Preserving institutional memory can be a challenge for youth sport organizations
How many people can you lose before operations are affected? Knowing your organization's 'bus factor' can help preserve institutional memory
Recently, I wrote an article about how ‘motivational’ swimming times were calculated after each Olympiad. The new list released by USA Swimming showed a significant decline in many times, which raised concerns among coaches who wanted the times to stay the same or improve. I defended this position, but I received a lot of opposition, especially from parents of athletes. My argument that the times shouldn’t get slower seemed common-sense, but it wasn’t as popular as I thought.
Here’s a link to that article if you’re interested.
I believe the publication of the list and subsequent pushback showed a lack of institutional memory, the collective knowledge and practices retained by organizations. Businesses use institutional memory to prevent disruption by preparing for changes in personnel or circumstances. Preserving institutional memory is crucial because it connects staff to the company’s past and helps ensure its survival.
Preserving institutional memory involves memorializing operational practices and increasing the ‘bus factor,’ the number of people who know and understand the mechanics and rationale behind procedures and traditions. The term comes from the number of staffers who theoretically could get hit by a bus before business operations would be affected. The lower the bus factor, the more vulnerable the business is to disruption.
Youth sport organizations are at a higher risk of this than other types of businesses. While sport clubs and NGBs have paid staff, there’s still a heavy reliance on volunteers to make things work.
Event hospitality areas during youth sports events, typically manned by volunteers, offer a simple yet amusing example. Volunteers sell drinks and snacks, with a typical morning menu of coffee and quick breakfast items. While selling donuts is straightforward, operating a 50-cup coffee maker requires expertise. Selling coffee is simple, but making it is a different story. Specialized knowledge is needed to operate the coffee maker, often provided by its owner, resulting in a “bus factor” of 1 for coffee production. If the owner is absent, early coffee service may be disrupted or disastrous depending on whether you're a coffee drinker or not.
This example can easily be extended to more significant organizational functions such as competition management, payroll, or training schedules.
However, the “whats” and “hows” are only part of institutional memory. More important are the “whys” behind procedures and traditions, and this is what led to the disagreement with my earlier article. There may be multiple ways to accomplish a task, but understanding the reasons behind an organization’s specific approach can be pivotal to the underlying purpose of a function. Knowing the “why” of something provides a broader perspective.
In the case of the USA Swimming motivational times that I discussed in the earlier article, comprehending the “why” behind the process rather than just the “whats” and “hows” could have prevented the publication of what I believe to be an erroneous motivational times list, potentially crippling a previously effective developmental tool.
National sport governing bodies heavily rely on volunteers. Long-serving volunteers often create administrative bubbles, where a select few understand their group’s role. When the time comes to pass on the responsibility, the “whats” and “hows” of a role are easily transferred, the “whys” though remain elusive. The nature of the "whys" make them less noticeable, leading to a lack of awareness among those responsible for passing on information or documenting procedures.
Preserving institutional memory doesn’t prevent change, it helps inform it. A thorough understanding of organizational procedures ensures that change is well-considered and effective.