Leveraging good practice – where and when?

Identifying, sharing and embedding good practice and learning into everyday organisational processes is a core knowledge management activity.  There are many approaches to so doing, but all are underpinned by the belief that, as Paul Miller puts it in the introduction to his book Mobilising the Power of What You Know, “on any given day, in a large organisation, there are many people working on the same problem – duplicating work, re-inventing the wheel or, worst of all, failing to use what the organisation already knows.  If only we could harness it all…”  (There are a number of books on knowledge management listed on this site for your information.)

One of the barriers to embedding good practice and learning is the organisational push-back of ‘not invented here’, i.e. this is not our learning; not our good practice; and in any event, our context is different!  Sometimes this barrier can be raised further if the practice is positioned as ‘best’. 

That said, in any organisation there are aspects of work activity that are ‘common’ and where business benefit (effectiveness and efficiency) can be gained through the use and adoption of good practice.  One of the skills a knowledge manager requires is to know where and when to apply good practice, and where and when business or operational variation dictates that other approaches are required. 

For me this challenge can be described in terms of ‘levels of connectedness’.  That is to say, when should your knowledge management effort and energy be made trying to join up and connect parts (processes; activities; functions) of an organisation, and when should they be ‘left alone’ and dealt with in a different way. 

The challenge of ‘levels of connectedness’ is often impacted by a change in technology – a change which makes that which has gone before less necessary or redundant, or which requires radical change for it (the technology) to be of use.

One such example (and a good change/knowledge management related story to boot!) is that of the railways and of the need to establish standard time and time zones in order that the railway system could operate and function (for the benefit of passengers) effectively and efficiently.  This story is taken up in a Lessons Worth Sharing video clip from TEDEd. 

 

What are the ‘standard time and time zone’ equivalent examples that require change and improved levels of connectedness in your organisation?  It is likely that these are the places where the identification, sharing and embedding of good practice will have the most beneficial impact.

Attending a conference – in ten year’s time

The Online Information Conference 2012 last week included a number of excellent speakers and provided delegates with much food for thought – with topics covering big data; the future of the internet; words and their meaning; achieving effective collaboration; staying safe online; copyright; data scraping; and working in the cloud. 

Each day of the two-day conference commenced with a keynote.  On day 1 this was given by Cory Doctorow (journalist, blogger, science fiction author and activist) and on day 2 by Gerd Leonhard (media futurist and author).  Both discussed drivers of change (economic, social, political, technical) and questioned the business models and systems that society and organisations use to help each and every one of us navigate our way in our ever-changing and complex world. 

I wonder what those sitting in an audience in 10 year’s time (assuming there is a future need for conferences and that the increased use of social media does not make us more anti-social – or maybe makes us social, but in different ways to the past) might think when they look back at the topics discussed in 2012 and consider the extent to which the things we were interested in, and got excited (and nervous) about last week, remain current in 2022?       

Sticking my (prediction) neck out, my money would be on the fact that, regardless of the shape, format, style and delivery/media mechanism for such a conference; and regardless of the topics, themes and technologies being discussed, ‘delegates’ in the physical and virtual audience will still be spilt between those who want to pay more attention to the information related to “data trumps intuition every time” and those more focused on information that highlights that “pattern recognition is important”. 

Whilst technology may change at an ever-faster rate – changes in human behaviour are likely to take a little longer.

Learn from your peers

One of the ways in which employees can ensure that they learn before doing is to connect with their peers; after all, it is likely that something similar to the task or activity about to be undertaken has been done before.  Employees who have participated in some form of peer assist will have experienced that seeking and acting on the learning and knowledge of others improves performance. 

The Local Government Association format for learning from your peers is a Peer Challenge – an approach that provides a critical and informed friend that can give honest feedback and a unique focus on the task or activity under review.  As you will see and hear in the following video, this is a much better and more positive approach than “an inspection regime”.

How many of your virtual meetings start late?

The world of work is full of meetings.  Many of these take place around desks; open ‘collaboration’ spaces; coffee machines; or in meeting rooms (that is if you can book one or find one free).  As we all know, not all of the meetings we attend are a productive use of time and organisational resource.  For further information see my blog post meetings meetings meetings. 

Increasingly, many of our work meetings are taking place virtually, and it is suggested that for these meetings to be effective, new ways of working and communicating need to be considered. 

A recent article in Management Today explains this further and describes ten top tips to help organisations get the most from virtual meetings – http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/features/1146113/ten-top-tips-virtual-meetings/.  

According to the author, ‘about 90% of virtual meetings start late’.  Is this true in your organisation?

Photo from Pringpring’s photostream on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/pringlesy/with/3957595399/#photo_3957595399

 

Drivers impacting KM: I think therefore I am – a computer?

Knowledge Management (KM), like other management disciplines, continues to change and evolve.  Two examples of this journey, written ten years apart, about the development of KM are:

1. The third stage of KM emerges – by Dr. Michael Koenig – posted Mar 1, 2002 in KM World  http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/Editorial/Feature/The-third-stage-of-KM-emerges-9327.aspx.
2. The three eras of Knowledge Management – by Nancy Dixon – posted Aug 8, 2012 in her blog – Conversation Matters http://www.nancydixonblog.com/2012/08/the-three-eras-of-knowledge-management.html.

There are many drivers for these changes – drivers that provide opportunities for the further development of KM.  Some of these drivers e.g. social media could be placed in ‘here and now’ category, whilst others e.g. changes in regulation and legislation are ‘just around the corner’, with other drivers e.g. artificial intelligence being ‘further out on the horizon’.

However, the horizon might not be as far away as some might think and knowledge managers need to be on the lookout for new ideas and approaches that will impact people, processes and technologies – core elements enabling successful KM.

The theme of artificial intelligence is taken up in an article which examines the narrowing gap between humans and machines.  According to the article, this summer a computer almost passed the Turing intelligence test – could a computer think?

The article, from the Daily Telegraph, also touches on ‘complexity’ and the ‘cognitive abilities’ of being human.  Interesting stuff and an area where the pace of change is increasing and one which will no doubt impact KM. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9489002/How-long-before-robots-can-think-like-us.html

Some thoughts from a Global Knowledge Manager

I’ve just been reading an interesting blog post about Felicity McNish,the Global Knowledge Manager for Woods Bagot.  Last year, Australian firm Woods Bagot won the Asian Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) Award from a shortlist on which they were the only architectural practice. 

In the interview (by Aprill Allen, 22 June 2012) Felicity McNish explains that “our knowledge and research pillar is, in essence, the mantra that defines how we deliver our work – without research and knowledge we cannot deliver intelligent designs”.  She goes on to talk about how their KM initiatives weave into the organisation’s core values and the currency of information across different time zones. 

Well worth a read – http://knowledgebird.com/km-australia-congress-2012-interview-felicity-mcnish-woods-bagot/.

The importance of learning, rhetoric and digressio

Many moons ago I was asked a “what’s the one thing?” question by my boss, the CEO.  At the time I responsible for implementing and embedding Knowledge Management into the business.  The question, and my answer, have remained etched in my memory ever since. 

With the Olympics now complete and in the short gap until the Paralympics, newspapers and press coverage have returned to ‘business as usual’ with the economy and politics back on the front pages.  Some of this coverage (in the UK) has been about Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) and whether/if he has plans to (one day) become Prime Minister.  Early in August, Charles Moore published an article ‘Is Boris Serious’ (see link below) in The Daily Telegraph.  Whilst the subject matter is interesting in its own right, what I found particularly interesting was the reference to an ancient rhetorical device; that of digressio (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digression). 

The reference reminded me of the importance of story telling, persuasive communication, and use of business language when talking to colleagues and stakeholders about all things related to Knowledge Management.  In any organisation, time is a precious resource, and Knowledge Managers have to know how to make best use of the ‘brief encounters’ they are presented with each day/week. 

So, having diverted you from my introduction to this blog post let me return to the “what’s the one thing?” question.  The question I was asked was “what’s the one thing I (the CEO) can do to help implement and embed Knowledge Management into the business?” 

My answer to the question was “in your conversations with employees ask less about what they are doing, and more about what they are learning”.  From learning comes knowledge.  

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9449612/Is-Boris-Johnson-serious-When-it-comes-to-No-10-the-answer-is-deadly-so.html

 

Win gold for your business – adopt an ‘aggregation of marginal gains’ strategy

I posted a blog a couple of months ago about how the world of sport can provide knowledge managers and their organisations with some great stories and case study material which can be used to support KM activities and internal communications – when the computer says no. 

One of the stories I mentioned was of an interview with Sir Chris Hoy, and recounted the “thousands of miles on the bike” and the “hundreds of hours in the gym” Hoy puts himself through in order to perfect his art.  However, the main focus of the story was to highlight the ways in which British Cycling select the rider for the one GB place available for the men’s individual sprint at the London Olympics.  As we now know, Jason Kenny was selected over Chris Hoy.  

An article in Management Today further builds on the story, the success of Team GB, and provides us with an insight into the approaches used by Dave Brailsford, British Cycling’s performance director.  As the article points out “under Brailsford’s stewardship, Team GB adopted his ‘aggregation of marginal gains’ strategy: meaning tiny improvements across ten vital areas that result in a massive advantage over the opposition”. 

The article is worth a read and poses an interesting question – “what can business learn from this type of managed transformation?”  

http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1144251/fifth-olympic-medal-table-it/

 

The best content, from the best universities, for free!

Image a world in which high quality education was available to all.  The following video by Daphne Koller illustrates how this is possible and explains the learning thus far.  In the video Daphne makes countless interesting points, the highlights of which include:

• Self forming study groups
• How every student has to engage with the course content
• The concept of peer grading
• The importance of active learning 

..and get ready for a powerful (real life and death) story in the opening few minutes.

It seems like nothing is happening until it does

I’ve been looking at some of the factors likely to impact knowledge management (thinking and practice) and employees at work over the short and medium terms.  One of the thought pieces I came across was from Paul Miller(CEO and Founder of the Intranet benchmarking Forum) who sets out 10 big trends for the digital workplace in 2012.  You can find further information about Paul and the Digital Workplace Forum via http://www.dwforum.com/. 

In what Paul describes as “Trend 8 – bring your own device”, he relays the story about what new hires get when they join an organisation and how this has differed over time. 

To my mind this theme is further developed in a recent TedTalks video given by Juan Enriquez.  However, his talk is not from the perspective of how digital tools and devices will change, but from the perspective that we, as humans, might be a different species in the next couple of generations.  In the talk Juan Enriquez poses such questions as why are we here; could we upgrade; are we identical; could we download our memories; and are we seeing a rapid evolution of the brain? 

Many of us and our organisations complain about “information overload” and “too much information” and are becoming increasingly aware of the opportunities and challenges offered by the growth in the digital universe http://www.emc.com/leadership/programs/digital-universe.htm.  Well, according to Juan Enriquez, the growth in the information available might be one of the reasons behind a (current) rapid evolution of our brains!