Information Management without Character - a False Attempt

It is clear that no society, community, business or government advances without information management and nothing is corrected without information management. But when information managers pursue their profession without having established values, they are attempting to reach their destiny without the necessary component of discipline. For example, regardless of how great an information manager’s ambition might be, whether it is to develop an archive, a training package, a policy, or a business, the entire process must be balanced by clear, strong values that guide their conduct.  Let’s now briefly look one value, character. The importance of character to the development of information management profession is paramount to help bring about a cultural course correction and to advance our societies through ethical principles.

Why is it that this is not taught in information management courses today?

1. Character Gives Information Managers Credibility

The only avenue for gaining credibility so that stakeholders respect and trust information managers is to develop genuine character. When we demonstrate character, people will not only trust us with their valuable information assets but they will also advance us “credit” as an investment in our future. They will follow our advice and information they deposit with us strengthens the credibility of our character. If we continue to be consistent, they will keep on trusting us. We must build a stable and work-life if we want people to believe what we say about their data and our vision to manage it.

How committed are you to managing information with credibility?

1. Character Gives Information Managers Moral Force

Character, not technological prowess, is the force of true information management. If information managers have moral force, they need not apply physical or emotional pressure on people to make them comply with policies and procedures. The moral force of an information manager is potent because it has the capacity to influence others. When one develops into a person of strong character, dependable and stable, that is when one becomes a true force in information management. For example, your business may be deeply influenced by your ability to stay steady under pressure such as in a crisis or systems crash etc... Consequently, your very presence will bring peace, because stakeholders will know they can rely on you to guard their valuable assets. Colleagues will be influenced when they are inspired by you, as inspiration comes from character.

Are you focused only on technological or academic prowess or on moral force?

1. Character Ensures That Information Managers Maintain Trustworthiness

Trust is a privilege given to the information manager by stakeholders; therefore, an information manager must maintain that trust over time and keep it up-to-date. Some organisations spend billions of dollars to protect the longevity of their good name and reputation after a defect or malfunction is discovered in one of their products. They issue a recall and may develop advertising campaigns to alert and reassure their customers, even though doing so entails tremendous cost. To maintain its character, it will spend money to help rectify its mistake. So, if many companies will go to that kind of effort to protect the integrity of their name in the marketplace, why do many information managers fail to protect the integrity of their names among their colleagues by ignoring ethical principles? We can’t set a price tag on having a good name.

Are you willing to pay the costs of self-control, discipline, and delayed gratification in order to establish and maintain true character?

1. Character Legitimizes Information Managers

It is character that gives professionals a legitimate right to lead others. Information Managers without character are therefore “illegal,” because they are asking stakeholders to place their trust in an untrustworthy source. No one has a right to manage information if they cannot be trusted, and it would be inappropriate for them to handle valuable business assets.

Information Managers without character inevitably take away some quantity of their stakeholders’ core valuable assets— things like trust, security, peace of mind, and hope. This is why, when stakeholders become disappointed over the poor ethical conduct of a professional entrusted with valuable information, they become angry. They take it personally, because they have committed much of themselves to the information manager and the promise to guard their assets. The information manager’s conduct and its aftereffects constitute a major abuse of the great assets that businesses have invested, their time, energy, talents, resources, and commitment,  which they have poured out based on their trust.

Many people today respond to information managers based on what they promise more than on what they value. We need to shift the condition of our support from promises to proven character. The condition should be: “Don’t just tell me what you can do with my information, show me who you really are. If you clearly demonstrate that you have character, I will give you my trust.”

How about you? When people place their trust in you as an information manager, are they relying on a trustworthy source— or an untrustworthy one?

1. Character Establishes Integrity in Information Managers

We know that character is built through tests over time and that having integrity involves the integration of one’s thoughts, words, and actions. Thus, an information manager’s integrity can be established only over the course of time, which allows for this integration to occur. For this reason, higher information management responsibilities should not be given to people who have not yet been tested and tried. They must have a clear history of experiences as evidence that they have demonstrated stability, trustworthiness, and competence over time. Emerging information managers, therefore, must be tested to see if they can stand up under pressure: How stable are they when circumstances are not going well? Can they handle the weight of disappointments? To this end, individuals who are untried should be given IM responsibility gradually, so that they can develop and manifest character with each level of accountability.

Therefore, it’s important for us not only to build our own character, and not only to look for demonstrated character in other Information Managers, but also to help our colleagues develop their character so they may become trusted Information Managers, as well.