The thing missing most in most records programs - and how to get it.
Is support.
When I talk to people about their records programs I often find that they can't get
1. Financial support
2. Executive support
3. Front line support.
Then I often also find that
1. The program has no financial justification (ie. it's a compliance program that invests more than any compliance downside, or it's a program with no ROI).
2. The program isn't focusing on things that are problems for executives right now, or that are understood to be big, important long term operational priorities.
3. The program isn't focusing on measurably and regularly improving outcomes for frontline people and their managers.
If we have any significant problem with programs in the industry, I think it's that we work out a plan of action in good faith, and when we find out that the support we were promised isn't materialising, we don't then revise the plan to take the ACTUAL support we get into account.
If we've started a plan and we can't get the finance (money) to support it - why don't we go back and look at the financials, and work out how to deliver an ROI that gets us the money we need? Or revise our estimates of effectiveness down - and go and show other stakeholders what that means for things important to them so that they start feeling like they have to stump up some money?
If we've started a plan and we can't get the executive support we need, why don't we go back and look at what our executives need, and what we can deliver that both serves both our needs, and the needs of the executives whose support we need?
If we've started a plan and we can't get the frontline support we need, why don't we go back and work out how we can deliver meaningful improvements for each frontline team whose support we need?
Anything that we do in an organisation is about power.
Sometimes power is given to us as formal authority - role power.
Sometimes it's something that we have to win.
If we don't have the power we need, we only really have two choices - find a way to get it, or find a way to get comfortable not being able to deliver on what we wanted to.
Frankly, too many of us are very uncomfortable with our programs.