Lessons in Corporate Agility: A Records and Information Manager's Quiet Leadership

Personnel may change; business processes may change; retention periods do not. Every records culture is different. The Records and Information Manager requires the skills of an astute surveyor.

Not Your Typical Job

A Records and Information Manager for a project-driven organization is a role of implementing agility through quiet leadership. Since this environment typifies the 16% of companies that rely on in-house talent to build in-house applications, advocating proper retention decisions on electronic and hard copies equals swimming in tumultuous political waters. 

This is a tough, tough undertaking: project management companies are usually document control organizations. To develop into a sophisticated records and information management program  — which includes the categorization, retention and destruction of its records collected from a project’s lessons learned — is not typically on the list of the top three most important corporate initiatives — until this year. 

From Resource- to Results-Based

Research firm Gartner’s summary report, “Leading in Times of Transition: The 2010 CIO Agenda” claims the focus is shifting from resource-based IT to results-based IT. Applying lessons learned in this recovery, enterprises are transitioning their strategies from cost-cutting efficiency to value-creating productivity — the perfect cue for a Records and Information Manager to contribute to the health of the information technology environment. A presentation to the executive level, especially the CIO, must include facilitated discussions to decide who will financially commit to the correct, comprehensive records operations. 

The Dotted Line

en masse without further criteria applied. The holdings sit in either Tier 2—3 or offsite paper storage, which is the Records and Information Manager and Information Technology’s domain. 

Rarely is it clarified for a division head properly that once information crosses that dotted line to be declared as records, it is released into the custody of the assembled team.

Editor's Note: You can read more records management articles from Mimi Dionne, including: Embrace the Fundamentals: Destroy Your Records Regularly.

To Inventory or Not to Inventory

It is the responsibility of the Records and Information Manager to express admiration for the CXO’s sense of ownership and firmly reassure him that he, or any of his appointed subject matter experts, will be included in the review process during the crucial moments. 

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Tags: agile, agile ecm, enterprise cms, grc, information management, mimi dionne, records management, records retention

Personnel may change; business processes may change; retention periods do not. Every records culture is different. The Records and Information Manager requires the skills of an astute surveyor.