DaChispa

I went back to my old company for a Christmas celebration last night and had a really great time.  They have new-ish offices in a very nice setting which means that they can wine and dine clients at an on site restaurant that looks out over playing fields, tennis courts etc.  As a result, they have considerably enhanced their reputation.  As it was explained to me:  ’we have always punched above our weight, now we are punching two levels above our weight’.  This so underlines the importance of the impression you make – not by your work, because you never get to do the work if you don’t make a good impression in the first place.  The situation in the public sector is slightly different in that even getting sandwiches can sometimes be a major hurdle – but there have to be other ways of making that good first impression.  If nothing else, a tidy office, a tidy desk and a smile can make a difference.  I try very hard to get meetings with external people in rooms with a good view over the river – it all helps.  You have to tread the fine line between being seen to ‘waste’ tax payer’s money and not being taken seriously because you are too cheap to provide a decent buffet lunch for an all day meeting.  This goes to internal motivation as well as external image and is really important. 

They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing – and I’ve just been a victim of this.  I recently brought a carpet, which I intended to lay on top of existing carpet tiles.  Fine, they told me at the shop, you just need to take off an inch all round so that it can be fixed.  This I did but when the experts arrived to fit it, they explained that his wouldn’t work as the underlay would mean the edge of the carpet would be at a different level to the rest of it.    So instead of sitting and contemplating a lovely new fitted carpet last night, I was taking up carpet tiles that had years of fixative fighting my every effort.  If I had been told this up front, I could have taken more time (and got some help) and had it done when they arrived.  Fortunately these carpet fitters were good guys and gave me a bit of a head start on it – and agreed to come back at 7am this morning to complete the job.  For me this is a practical example of the difficulty of knowing the expertise you are being offered.  I made the assumption that the carpet shop saleswoman would have a good idea, and she certainly sounded knowledgeable, but the real experts were those doing the job.   We often ask the question ‘how do you know this person is really an expert’ and I guess the only real answer is by seeing examples of their work and maybe recommendations from others. 

There is also something in there about the right tools for the job.  I would have been in trouble if these great guys hadn’t lent me an implement to help take up the more recalcitrant tiles.  No way would I have got it all done without this – something I didn’t even know I needed!

 By the way – the carpet looks great – but my hands are covered in blisters.

I’ve just completed a mini k-tour that I organised for some colleagues, visiting or being visited by different organisations who are working in the KM Field.  It was an incredibly rich and interesting experience as the mix of styles and information sparked off a number of lightbulb moments for all concerned.  The thing that hit me really strongly was that the primary characteristics of any KM professional have to be patience and persistance.  This was brought home for me by one organisation that had done some KM training that raised the level of understanding of KM behaviours.  The first survey following this showed a marked improvement, but this fell off in a subsequent survey.  The aim of most KM teams is to do themselves out of a job by embedding such behaviours into the organisational culture, but it seems to me that you need to keep re-visiting these behaviours to ensure they are sustained.  It takes a long time to get these initiatives off the ground and then you need to keep at them.  The question is – is it worth it?  My feeling is yes (but I would say that, wouldn’t I?) – the quality of output and the increase in productivity through sharing work and ideas, has to be a benefit.  You just need to stick at it….

I had a discussion yesterday with someone who collects mushrooms.  He described a particular mushroom that he had been looking for but had not found until he was shown an example of it – then started seeing it everywhere on his regular ‘forays’  (apparently that is what mushroom collectors call it when they go out looking).  He made the very useful point that sometimes you don’t see stuff until you know what it looks like and consciously search it out.

Then today, I got an example of exactly what he was talking about - a 1950′s KM example.  My mother is not like Dilbert’s mother ( http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/the_characters/html/character3.html ) and frequently gets that glazed look when I talk to her about what I do for a living.  We were talking today about some of the things that she used to do as a ward sister in the 1950s.  She was telling me that she used to get all the nurses together once a week and take them around each patient explaining what was happening with them.  Apparently this wasn’t common practice then and the nurses really appreciated it (“I’m actually learning something” was the gist of the comments she got).  It suddenly hit me that this was knowledge in action and that my mother really did understand my job because she was an example of success.  When I told her this, she was a bit taken aback, but at least she can perhaps now have a better idea of what I do.  I have realised that I need to pay attention and consciously look for these examples of knowledge in action so that I build up a body of examples that models  ‘experience sharing behaviour’ to show people what I mean in a variety of contexts.  Purple mushrooms and 1950′s nursing…strange link…

I’ve been trying to gather police related online resources to make available via the wiki I have recently set up (www.wiki.dachispa.com) and did a quick search for the North Wales’ Chief Constable’s blog – which I had come across previously.  To my surprise, I was taken to a page of blogs by various members of that force http://www.north-wales.police.uk/nwp/public/en/blogs/ .   I can’t work out whether this was a voluntary, spontaneous thing, or whether it has been artificially generated by their comms department but, to be honest, it doesn’t matter.  You get more of a feel for what is involved in policing by reading what these guys do day to day than any ‘life in a day’ article could give you and both successes and frustrations shine through.  I think the Chief Constable himself is a gifted writer (or has a gifted ghost writer, but I think it is him) because he really brings his experiences to life in front of you and you can almost touch his deep anger at the stupidity of some people.  His latest post – on the necessity of seat belts – tells a story of a child’s death and a child saved and brings home the point as no poster campaign could.   

I also noticed that there is a cross fertilisation between force areas and sharing of expertise – they are trying out an initiative trialled successfully in another area and also have an officer who has learnt Polish who is lent out as required.  This is true KM – if only it could be done nationally, but it is good to see such clear examples in action. 

 I then thought about what my blog would read like if I described my daily work – and decided not to try it!   You have to admire these men and women for what they do and the incredible adaptability they display to do it.  Have a look at the blogs – you might find them interesting.

I was sent this link today http://blog.london2012.com/ which is the blog for the London 2012 Olympics.  It is not quite what I was expecting as I equate a blog with one person’s view commented on by others.  This is more an opportunity for several different contributors to blog about what is going on with the Olympic preparations.  It is also, however, organised by contributor so you can see everything posted by an individual as well as a chronological view by all contributors.  I quite like this idea as it gives you several different viewpoints on the same project and keeps people like me (interested people who live and work near the Olympic sites) up to date on what is going on in a more real life way.