The Company Historian

The other day, while speaking at a conference, I met a person who told me that their "job" among other things was to be the company historian. I understand when organizations hire or have historians chronicle the trials and tribulations of their history, however, the company we were speaking about was ten years old and currently has about 75 employees. When I asked him to explain further, I understood just what he meant by the "Company Historian".

Joe is one of the longest tenured employees with his organization, as a result, he has worn many hat and witnessed a significant amount of change and growth. "At some point people just started asking me things like, where can I find . . ., have we ever . . . do we have a document that . . . how did that contract go with . . ." Slowly Joe became a gatekeeper to a quite a bit of organizational knowledge. At first his willingness to be the go to person for information was harmless, however, as the company has grown his role is now a roadblock to growth and development. Joe knows it, but he likes his role because as he explains it "at least I have some job security because not very many people know where all of the stuff is like I do!"

Job security aside, Joe is effectively routing a vital communication role through him, in the process unnecessarily slowing or even halting the process. Unfortunately gatekeeping is all too common in today's organizations. Instead of using his abilities to help promote company success, Joe wastes his time, and the time of his peers by hording information and processes.

Companies do not need a modified Dewey Decimal System, what they need is a method in which vital organizational intelligence can be created and stored so that everyone who needs access to the information can get it at anytime, without having to navigate through a gatekeeper. A newer technology is allowing organizations to start to catagorize, post, edit, and share information securly and confidentialy. The most famous Wiki is Wikipedia, however Wikis can be easily and effectively implimented in almost any organization that has a need to create, collaborate, and share information.

If you are interested in learning about the potential of Wikis in your organization please contact us and we can help you determine if this is a good option for you.