What’s the job code for thinking?

Many of the attendees I’ve spoken to at workshops or training events I’ve run, and the majority of clients I’ve worked with implementing and embedding Knowledge Management, have at some stage in the conversation mentioned how busy they and their organisations are.  Some even add “I’m so busy I don’t have time to think”. 

I guess we can all relate to this statement and at some stage in our working lives (or maybe even weekly for some?) can recall at time when:

• There are so many things to do on our to do list but not enough time to do them in
• We’ve got far too many emails and urgent messages clogging up our in-boxes
• The level of complexity of our number one task makes it appear to be too difficult to even know where to start (so we don’t or we dither)
• Our organisation places more emphasis on ‘doing’ and ‘action’ than on ‘learning before doing’ and ‘reflection’.

And yet thinking, as Edward de Bono reminds us: “is the ultimate human resource – yet we can never be satisfied with our most important skill, and no matter how good we become, we should always want to be better”. 

As employees, one way we can remind ourselves of the importance of thinking, and of the need to create thinking time in our busy work schedules, is to ensure that we always ‘learn before doing’ by asking ourselves: “has this been done before?”; “who are the experts?”; “do I have access to the knowledge I need to perform this task?”; “are there any case studies/lessons learnt I should be reading up on?”; “where is the good practice I can adopt?”   

As managers and leaders in our organisations we should also be asking our colleagues “what have you learnt?”; “what was the thought process that got you to this decision?”; how have you applied the knowledge of others in helping you achieve this task?” – more often than the usual ‘management’ questions like “what are you working on?”; “will you deliver on time?”;  “can you give me a progress up-date?” 

Encouraging ourselves and others to use our ultimate human resource – thinking, is a vital ingredient in creating and sustaining a learning organisation.  After all, you never know where the next great idea might come from – and it certainly won’t happen without time spent thinking (inside or outside the box).

Photograph from id-iom’s Photstream on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/id-iom/

What will you find on the edge of knowledge?

Ever considered how much of our working week (and lives) we spend asking and answering questions?  Ever considered what proportion of these questions actually get answered, and of those that do, whether the answers given are shared in meaningful ways (and with the right context) so that actions and decisions can be taken? 

Knowledge Managers keen to support and enable the flow of knowledge is their organisations need to ensure that the working environment and the organisational leadership actively encourage staff to ask questions and create the demand side of the ‘knowledge sharing and transfer equation’.  They also need to support and enable tools, techniques and approaches to provide the supply side – i.e. the answers to the questions. 

But what if there is no answer to the question?  What if someone else really does not know? 

This theme is developed and discussed in an excellent TedTalks animated video titled “questions no one knows the answers to”. 

What will you find on the edge of knowledge?

What’s your personal brand image – and is it the one you want?

When training and coaching in internal consultancy skills and stakeholder engagement, I often spend some time getting attendees to think about their ‘personal brand’.  

As consumers, we are all too well aware of the power of brands – just think about the things you buy and the way in which the brand name/image of the product or service relates to you and your lifestyle.  Product and service brands are all around us – you cannot avoid them – and the same is true of personal brands. 

Being human is about making judgements and when we meet someone for the first time we subconsciously make a judgement about their ‘personal brand’ i.e. we form an instant impression about the individual.  When we get to know someone or work with them on a regular basis any initial impression is enriched with other factors which impact our view of the ‘personal brand’ of the individual concerned e.g. do they deliver on time?  Can we trust them?  Are they a good team player?  Are they risk averse?  Do they treat their knowledge as power? 

Even things like email auto replies can impact your personal brand – http://ianwooler.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/email-auto-replies-%e2%80%93-is-yours-helpful-or-unhelpful/ 

All these factors and our initial impression inform our picture of the ‘brand image’ of the individual concerned.  Sometimes this image will be a positive one, but sometimes less so – and changing the image and perceptions about your personal brand can be quite difficult; particularly when these things and perceptions are not always discussed with you.

An article in this week’s Marketer http://www.themarketer.co.uk/ “learn how to create content that spreads like wildfire with our tips and tricks from online marketing experts” discusses ten tips for infectious viral content. 

You we see parallels in the ten tips with my thoughts above on personal brand – i.e. you can influence your personal brand by being “brave”; by striking “the right tone”; and by “seeding” and “personalising” the engagement you have with your stakeholders. 

If you’re unsure what your personal brand is – then ask a close friend/work colleague; and take it from there.

Humans are wired for culture

In this week’s Start the Week (Mon 12^th March 2012) on Radio 4, Andrew Marr discusses with his guests why humans divide up into tribes and the idea that humans are wired for culture. 

The podcast will be of particular interest to Knowledge Managers, Community (of Practice and Purpose) Leads and Facilitators. 

The first passage of the podcast covers the world of the novel and novelists and touches on evolution and the ‘narrative need to do away with the mother’.  But bear with me (and carry-on listening) – the conversation then turns to ‘the natural history of cooperation’ and some fascinating ideas about transmitting/transferring information and knowledge (cultures) down the generations. 

Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist, goes on to point out that even now we (humans) have 7000 mutually unintelligible human languages.  We are the only species that cannot communicate with others of our species!  

The section on small tribal societies has parallels (and learning – particularly about internal bonds) with communities and community/collaborative working in organisations.  

Enjoy.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/stw#playepisode1

 

Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom 2.0

Those familiar with the DIKW hierarchy/model (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIKW) will be aware of the discussions in knowledge management circles about the use, and the mainly the abuse/miss-use, of the hierarchy/model.  Much of these discussions have focused on the Data, Information and Knowledge (relationships, management and flow) aspects.  The following two links will take you to thinking about the Wisdom element.

The first link is to Linda Berens’ blog in which she makes comment about the recent Wisdom 2.0 Conference, and the second link will take you to the Wisdom 2.0 Conference site and full set of videos (via Livestream). 

Linda Berens’ blog post – http://lindaberens.com/blog/2012/02/25/mindfulness-part-2-the-core%e2%84%a2-method-and-the-brain/

Wisdom 2.0 Conference 23-26 February 2012 – http://www.livestream.com/wisdom2conf

If you need further information about the discussions mentioned earlier in this post then let me know and I’ll sign-post you to them.

What’s behind a job title?

People leading and enabling their organisation’s information and knowledge management initiatives and activities carry a wide range of job titles.  Some I’ve encountered recently include: 

• Head of Knowledge Management
• Knowledge Management and Information Technology skills development
• Head of Resources
• Library Services Manager
• Head of Learning and Consulting
• Content Strategy Manager
• Information Officer  
• Director, Research and Development

……….and so on. 

These titles are the ‘formal’ and sometimes ‘hierarchical’ labels organisations give to information and knowledge management roles.  But what’s behind a job title?  Many of the above, and probably examples of ‘formal’ job titles in your own organisation, attempt to describe these roles; often in terms of ‘managing’ and ‘leading’.  When those individuals carrying these job titles and performing these roles are asked what their ‘real’ job/role entails they describe it in ‘enabling’ terms, for example: 

• ‘acting as a catalyst’
• ‘someone who joins up the dots’
• ‘knowledge facilitator’
•  ‘project enabler’.    

Increasingly, we see ‘real’ job titles and roles in job advertisements and ‘real’ job titles and roles being used in organisations.  The idea for this blog post was prompted by my awareness to a job advert for Head of Enterprise and Knowledge Exploitation at the University of Bath – http://www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy.aspx?ref=BK925.  The job title, to my way of thinking, attempts to combine both the ‘managing’ and ‘leading’ terms with the ‘enabling’ terms mentioned earlier; and included in the job description are the words “exploiting the wealth of knowledge created from our research”.

No doubt you have your own view on the job title you currently hold and the extent to which this ‘label’ helps or hinders you in your day-to-day information and knowledge management activities. 

Do let me know if you come across any interesting ‘real’ job titles.  In the meantime, spare a thought for the person who carried the job title Temporary part-time libraries North-West inter-library loan business unit administration assistant (attributed to Lancashire County Council 2005) http://edition.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/02/10/plain.speaking/.