Where to start when asked to produce a ‘maturity model’ for records management within the HE/HE sector? Maturity models and other benchmarking tools certainly seem to be popular at the moment in all sorts of areas, especially in relation to ICT. On the plus side they allow an organisation to think objectively and comprehensively about the subject in question. They encourage investigation and reflection and through the picture they paint allow organisations to celebrate their strengths and to address their weaknesses. Maybe it’s no surprise that such approaches are gaining in popularity at a time when budgets are being squeezed as a much clearer idea of spending priorities should emerge as a result of working through such a model. On the minus side I’m always slightly concerned about the terminology and the (unintended) slight which may be felt by those who cannot demonstrate full maturity in a particular area and who might, justifiably, be reluctant to admit to being ‘immature’.

I’m hopeful, however, that the emergence of maturity models for records management is, in itself, evidence of a new phase in the profession’s development. For these are not tools attempting to demonstrate the need for records management or to justify expenditure in it, they assume (rightly or wrongly) that that stage has already passed. No. The maturity model assumes that whatever it is that is being assessed – records management in this instance – is an accepted and valued function of the organisation and that what is required is an assessment of how well it is performing and the impact that it is having. Thus hopefully the very existence of such models are evidence of a new level of maturity for records management as a discipline.
But to return to my opening question: ‘where to start’ when asked to produce one? My first thought was that this is a potentially risky endeavour. After all, in order to assess ‘maturity’ this implies that you have a clear idea of what ‘mature’ records management should look like.

Starting from scratch in this regard seemed especially foolhardy. After all, it would be a pretty bold claim to assume that I alone or even we as a service were in a position to define what this would look like. Getting together a working group or consultation panel would have been another approach and would certainly have increased the chances of producing a more rounded model, but wouldn’t we then be in danger of trying to reinvent the wheel? After all, what we are talking about in terms of this picture of ‘mature’ records management is surely pretty similar to defining a ‘standard’ for records management – and, as we all know, there are plenty of those around already (as someone once said: the great thing about standards is that there are always so many to choose from!). And we certainly didn’t want to try to produce a JISC infoNet standard for RM for people to start comparing with and mapping against 15489 et al.

The most logical approach therefore seemed to be to make use of an existing definition of a mature RM system; one that is current, authoritative and which has been developed collaboratively. And this is where fortune smiled on us by allowing us to combine two parallel, but related agendas. For just at the time we were planning the maturity model so I was part of the working group helping the National Archives to revise the s.46 Code of Practice on records management which accompanies the UK Freedom of Information Act. Not only was this a statement of what RM should look like in a public authority in order to ensure compliance with the legislation which ticked all those boxes mentioned earlier, but was also an initiative that we would want to be supporting for the sector anyway. When the original COP was published JISC produced the Model Action Plan for FE/HE Compliance with the COP. We could have taken a similar approach and produced another sector-specific Model Action Plan for the updated Code but felt that a Maturity Model better reflected the fact that the sector is now nearly a decade further down the line and would better appreciate tools to help assess how they are doing, rather than one which assumes they are still yet to get started!

So although firmly based on the National Archive’s Code of Practice and developed with their knowledge and assistance it should be noted that this Maturity Model was developed separately to it and any mistakes or omissions are very much ours not theirs. It also therefore follows that this Maturity Model is quite specific in its focus and the model of mature records management that it represents – i.e. a model appropriate for UK further and higher education institutions who want to be able to ensure compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. Of course the benefits of achieving such a model should be felt much further and deeper than this and in many more contexts but this remains at its core.

The Maturity Model and guidance for its use are available from today and we look forward to hearing of your experiences in using it. We also hope that as many institutions as possible will submit their completed forms to us to enable us to get an overview of the current maturity of RM within the sector as a whole and thus help inform how we can best tailor our own efforts to continue to support it in the future.

One of the more thought-provoking CollegeHumor videos was their (exaggerated) attempt to imagine the inner life of an attractive woman. One of the things it makes clear is that being a hot girl means a constant stream of positive feedback: guys turn to smile at you, they laugh loudly at all your jokes, they’re always eager to do favors. The world just seems to bend itself to your desires.

One might think that such a constant stream of positive attention would make you particularly confident and resilient, but the human mind doesn’t work that way; it adapts to its environment. Constant positive attention doesn’t make you less dependent on praise any more than constant eating makes you less dependent on food. When someone comes along and says something mean, you don’t fall back on your years of positive experiences and decide to ignore them. Instead, you’re so shocked by the experience that you come away deeply wounded.

I think I first realized this when I visited a well-known author. He’d written several highly-regarded books which received apparently unanimous praise. If someone’s ever criticized him for something, I’ve never seen it. Yet, when I saw him, he told me he’d been feeling down for nearly a week. Why? Because a reader from Australia sent him a nasty email. The endless praise hadn’t made him more resilient; it had made him unusually vulnerable.

I think this explains why the pick-up artist’s technique of the “neg” — a minor offhand insult intended to dent a girl’s self-esteem — is so particularly effective, especially on unusually attractive women. For people who aren’t used to being insulted, even a minor insult carries a powerful sting. (A major insult would probably be too strong, though. They’d be too hurt to want to even associate with you.)

Another thing made clear in the video is that bidding for a girl’s affections is typically a kind dollar auction. A dollar auction is an auction where both the highest bidder and the second-higest bidder have to pay (even though only the highest bidder gets the prize). Rational behavior in a dollar auction isn’t particularly clear — if you’re the second-highest bidder, it always seems to make sense to bid a little more, since you’ll lose the same amount of money but at least get to take home the prize. But if you keep doing that, you soon find yourself paying ridiculously large amounts for something you might not even get.

With girls, there isn’t a formal auction, but instead guys bid by buying her things, with no promise that they’ll get anything in return. Since the things you’ve already spent so much, it always seems sensible to spend a little more to get the girl. The result, from the girl’s perspective, is that people are falling over themselves to buy you things without you having to give them anything in return.

Perhaps the safest way to win a dollar auction is not to play at all. And, indeed, this was Richard Feynman’s surprising finding with women as well. He takes the advice of the bar’s MC to refuse to buy girls anything until “you’ve asked her if she’ll sleep with you, and you’re convinced that she will, and that she’s not lying.” (Feynman is taken aback by the suggestion: “Uh… you mean… you don’t… uh… you just ask them?”)

But it works, and no doubt Hot Girl Syndrome is part of the reason why. When everyone is falling all over themselves for you, the only person you have to impress is the one guy who isn’t.

The application to politics is left as an exercise for the reader.

Forrester’s five-year forecast came out yesterday and the predictions were interesting, although not surprising.

In summary, Forrester predicted that interactive marketing will continue to increase, to the tune of near $55 billion by 2014. That will represent 21% of all marketing spend. At the same time budgets will continue to move away from traditional media and toward search marketing, display advertising, email marketing, social media, and mobile marketing.

This change, according to Forrester, means “death to obsolete agencies.” But what about “so-called digital” agencies who only do “online marketing campaigns” (read: Flash microsite).

My guess is that these agencies will also suffer. Why? Forrester analyst Shar VanBoskirk goes onto say that overall, marketing budgets will decrease due to increased efficiencies, and that freed dollars will go “into investments like innovation, research, customer service, customer experiences, and marketing-specific technology and IT staff.”

Can you traditional or “so-called digital,” agency capable of doing this work? My guess is, no. Advertising agencies are set up to do only one thing: marketing. And marketing, itself, has changed.

Once the only public-facing voice of an organization, marketing is now joined by product development, customer service and many other groups as organizations become more transparent in reaction to consumer demands.

Think about it.

-Innovation and research were typically functions of product development groups. While they may have had contact with small groups of the public, they did not interface with the general public. But look at Dell Ideastorm and MyStarbucksIdea. Companies today are connecting directly with the public when it comes to product development.

-Customer service was typically a one-to-one conversation. One consumer did not know what another consumer was talking about. But when consumers document their customer service experience and publish it online, or when companies like Comcast deliver customer service via Twitter, the public is part of the conversation.

-Customer experience was also very removed from the consumer. Now, if a store is not up to par, or a representative says something off broad, it hits the web in seconds. Again, it’s a public conversation.

In a world where marketing is the only public facing department, working with an advertising agency makes total sense. Develop a big idea, build a campaign, and you’re done. But in a world where your entire organization is public facing and everything you do is transparent, creating and sustaining conversations and digital experiences that support them is vital.

And that’s where traditional and “so-called digital” agencies fall down. Traditional and “so-called digital” agencies are very good at raising awareness and talking at people, but they do not understand the complexity of building digital experiences. You just can’t build a transparent, authentic dialog on a microsite.

“What, then,” you ask, “should I do?” Here’s your answer. When your advertising agency proposes that oh-so-very 1990’s microsite (which by the way is probably neither searchable nor measurable), you tell them this: “You don’t get it. I need a solution that meets not only the organization’s marketing needs, but its product development, customer service and point of purchase needs. I need a solution that focuses on my customer’s needs and one that enables me to build a customer experience that reaches them at every touchpoint. I need a solution where I can measure every click on my site and every comment on the Web. Can you do that with your microsite?”

Then go get an agency that can develop experiences around your consumer needs and behaviors. An agency that is collaborative and inclusive in its ideation process, and an agency that understands how to build truly interactive experiences.

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The day arrives when you are going to publicly speak.

You are ready.

Or are you…

…Nervous?

…Anxious?

…Terrified?

…Excited?

Maybe all of the above?

photo courtesy of bejealousofme

You’ve been in that situation
before, haven’t you?

You arrived at the venue on time
in order to prepare.

You are happy with the visual aids, props, room and room
layout.

You have checked how to use the equipment.

You have completed all the planning and preparation required.

You have learned and practised the presentation/speech numerous times, (not too well or it may come across
as though you are reading it!!!).

You have made sure you
are dressed and groomed appropriately
and in keeping with the audience’s expectations.

Your notes are all in order.

You are ready to vary the tone of your
voice, to lift the energy and
inspire your audience.

You are focused on what
the audience wants and expects.

But….

…are you ready?

You are still not confident, are you?

It happens to us all.

We are fully prepared but “just not confident
enough”.

So how do you boost your confidence?

Think about an event in the past where you did
something, which worked out absolutely fantastic for you.

Imagine
stepping onto the stage just as confident when you were promoted or just
finished a 10 mile run or asked someone out on a date and they said ‘yes’ or
receiving great feedback from your boss’s boss.

Well you
can and all it takes is practice.

This is an exercise I learned from Dr Richard
Bandler, the co-founder of NLP, which all super successful individuals use.

Know it…use it…and you could be like them.

Try this 5-minute exercise:

• Imagine a time
  when you were super-confident
• Remind yourself
  what happened
• What were people
  saying to you?
• How did you feel?
• What did you see?
• Was there any
  particular sounds or smells?
• Are you painting
  the picture of when you felt super-confident?
• Make the picture
  really bright and big

How do you feel right now?

More confident then you did 5 minutes ago?

Most probably.

By remembering past experiences and allowing the
feelings to spread all over you, you are telling you brain that the experience
is happening right now – in this moment.

This is a simple exercise to boost your confidence.

Complete the exercise the next time you are about
to step onto the stage.

Be calm, walk on the stage or to the meeting
with your head held high and make sure you are smiling.

Now deliver magnificently.

Even
if you aren’t planning on becoming the next Daniel
Webster or Tony
Robbins, Andrew’s free
series of videos and his ebook – The Simple Steps To Deliver A Dazzling
Presentation - will help you communicate more effectively in those
huge presentations, interviews, small groups, or in one on one communication.

It is much easier to learn things when you experience them yourself than when someone tells you about them. I think back to my old days as a neuroscientist… I had several courses where we covered the basics of neurophysiology and all the related mathematical formulas. I could describe them and could pass tests that asked me to regurgitate them, but I didn’t really understand them until I spent time in the lab sticking tiny neurons with electrodes and seeing the results myself. I would increase or decrease the voltage and the currents across the cell membrane would change. Now I got it! The formulas came to life and I finally understood them.

I now spend my time coming up with experiences that allow people to experiment with a wide range of skills, such as opportunity recognition, challenging assumptions, leveraging limited resources, negotiation, etc. I have found that just as my experience in the lab, you need to experience and experiment with these variables before you truly understand them.

One of my favorite simulations uses custom made jigsaw puzzles. Essentially, several puzzles are mixed together and each team is given a handful of pieces and a stack of poker chips, which is the currency of the game. They are challenged to complete a puzzle. There are fewer puzzles than there are teams, and the “marketplace” changes often as I throw new twists into the game. It is fascinating how much the participants learn in just one hour. Check out this short video to see this exercise in action.