Articles

Information Overload, an occupational hazard?

Faced every day, as we are, with the plethora of technologies which deliver us with information ranging from breaking global news events to the trivia of which celebrities are doing what and with whom, it's not difficult to feel swamped before you've even started your working day. Part of the issue is our own growing addiction to technology itself. TV and radio have long been the main accompaniments to a rushed breakfast and the chances are that most will already have logged on to see if there are any more urgent emails to respond to, even tho' they didn't log off until well past midnight. And this all before mobile messages or voice mails have been checked out. With Facebook and YouTube having rapidly become an integral part of daily life, Twitter has now joined the huge phenomenon that is social media. It's a fact: we live in an age of information overload where we are more proficient at generating information than managing it.

Lost productive work time is one of the biggest issues

Dealing with this by-product of the digital age is a serious matter

for any business coping with the on-going effects of economic crisis and recession. Time spent by employees on email, web searching and sifting through information can be as high as a staggering 50% of the working day. The impact is therefore significant. Lost productive work time is one of the biggest issues. But this can also extend to job dissatisfaction with employees simply feel burnt out by the volume of information or misinformation they are having to deal with, resulting in higher staff turnover rates, itself a costly exercise when it comes to replacement and training.

Lack of motivation leads to organisations working well below par

The main barriers to dealing with information overload include not knowing where to start due to the sheer volume of information available, lack of time to interpret and use information effectively and frustration with past failed attempts to make sense of it all. The result, if you combine this with a possible lack of interest or motivation on the part of staff who perhaps have not been given a clear steer, will be an organisation working well below par and delivering poor services.

How to get real value from information

Information is essential to making intelligent decisions and vital to organisations delivering front line services where people are relying on the accuracy of the information provided. The question isn't how to stop the deluge, but how to get real value from it? The answer lies firstly in improving organisational efficiency and secondly, providing high quality, accurate and up to date information where it is needed, whether this is internal or external to the organisation.

Introducing better organisational and personal efficiency

Cultivating organisational efficiency has to permeate at every level if it's going to work. This includes a 'think before you send' approach to email, filtering messages, well managed folders and perhaps considering non-email days. Using RSS feeds effectively allows users to avoid manually inspecting all of the websites they are interested in, and instead subscribe to what is of genuine interest and use. Regardless of the information source, the twin techniques of filtering and scheduling will go a long way to introducing better organisational and personal efficiency.

There will always be a degree of subjectivity

Every organisation will have its own definition of information and knowledge and how this is gathered, categorized and disseminated to staff and customers will be unique. Even in sectors heavily governed by legislation, guidelines and best practice, there will always be a degree of subjectivity and this needs to be factored into the equation when choosing a solution capable of being tailored to meet specific requirements.

Successful organisations empower employees

With a strong focus on creating customer value, organisations have had to re-structure and transform accordingly. Staff functions are being reduced as are management structures. This is turn means replacing the informal knowledge management of the staff function with more formal methods to ensure that knowledge held by individuals is retained.

At the same time, successful organisations tend to be those who empower employees to want to share and contribute information and align this with organisational objectives.

Involving staff and teams in regular review sessions provides an opportunity for sharing knowledge which in turn be used to keep associated policies, procedures and systems updated.

Choose an area of critical importance

If new tools are being introduced to hold organisational information and policies, a key success factor is choosing an area of critical importance to the organisation. This could, for example, be HR if applied internally since it covers the entire organisation or Customer Service, if applied to external activity.

Keep your information accurate, up to date and relevant

In an age of information overload, the phrase 'a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing' still rings true. Regardless of the amount of information available to us in whatever format that might be, the truth is that what often drives us to seek out what we need is an underlying vested interest, be that for personal or professional reasons. With the growing emphasis on a self service culture, making sure that the little bit of knowledge your organisation provides is accurate, up to date and relevant to the question being asked might just avoid it being a dangerous thing.