Barbara,

We had a very successful similar event a few years ago when I worked for
a natural gas pipeline company in Houston.  We had 6 floors in a high
rise office building in Greenway Plaza, and the company wanted to move
to 5 five floors at the expiration of the current lease.  We help them
do that by removing over 30% of the existing records population on those
6 floors by either records destruction per approved retention schedules,
and/or transfer to offsite storage.

Needless to say that retention schedule implementation hadn't happened
in quite awhile there, so we had lots to work with.

We got them excited by offering some great prizes--while I'm still not
sure how I feel about that, it did work very well.  We divided
departments up by size, and offered dinner, and fun & games at a well
known Houston spot called Dave & Busters (D&B).  Records Management
treated winning departments to a night after work at D&B, who offers
great food and lots of fun and games (which is geared towards adults,
but kids can enjoy it too.  The departments that got rid of the highest
percentage of their in house records won, and as I remember it there
were some very impressive percentages.  Records Management treated the
wining departments.  Since we measured what they had before clean up
day, we kept track what was transferred offsite, and what was destroyed
using their schedules.  Of course we got buy-in from executive
management and the legal department, and the whole thing offered a great
educational opportunity for us.  Some of the Records Coordinators had
never really understood how to even read their retention schedule.

It was a very successful project in every aspect.  We prepared everyone
for the clean up day by hosting workshops on how to read the schedule,
how to pack a box, why to let go of their stuff, etc.  Here's a tip:
offering food at these workshops always increased our attendance!  We
even showed the video "Buried Alive," and I think my staff really
appreciated the opportunity to get involved working with and training
the RCs, it got us all rejuvenated!  Once the RCs opened up, they
started asking some really good questions that my staff loved to answer.

Another plus for as the RM supervisor was that after the clean up
project was over and in order to not allow ourselves to get back into
that situation, I gained the "power" to approve requests for file
storage cabinets and shelving.  The fate of whether someone got a file
cabinet or not rested with me....  I'd approve or deny based on how well
they were following their retention schedules, so this was another tool
to ensure they were doing what they were supposed to do.

Our success in this project was visible to everyone--including upper
management, and was better than any type of RM marketing strategy we
could've come up with (note the key word here is "visible").  We took
execs on an "after-hours" tour during the planning phase of the clean-up
day, and then again afterwards the clean up so they could have the
before and after mental images.  Not only was the project successful,
but it was a big shot in the arm to our records management program.  

Good luck!

Earl Johnson, Jr.
Consultant (Millican & Associates) to DHS Records Management
Department of Homeland Security
7th & D Street SW, Room 3636-22
Washington, DC 20528
Office:   (202) 205-5803
E-mail:  [log in to unmask]
 
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-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Barbara Wyton
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 4:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Records Clear Out Day

I'm pretty sure that this topic has been discussed in the past but my 
search of the archives has netted me nothing.      We are in the
planning 
stages of our first ever, but soon to be annual,  records clear out day.

Employees are going to be encouraged to come to work in jeans, make no 
plans for meetings etc, and spend the day clearing our their offices, 
personal drives, shared drives -- all in accordance with our retention 
schedule.

Being the first ever, we need to 'rally the troops' and get some 
enthusiasm going.   Any suggestions on how we can accomplish this? 
Balloons??  Brass band??

I should mention that we are looking to motivate approx 1800 employees
at 
3 sites and have received full executive approval.


Any ideas would be much appreciated.



Barbara Wyton
Records Management Specialist
GLAXOSMITHKLINE (Canada)
Direct Line: 905-819-7050
Fax: 905-819-3099

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Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance