The Psychology of RIM Hers and Villains by Craig Grimestad

Last time (The Psychology of Records Management - Avoid Motivating Good Employees To Behave Badly) we identified that companies need good planning and proper timing to avoid creating a conflict for employees between following company policy, or doing what they think is best for the company.

There is another related track that needs to be discussed and that is the individual who is not quite so honorable, but has held a position of high esteem, at least in part, because they could provide information to solve problems with their great personal store of information. They have kept everything and it has given them prestige and made them heroes in the old culture. They are strongly resistant to giving up their personal retention of information that has served them so well for so long.

Acceptable behavior in the old culture is not acceptable in the new culture. Those who kept a copy of everything for their length of employment in the old culture were often celebrated when they produced a piece of helpful information from their personal repository. No more. In the new culture, personal repositories give way to official repositories, and records have specific retention requirements per the Records Retention Schedule. Company policy requires that records and their copies be disposed of as specified by the Records Retention Schedule. Effectively, individuals retaining personal repositories of records or record copies beyond their retention requirement are villains in the new culture. There must be no celebration even if they save the day and get the company out of a jam by finding a record or copy overdue for disposal from their personal repository. There is a bigger picture here, where they have caused much harm. They put the company at risk both by having records the company has designated for disposal, and by undermining the credibility of the entire Information Governance (IG) process by not being compliant with company policy. A company's IG program will not be viewed as credible by the legal system if employees are able to opt out or ignore the disposal requirement. In the new culture one needs to be celebrated when they say In accordance with company policy, I no longer retain or have access to that information . Ah, now we celebrate!

How does one prevent the transition of heroes to villains , and instead, cause a transition of heroes in the old culture to heroes in the new culture?

The answer is found in the Rules of the Road for Cultural Change. Greater detail is provided in subsequent blogs for each of the rules in that sub-series. While each of the rules will be helpful, there is a critical sub-set for this situation. Instead of providing links, I will (follow Craig on Twitter) just identify the Rule #:

Rule #5 - Create a Favorable Social Climate. It is immensely helpful if it can be established that this is the only game in town for all the right reasons.

Rule #9 - Work with the Recognized Leadership of the Culture; in combination with Rule #1 Provide Participation to the Recipient Society.

These together are the key. In your planning, consider identifying each such individual and work to get them on your team formally or informally. Solicit their ideas (for actions and tools) on how to successfully transition to the new culture. Ask them to test the proposed transition process for individuals personally to help refine and finalize the process. Provide an opportunity for them to be a role model for others - including certifying their compliance I do not control or possess any Records or Record copies that are beyond their disposal requirement . Would they agree to be a teacher, an advisor, or a mentor for others who need to make the transition? Are they willing to share their experience and encourage others? Give them the opportunity, and make it easy for them to be a visible hero of and advocate for, the new culture.

Without intervention, individuals who were heroes in the keep it all culture are potential villains in the new culture. Identifying these individuals and making them a part of the implementation team will transform them to be heroes in the new culture, and provide strong assistance to the implementation effort.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2015/service-lines/records-management-an...
	See more stories from ironmountain

Most recent headlines