Heather Hoarder is one of the most infamous members of your Information Chaos Team. Every file is "hers" and they are too valuable to share with anyone else in the office.
How to spot a Heather Hoarder
- Her office is the one full of paper documents
- No one seems to be able to find anything they need without talking to Heather
- When you bring up scanning she constantly comes up with excuses as to why her files can't be scanned.
- Even when you move forward with scanning she still maintains and adds to her paper files
The impact Heather has on your organization
- Teams can't collaborate efficiently together because Heather is the gatekeeper of information
- When Heather is on vacation, or off sick, work grinds to a halt while everyone struggles to wade through her collection of paperwork
- You can't say with certainty what information you have, and what might be missing because Heather has sole control of your business critical data
How to work with a Heather Hoarder
- First and foremost, your information management plan needs to be a top down decision. Stop enabling Heather by allowing her to continue to operate in this fashion.
- Show Heather how easily things can be retrieved in a controlled digital environment
- Remember Heather is concerned with people "messing with her files", show her how controls can be put in place to allow access but limit editing
Remember, it is critical that you have control over your business information to improve workflow, customer service, cash flow and more.