New Ideas for Managing Knowledge

As I mentioned in the last blog, contacts made on airplanes are fascinating. Jeff Carter, co-founder of webapplica is one such person. Our conversation ranged from politics (can be a bit dicey in a confined space, but this was simply fun) to the workplace of the future. Jeff's company is a global, virtual organization in which loyalty is built via instant messaging and email. He himself says there are few phone conversations, most everything is done using quick, fast communications. The company is a success. His employees are located in a number of countries and continents.

http://webapplica.com

From our conversation I took away actionable, refreshing ideas.

• I will work to develop processes to utilize the technology held in our own PCs-- quick videos and audios to allow us to share learning almost as quickly as it happens. (almost as quickly, and getting better all the time).
• I will do more of with that technology myself.
• To make this quick knowledge sharing real for companies, I will also ensure they work with their legal depts to create just in time training on what can and can not be shared and why (the why here is such an important piece of the learning).
• The question of storing and cataloging can now be addressed as well.
• VoIP is a maturing, powerful tool to be leveraged now.
• Searchable video is real and timely and ready to be utilized. I remember when video was an expensive nice to have, but no one took the time to watch it. Now, podcasts and Youtube make video a need to have for the new generation of learners.

I was reminded once again that for any question there are a myriad of answers and ideas. The processes I use work, they are tried and tested, and now there are technologies which make them come alive for another generation. That is true for all of us and all of what we do. We can refresh and renew to create forward moving, creative processes to sustain the success we've all worked hard to achieve. Not bad for a one hour plan ride!

Planes, Trains and New Contacts

I have come to realize that some of the most interesting and meaningful contacts I've made lately happened on airplanes. That makes sense, really. In a space so confined you bump elbows when pulling down the snack tray, you end up making eye contact at some point. Glancing out the window means one of you is looking in the other's direction, if even for a moment.

Most importantly people are quite fascinating if you spend the time to listen. Yesterday I met a gentleman who owns a software company which is totally virtual, and quite successful. In that one hour conversation from Chicago to Minneapolis, through the bumps of a blinding snowstorm, I learned a creative, inspiring new way to do a business plan, how to use VoIP to the fullest extent, and how he has enlisted a global, virtual team of programmers who are completely loyal to his company. All for the price of one airline ticket.

I gathered some great ideas on how we can make the sharing of deeply held expertise (tacit knowledge) much quicker and easier using some new (and inexpensive) media. I will cover that in the next blog and tell you all about our new colleague and his company. In the meantime, look to your right or your left the next time you are in a plane, a bus, a conference. Seek to understand before being understood. The results can be awesome.

What is Knowledge Management?

I'm struck again this morning by the question I am asked time and again: What is Knowledge Management? Organizations spend a great amount of time trying to define the term and create the perfect answer.

I think we forget the real question: What is the challenge you are trying to address? Knowledge management is simply a problem solving discipline. If there is no need, why bother?

Sounds simplistic, doesn't it? And perhaps I am over simplifying. However, I think we often focus on the wrong thing. We make things so much more complicated then they actually are.

Knowledge Management is not a silver bullet to handle the fact that your employees are retiring, you have not created the discipline to collaborate and teach each other, or you have grown so fast that you do not take time to document what you do. You might have lost touch with your customers, you might not take time to talk to your colleagues and provide background or context to your questions or answers to their questions.

Knowledge Management can not solve bad behavior, create discipline or stop people from moving on. It is one approach to address organizational issues and it must be part of a well considered multi-faceted strategy to be effective.

What is the challenge you are trying to solve? If your KM effort is successful, what will be different, what will change in your organization? Concentrate on the right questions and don't waste time on eloquent definitions. If you show and communicate value, the question of definition will be solved through your actions instead of your words. Actions and results always speak louder than words.

Sustaining the KM effort

You've seen it time and again-- I know I have. You identify a need in your organization. Perhaps you need to ensure meetings are more efficiently run or projects are tracked more effectively. You gather a team, create a process, communicate what you are doing, train those involved and there you go. Now, you think, the problem is handled. For a few weeks, maybe even a few months, it is. And then everyone goes back to past behavior.

This happens in knowledge management just as it does in our other change initiatives. Why? Because we are not nearly as good at or as interested in the work it takes to sustain our efforts as we are to start them.

We might develop an excellent process to identify lessons learned at the end of projects and we might even have created an excellent place to share and store them. Those pieces of the effort can be exciting and rewarding even while they are probably also challenging. We think some new whiz bang idea, process or technology is enough. We forget that we have just begun.

Organizations who remember that change takes time and focus, as well as patience and consistent effort are those in which change sticks.

There are some ground rules to sustained change. We may well know these and yet not want to follow them. Therefore change is not long lasting, we become impatient and often cynical. All of this is avoidable if we stick to our efforts. Here are just a few rules to follow:

• Say it 7 times. People need to hear it again and again, especially while they are in the emotional aspects of change
• Communicate in as many forms as possible
• Continually relate what you are doing to the vision, and ensure the vision is something people can understand and embrace
• Capture the wins and communicate them -- do this for as long as it takes and beyond. Make the communication of wins part of your way of doing business.
• Role model the behavior you wish to see in others. Do not stop. Adopt it as your own. Talk about what you are doing and how
• Don't let up. Above all, don't let up.

World Changing KM

So much of the work I do is to help people capture and reuse the knowledge from the past-- ideas, process nuances, alternatives, thought processes, decisions...all made previously and yet to be re-used and learned from. I am adamant that this work not keep the organizations mired in the past but instead inform the future.

I found today a blog/site/organization which epitomizes what I am trying to do-- and does it for a very important purpose. Worldchanging.com is all about Eco-consumerism, and not in a stodgy, hold 'em back kind of way. Instead the information is innovative, insightful and invigorating-- all terms we should all strive for when managing and reusing knowledge.

Take a look at the site, and as you learn about changing the world by changing what we buy, consider how we can also change the world by sharing what we know. We can do it, and it will take discipline, creativity and collaboration. The payback is worth every moment of effort.
http://worldchanging.com/