Information Nation: Seven Keys to Information Management Compliance, Second Edition

Chapter 10. Executive Leadership, Sine Qua Non¹

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IMC depends on executives and senior management taking responsibility for their organization's Information Management activities. Executive responsibility is more than just "optics" or keeping up appearances. Rather, as outlined in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, high-level personnel in the organization "must have been assigned overall responsibility to oversee compliance with...standards and procedures." There are many reasons why executive involvement and responsibility is important for IMC, as this chapter explores.

Policy Comes from Above

Senior management is responsible for setting an organization's direction and communicating priorities to employees. High-level, visible executive involvement and responsibility makes clear that IMC is a priority for the organization and is central to its success. Practically speaking, without high-level involvement, employees across the organization may fail to take the initiative as seriously as they should, or they may ignore it altogether.

Policy direction must come from above to achieve the following objectives:

• Consistency. To create organization-wide consistency.

• Resource allocation. Business units will be reluctant to spend money complying with policy that is not tied directly to their budgets and management objectives unless the policy comes from the top.

• Motivation. Employees and managers are motivated to follow the directives of those who evaluate them, so unless the directives come ...