This article is the part two of a seven part series on successful information governance programs. Read part one.

Companies that have effective information governance programs always have what I call “the committee:” a cross functional team from different departments working together. This is counterintuitive, as one would believe that more people with different agendas would tend to slow down a records management, litigation readiness or data privacy project. Why become encumbered by a cross-functional committee with different agendas? Isn't a smaller, more focused group better and faster at tackling these projects?

Actually, no. While getting a project started with a committee can be harder, in my own experiences in working with hundreds of companies, those that have a committee with the “right” members drive their information governances programs faster, develop better senior management support and succeed much more often than those whose programs that are run by only one group such as legal or IT.