The most important question to ask if your records program can't get traction

Is "what problem is records the solution to in your organisation?"

Whatever that is, if you can't get traction in your organisation, one of two things is at play.

First, it could be that the people you need to act to make your program effective don't care about solving that problem.

Second, it could be that whatever you're asking people to do, they don't believe that it will solve the problem for them.

Too often, records asks people to care about things that they just don't care about, and that no one will make them care about by creating problems for them until they do (ie. no enforcement activity, internal or external).

Too often, we also promise things that our approaches don't follow through on - put simply, we say something that we believe, and then our implementation of that belief makes it a lie.

Simple examples of the lies we tell are that things will be easier to find - implying faster, and more reliable.

The problem is, that when we say this, people take it as a promise that things will be faster and and more reliable to find for them.

Have we ever measured it?

Because if we promise it, and then people don't use what we've made for them, it's reasonable to assume that we didn't follow through on the promise - because who doesn't want information access to be faster and more reliable?

The point is, that there are only two things that stop us getting traction.

Solving problems people care about.

Having people believe you can solve the problem.

If you're not getting traction - these are the places to start.