The Knowledge People Leave With

Today I am speaking to the Minnesota League of Cities. I am struck by the fact that the need for managing knowledge and sharing learning, is everywhere. It doesn't matter if it is a large global firm, a mom and pop shop or a governmental agency. We all must learn to share what we know, leverage and use it wisely, to increase our productivity, quality, effectiveness and to sustain success. We all need to make better future decisions based on an understanding of context, future implications, external trends and patterns, and past experience.

Yet we feel isolated somehow. Client groups often tell me they either feel like the only ones who struggle with the issue of knowledge transfer or the only ones who need it. That is not even logical. We need it in families to help our children know how to best navigate in the world, we need it in schools to help teachers teach and to understand how students most effectively learn, and we need it in organizations, to help us all be as good as the best and not continually repeat costly and energy draining mistakes.

Government needs to understand how to transfer knowledge. The complexities faced not only in the Federal sector but in state and local government are enormous. Small towns also must know how to get funds for road construction, school systems, water and other utilities. They must find a way to have police and fire protection and face natural disasters. They must know how to transfer knowledge with few people to transfer knowledge to. That is a huge challenge in and of itself.

All of this to say we are not alone in needing to learn how to cooperate, communicate and manage our knowledge. As you are learning how to do this for your organization, turn around and teach those in the infrastructure that supports you to do the same. Government and non-profit need the same lessons we are learning on the job. Be willing to share your knowledge.