Part 1: Putting the "Management" Back Into
Records Management
The Business Within a Business

In this time of economic uncertainty, every organization, for profit and nonprofit alike, is looking for ways to control operating expenses. These efforts affect every aspect of an organization’s activities, and the records management function is no exception.

 

Far too often, managers do not participate in the effort to reduce costs because they feel they are powerless to influence the decisions that will affect their departments. Other managers believe the best they can do is provide answers quickly and accurately.

 

Bill Ainsworth

Times have changed. Managers’ continuing opportunities (and those of their staff) now require them to be proactive to ensure their recommendations and opinions are heard and to believe they can be people of influence within their organizations. “How does a records manager do that?”

 

The first step is to begin to view the department as a business within a business. Businesses are successful when they have a strong customer base. It is very important to view those individuals your department serves as customers and to treat them accordingly.

 

Provide Outstanding Customer Service

 

Customers are not a nuisance – they are the reason for an organization’s existence. The more face-to-face time spent with them, the easier it is for them to value your department’s services. If you run your department in a passive manner, where most of the contacts are generated by customers and face-to-face contacts are rare, you will find it difficult to increase the perceived value of the services your department offers.

 

Service must be prompt and courteous. “Service with a smile” never goes out of style. Customers need to believe they are important. A follow-up call every now and then by someone on your staff solidifies that opinion. As a manager, you also should contact the lead person of other departments to ask how your department is doing. This clearly relays concern, and more importantly, the answers may provide valuable insights and ideas. 

 

All customer complaints need to be handled promptly. Your staff must be trained and empowered to deal with these issues. Remember, customers’ frustrations grow each time they must describe their issue. The first person they contact should be able to make a decision to resolve the issue.

 

Manage Budget, Vendors

 

Businesses also need to operate within their budget if they are to be successful. You must proactively and efficiently manage operating costs to maintain your department’s value to the overall organization. If you have managed a household budget, you have the basic experience needed to perform this task.

 

In addition, you must manage vendors. Are they providing unit prices in line with other vendors that provide the same service? Are price concessions available? Is a contract close to renewal and does that provide leverage? Shopping around and negotiating for better pricing is essential in today’s economy. A responsible manager has a duty to do so. It is just good business.

 

Profitable businesses use metrics. You simply cannot manage what you cannot measure. Everything done by staff can be measured in some fashion. Every task has an average time to complete. A number of those tasks add up to a block of time. There are only so many blocks of time in a day.

 

Use Metrics for Improvement

 

One of the easiest ways to measure service times is to use an items-per-hour (IPH) approach. Productivity rates provide a highly effective tool for estimating the time required to assimilate files acquired as a result of an acquisition or lateral hire. Staff can be effectively assigned to projects or redirected as changing project dynamics dictate.

 

Measurements can be used to determine correct staffing levels – and this provides the ability to objectively present the needs to the decision makers. A determination can be made as to which activities take too much time and allow you to focus on developing more efficient processes. And, metrics will allow you to effectively evaluate staff performance and ensure that you can make fair and appropriate decisions.

 

Maintain Technical, Expand Business Skills

 

While technical knowledge and the traditional skills and education associated with records management are just as important as ever, the current environment makes it even more important for records managers to broaden their business skills. Additional education in the subjects of organizational behavior and management, principles of management and marketing and business communications are always helpful. These classes can be taken at most colleges or by using career enhancing seminars that are routinely available in your area.

 

 

Bill Ainsworth can be contacted at william.ainsworth@bipc.com.