The Company is not thinking straight!?!
Is it possible to function without the ability to remember? How effective would we be in life if we didn’t have the ability to remember what we did last week or where we were on Monday or the way to the office?
I know, obviously we couldn’t function very well and certainly it would be at a level that would make it difficult to survive.
So why this line of questioning? Because I'd like to consider them in the context of an organization.
To get this going, I’d like to propose a parallel between an individual and an organization. Let’s say that an organization’s files and records are the memories of that organization much like events in people’s lives are their memories. These files are then used much in the same way that a person uses theirs.
If you think about it, it is not that far of a leap: sales teams keep track of their client interactions, routinely update their pipelines and record their sales; these sales in turn reduce inventory which prompts manufacturing to produce goods, which results in employees clocking in to get the job done; money comes in, gets deposited and booked according to accounting’s chart of accounts; human resources reviews incoming resumes, hires people, conducts interviews, lets people go and files all their activities; the legal team views contracts, documents meetings and records what was said and the list goes on.
At a quick glance, the common thread that each of the above share and hold in common, one for one, is that they follow this basic process: an event occurs, that event is recorded and that record is then stored somehow and somewhere.
I believe that sums it up.
Ok, let’s Imagine if the sales personnel didn’t let accounting know about their sales. Payments go unprocessed, items leave inventory and never get replaced, these sales are not recorded in the pipeline, the sales manager can’t predict his future sales, salesmen call on clients even though they have product, future clients are not contacted, more marketing dollars get spent to boost sales, accounting records show less revenue and management adjusts budgets down restricting the flow of resources throughout the organization, manufacturing doesn’t turn up the production to boost inventory, employees work less, human resources sees the drop in sales and presses for more interviews - an endless concatenation of chaos!
Back to the questions…
Clearly the answer is that an organization, like us, does not do well if its memory is poor or nonexistent.
I venture to say, and I’m getting to the point here, that essentially these files, collectively, are the mind of the organization and so it uses them in the exact same manner as we use our minds. One can easily envision a mind functioning well versus one that isn’t and the “chaos” that is created from less optimum thinking processes. So as finance and accounting executives, it’s imperative that we encourage, even demand, that every area of our organizations have some sort of system in place that captures the key, meaningful events and grants unfettered access to those that can use it for the benefit of the group.
In our society, we applaud, even reward handsomely, the “bright mind”, the “forward thinker”, the “genius”. It plays out the same for our organizations - if it’s quick to think, quick to react, quick to recognize opportunity and have the ability to seize it, then it is going to do well, exceptionally well and be rewarded handsomely for it.
Build, invest, demand and encourage systems that bring about a better mind.
Hold the line!
