#141: Are you losing your memory?

If your organization is losing people, chances are that it is also losing its memory. Is this good or bad?

Corporate memory is the collective body of knowledge that remembers how we do what we do. It is the collection of corporate know-how acquired over years in business.

There are two points to note about corporate memory: Too much reliance on corporate memory could inhibit new thinkers with new ideas; and not enough corporate memory could have you reinventing the wheel.

When good people leave they take knowledge, experience and contacts with them. No doubt, this could lead to lower productivity and poor performance. But it could also create the opportunity for new people to bring new ideas.

The trick, whether people stay or leave, is the make sure that your corporate memory never becomes 'but we've always done it this way', for then you have stopped learning. And then what you remember will soon be out of date.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
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