly Johnson on April 28, 2022. Posted in Archiving, Communications, Disaster Recovery, Documents, Physical Records Management, Records, Records Management, Uncategorized.

In the field of records management, there are logistical and large-scale projects that can challenge and perplex RIM professionals. These undertakings require planning, communication, documentation, and collaboration to be successful. In some instances,...

Antiquated Policy Wording: Part 4 — The Problem with “Should”

Written by Lewis S. Eisen on April 26, 2020. Posted in Communications, Education, Leadership & Management Skills, Policy.

This is the final article of a four-part series on drafting requirements in IM policies, looking at the problems of using the words “must,” “may,” and “should.” Of the three modal verbs discussed in this article, “should” suffers the worst identity...

Antiquated Policy Wording — Part 3: The Problem with “May”

Written by Lewis S. Eisen on April 15, 2020. Posted in Communications, Education, Leadership & Management Skills, Policy.

This is the third article of a four-part series on drafting requirements in IM policies, looking at the problems of using the words “must,” “may,” and “should.” The word “may” suffers from the same deficiencies as “must,” discussed in Part 2....

Antiquated Policy Wording — Part 2: The Problem with “Must”

Written by Lewis S. Eisen on April 8, 2020. Posted in Communications, Education, Leadership & Management Skills, Policy.

This is the second article of a four-part series on drafting requirements in IM policies, looking at the problems of using the words “must,” “may,” and “should.”(Read Part 1 here.) In traditional policy wording, writers use “must” to indicate...

Antiquated Policy Wording: Part 1 — “Must,” “May,” and “Should”

Written by Lewis S. Eisen on April 1, 2020. Posted in Communications, Education, Featured, Leadership & Management Skills.

This article is the first of a four-part series on drafting requirements in IM policies, looking at the problems of using the words “must,” “may,” and “should.” Part 1 — Overview The traditional use of “must,” “may,” and “should” when drafting...

Good Policy Statements Don’t Micro-manage

Written by Lewis S. Eisen on February 11, 2020. Posted in Communications.

Instructions in a policy statement that amount to micro-management confuse rather than clarify the requirements. I’m sure you’ve seen them – policy statements so detailed that they list the steps required. Take the following example, excerpted...

Introducing the Information Governance Implementation Model (IGIM)

Written by ARMA International on December 31, 2019. Posted in Analytics, Archiving, Audit, Backup, Business Continuity, Business Intelligence, Capture, Change Management, Communications, Compliance, Content, Content Management, Content Services, Content Strategy, Data Analytics, Data Governance, Data Management, Data Storage, Digital Preservation, Digital Transformation, Discovery / eDiscovery, Disposition, Document Management, Document Strategy, Electronic Records Management, Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Enterprise File Synchronization & Sharing, Enterprise Search, Featured, Foundational Concepts, Imaging, Information Access, Information Analytics, Information Architecture, Information Assurance, Information Governance, Information Management, Information Security (Information Protection), Information Technology, Interoperability, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Strategy, Legal, Metadata, Metrics, Migration, Mobility, Native Creation / Upload, On-Premises, Physical Records Management, Privacy, Process Automation, Process Management, Records Management, Records Strategy, Retention, Retention Management, Scanning, Search, Taxonomy, Vital Records, Web Content Management, Workflow.

This year, ARMA International released the Information Governance Implementation Model (IGIM), beta version. There are, of course, other information governance (IG) models available to the community, each looking at IG through a different lens. Why...

Have You Considered Tone of Voice?

Written by Lewis S. Eisen on December 5, 2019. Posted in Communications, Leadership & Management Skills.

When we review an old information management policy to see if it needs updating, what do we look for? Too often an organization will revise the operative content but fail to update the tone of voice. Obviously we check for accuracy to make sure...