Information Rich and Knowledge Poor Teams

In this, the Information Age, work teams are literally bombarded with information on a daily basis. Emails, faxes, land lines, radio and TV broadcasts, the Internet, mobile phones, PDA's, print publications, text messages and pagers all add to the database of each individual worker. Never has the human mind been so cluttered with important bulletins coming from every direction. It is little wonder that the average person cannot even remember where all of their critical information is stored, let alone know when, or if to disseminate the information to others.

It has been said that today's work teams have a plethora of information and a dearth of knowledge. This sad condition often results from a lack of organization and planning as to how, why, when and to whom information should be sent. If your work team is struggling with these issues, it may be time for an information audit.

To prepare for the audit, each team member will be asked to answer six questions:

1. Which communication method do you value and utilize most frequently, telephone, email, fax, or face-to-face contact?
2. Which information storage tools cause you the most stress, email, voicemail, or hard copy documents filed in cabinets? Why?
3. Do you frequently receive duplicate information from a variety of different sources? If so, what kind of information, and from whom?
4. Do you sometimes feel left out of the loop and like you are missing critical communication needed to do your job. If so, why do you believe you are being left out of the loop?
5. What human habits exist that cause a communication deficit on our team?
6. What sort of organizational and retrieval challenges are created for you by the amount and type of information that comes your way?

During the audit the data collected will be examined to look for opportunities to avoid duplication, fill communication gaps, and better organize and retrieve the team's store of information.