Records funding and intrapreneurship

Records are a means to an end.

It's the ends that are important.

The ends we aim at either align us with other people, put us into conflict with other people, or leave other people indifferent to our cause.

If you're stuck for resources, have a think about what you're aiming at.

It might just be that what you're aiming at something that doesn't align with what other people want.

One of the real problems with understanding when this is happening, is that what an organisation tells you it values often isn't what it really values.

You only find out when you ask for money, or people to take action.

And find that they won't give it to you, or won't take the action

This isn't new.

In economics, there's an idea called "revealed preference theory." Basically what it says, is that you can only understand people's preferences by watching what they actually buy. It's the antidote to "stated preferences" - because people lie, the idealise, they think about what the best version of themselves would do.

And then they actually have to make a choice that has a cost.

In psychodynamic management theory, it's referred to as "theory espoused" vs. "theory in use."

The underlying idea is simple - talk is cheap. So that's how we treat it - both consciously and unconsciously.

This means two things.

First - if you're stuck for resources, think about what you're aiming at.

Second - if people keep telling you you're aiming at the thing they value, and then won't give you the resources to do it well, they're revealing what they prefer to spend their scarce resources on.

And it's something other than what you're asking for money for.

This is both demoralising, and an amazing opportunity.

For the last ten years, there's been a whole intrapreneurship movement going on.

Intrapreneur is just the name for entrepreneurs operating inside companies.

Entrepreneurship is just about taking resources from where they are undervalued, and moving them to where they are more valuably used.

What I'm seeing in a few organisations, is people redefining the role records should play.

It's still records work.

But it's records work focused on performance and productivity focused improvements.

In the organisations that are doing it, there's a virtuous cycle forming.

The records team are delivering productivity gains, and they're finding that suddenly, they have support.

Suddenly they're getting funding.

Suddenly they're in demand.

Because they've started to aim at an end their organisation wants.

And it's showing that it wants it with funding.