The seven deadly sins of the information professional.

Chris Buckingham, president, Caesius Software chris@caesius.com 

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Summary: The economy is suffering a hangover from the party of the 90s so the “nice to have” staff positions are being sacrificed to save the “must have” operational jobs. Typically, this is bad news for the information professional. Are there ways to keep your head off the chopping block? As a senior manager Chris Buckingham has hired, managed, and laid off information professionals and can speak with some authority on what they did right or wrong – not from an academic or scientific standpoint, but from a practical “how to save your job” point of view. Here are some deadly sins to avoid as well as some ideas on how to create value and bring attention to it.

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It’s deja vu all over again. The economy is suffering a hangover from the party of the 90s so the “nice to have” staff positions are being sacrificed to save the “must have” operational jobs. Typically, this is bad news for the information professional. Are there ways to keep your head off the chopping block?

As a senior manager for small, medium, and large companies, I’ve hired, managed, and laid off information professionals and can speak with some authority on what they did right or wrong – not from an academic or scientific standpoint, but from a practical “how to save your job” point of view. Here are some deadly sins to avoid as well as some ideas on how to create value and bring attention to it.

1. Cocooning. 

Some of you believe it’s best to stay inconspicuous, so you hunker down in your offices waiting for your phone to ring with an information request. Because it’s easy to occupy yourself reading reports and surfing the web, you’re convinced you’re busy. A better use of your time is looking for ways to weave yourself into the fabric of operational departments by aggressively promoting your services and then providing responsive results (not excuses).

Another idea? How about providing information on a regular basis without being asked. This does not suggest you become a clipping service. Instead, find out what your users would like to see periodically, then start providing it in an easy to digest format. A good way to do this is to spot patterns in ad hoc requests and proactively provide that information on a regular basis.

As an example, if repeatedly asked by product teams for competitive pricing, why not set up a system for periodically delivering it? Keep looking for ideas and refining deliverables. Eventually, your internal customers and company executives will become addicted and you become less dispensable.

2. Universe redefinition.

The paper mountain range on your desk is so high, it’s almost snow capped. Because you feel overwhelmed, you may be subconsciously limiting the information universe to fit your biases and lifestyle. Countless times I’ve heard “there’s too much junk on the Web, so I stay away from it”. The statement usually has nothing to do with the value of Web information, but is normally born from the frustration of not being able to tame it.

This is a natural but dangerous tendency because it’s impossible to know where the truly valuable information resides. Clearly, the answer is not to limit the universe, but, instead, find ways to manage it. Technology can help.

3. Fear of criticism.

Here are three irrefutable laws of the corporate jungle:

1. Executives rarely react well to bad news.

2. Salespeople don’t like to read.

3. Product managers never have the right information.

And who usually takes the blunt end of the stick for this behavior? It’s you, of course, so get used to it. The heat comes with the job and should never be a reason to not provide pertinent information. If you’re consistently responsive with quality work, your value will be understood and appreciated in spite of the inevitable critical outbursts.

4. Ineffective delivery.

The VP of Sales thinks you should put together some fancy competitive analysis for his troops. Anxious to prove your worth, you run off and begin preparing brochure-like competitive information documents. By the time these Mona Lisa’s get created, printed, and distributed, the information is stale and the salespeople are unhappy. The result...you’ve spent a small fortune creating obsolete information. You may as well put your head directly on the chopping block of the ax-yielding bean counters.

There are many great ways of electronically delivering and maintaining information inexpensively.  Suggesting these to your internal customers will lengthen your career and save countless trees. 

5. Poor expectation management.

You’ve all attended the same workshops and read the same books. “Don’t over promise.” “Tell everyone what you can do then make sure you do it”. Blah, blah, blah. Unfortunately, what happens in practice is overreaction. Many of you are too quick to tell the project team how busy you are and how difficult it’s going to be to get your piece of the project done on time. Not a good way to advertise your value.

Early in my career I was guilty of over-zealous expectation management so my boss pulled me aside and used the traffic analogy. It goes something like this. When you’re anxious to get home during rush hour and come to an intersection with a policeman directing traffic, you’re delighted when he’s waiving you through. Conversely, you’re not happy when he sticks up his hand ordering you to stop.

Don’t be the member of the team sticking up your hand, even if you are buried in work. You’ll be much more appreciated if you explain what’s on your plate, and work with cohorts to re-prioritize.

6. Blowing the whistle.

Looking to become instantly unpopular? Try this. Wait until an unsuspecting product manager has put his career on the line to present a controversial proposal to the executive committee. At the moment he cites a fact to make a key point, vehemently discredit the information source casting negative aspersions on the entire proposal.

I’ve seen this played out more than once. Keep one thing in mind. Your cohorts will never appreciate you springing surprises at inopportune moments even if you’ve been appointed chief of information police. You will be more appreciated if you educate them privately about the credibility of information and how to properly use it.

7. Technology ignorance.

You believe your company could benefit from better competitive research and analysis and want to hire more people. Unfortunately, senior executives don’t want to hear it, particularly when times are tough. They would much prefer a proposal that improves the productivity of the staff you have. Technology is the answer but you’re paranoid. Overcome it and start now with a technology strategy or risk being replaced by someone who “gets it”.

Your CEO is not going to wake up one morning and suddenly decide you’re indispensable. The corporate mantra of “What have you done for me lately?” remains alive and well. Answer this question everyday, practice some simple diplomacy, and put technology to work. You’ll be happy with the results.

Background:

Christopher J. Buckingham is president of Caesius Software (www.caesius.com), makers of WebQL, an award winning Web harvesting software solution. He has over 28 years of experience in the computer hardware and software industry. Most recently, Chris was senior vice-president of sales and marketing for Attachmate Corporation, a leading vendor of enterprise connectivity software. Chris and his wife Peggy have three children who, two attending universities and one employed in the bio-tech industry. Chris is an avid sports fan and participant, particularly golf. Chris and Peggy enjoy traveling throughout the United States and Europe mixing business with pleasure.

Copyright 2002  Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals

SCIP.online, volume 1 issue 11, June 18, 2002