Continuity Management: Preserving Corporate Knowledge and Productivity When Employees Leave

Chapter 5. Getting Started

Brett's Journal Begins

Continuity management is a collaborative endeavor. So, once I had determined that I wanted to explore the idea, I rounded up a small group of colleagues to help. These were people whose opinions I trusted, who knew what they were doing, and who were cutting-edge enough to be intrigued by a big idea. I figured we'd get together, read those chapters on continuity management that I had seen earlier, and talk about how we could make it work at WedgeMark—if they believed in it the way I did. I knew some of them would catch the vision and others wouldn't. But I thought a majority would.

My first telephone call was to Andre, a buddy of mine who has the same job I do, but in a different unit. I told him that I wanted to talk to him about a new management concept I'd heard about that I thought might help us. He hung up on me. I called him back and told him I'd read about the management idea in four draft chapters of a future management book. He hung up on me again. So I called him a third time. I'm fairly persistent and I've known Andre—and his idiosyncrasies and distaste for management theories—for a long time.

Since we have caller ID at the office, he knew it was me. "Hey," Andre snapped into the phone, "if you're going to keep calling about a new management idea, then I'll have to put you on my appointments calendar for people with new management ideas. Let's see. How about Wednesday.... of next year?"

"I'm serious, Andre," I told him. "It's ...