Knowledge sharing is power

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Knowledge sharing is power

• Judy Payne, Henley KM Forum

October 2007
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(No Transcript)
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Tacit
Explicit
DATADispersed elements
Depth of meaning

INFORMATIONPatterned data
KNOWLEDGEValidated platform for action
WISDOMImplicitly knowing how to generate, access
and integrate knowledge
(from Saint-Onge, 1996)
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What is knowledge management?

• Knowledge management means using the ideas and
  experience of employees, customers and suppliers
  to improve the organisations performance
• (Skapinker, 2002)

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Knowledge Management Continuum
Capture Codify Store Explicit
Connect Communicate Tacit
Knowledge networks Communities Expertise
directories
Document Management Processes and workflows
(Larry Prusak, IBM)
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In practice

• Learning from successes and mistakes
• using existing knowledge to improve todays
  performance.
• Learning how to be more successul
• creating new knowledge to improve tomorrows
  performance
• Improving collaboration
• joining things up
• Having the right knowledge in the right place at
  the right time
• to make better decisions

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But

• Knowing is a human capability. Knowledge itself
  cant be managed.
• Collaboration is a pre-requisite for knowledge
  creation and sharing.
• Collaboration is voluntary.
• What we can do is create the right environment
  and provide appropriate tools for people to
  collaborate and to create and share knowledge.

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What KM people talk about - environment
Culture
Trust
Learning
Collaboration
Strategy
Change management
Alliances and partnerships
Performance
Motivation
Knowledge flows
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What KM people talk about tools
Communities and networks
Wikis
Extranets and intranets
EDMS
Post-project reviews
After action reviews
Mentoring and apprenticeships
Storytelling
People finders
Discussion groups
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Henley KM Forum Integrated KM model

• Nine knowledge flows
• Four alignment factors that influence the
  effectiveness of the knowledge flows
• motivation
• skills and knowledge
• action required
• the environment
• KM maturity all nine knowledge flows working
  together in an integrated and appropriate way

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KM challenges in project-based organisations

• Projects are
• Unique
• my project is different so I cant learn from
  yours
• Novel
• no-one will have had this problem before
• Transient
• New relationships for each new project
• Closely controlled
• No free time or space

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Types of project
Greater chance of failure
Type 2 Product development
Type 4 Research and organisational change
No
Methods well defined
Type 1 Engineering
Type 3 Systems development
Yes
Greater chance of success
Yes
No
Goals well defined
(Turner and Cochrane, 1993)
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Different management approaches
Greater chance of failure
Milestones (components of product)
Mission definition, team building, refinement of
objectives
No
Methods well defined
Task and activity scheduling
Milestones (life cycle stages)
Yes
Greater chance of success
Yes
No
Goals well defined
(Turner and Cochrane, 1993)
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Types of KM practice
Informal knowledge systems e.g. social spaces non-billable time
Human resources e.g. training and coaching in KM skills incentives for knowledge sharing
External relationships e.g. benchmarking against competitors membership of external networks
Organisational practices e.g. senior responsibility for KM well-defined project management processes with embedded KM
Project practices e.g. project checklists shared diaries project reviews lessons learned sessions
Information technology systems e.g. project extranets data mining
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Different KM approaches?
Greater chance of failure

No
Methods well defined
Yes
Greater chance of success
Yes
No
Goals well defined
(Turner and Cochrane, 1993)
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Suddenly, a heated exchange took place between
the king and the moat contractor
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judy.payne_at_kmforum.co.uk