Making records management stick: ways to move and motivate.

• Author: Riat, Robin
• Position: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die - Book review

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Authors: Chip and Dan Heath

Publisher: Random House

Publication Date: 2007

Length: 291 pages

Price: $26

ISBN-13: 978-1400064281

Sources: www.randomhouse.com or www.madetostick.com

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Do these statements sound familiar? "Everyone thinks of records and information management (RIM) as 'extra work'; it's hard to get people to see the value." "RIM is an afterthought. We have a Files Cleanup Day, but departments seem to forget about RIM during the rest of the year."

How do we translate good RIM from theory into action? In other words: How do we get records management to "stick?"

Chip and Dan Heath, authors of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, have studied the world of sticky ideas, including lessons from great teachers, memorable catch phrases and campaigns, and urban legends. Ideas that stick, according to the authors, are understood and remembered, but sticky ideas can also change our opinions and behavior.

How do we make important, but dry, concepts circulate and stick with the same power as an urban legend? The Heath brothers have identified several key characteristics shared by attention-getting ideas that move and motivate us to take action.

Sticky ideas are simple. Simplicity isn't about dumbing things down. Simplicity means finding and focusing on the single most important idea or goal that needs to be communicated. By creating and communicating a clear intent, listeners are given something to which they can relate and connect.

Sticky ideas are unexpected. They surprise us, make us think, and make us want to find answers. When an idea sounds like old-fashioned common sense, the authors say, it tends not to stick because we are sure we already know what's being said. We can overcome this "been there, heard that" response by shifting the focus away from the laundry list of information we think we need to convey and toward the questions we want employees to ask.

Sticky ideas are concrete. Concrete language helps those who are new to a field understand concepts by fitting them into existing frames of reference. Compare "Every year our company generates terabytes of data" to "Every year our company sends and receives enough e-mail messages that, if they were printed, they would fill 10...