DaChispa

We looked at our various strategies for making contacts to see if we could extract some of the tacit stuff that goes on inside our heads.  By asking the questions so that you gradually surface the steps in a sequential way (what did you do next) and so that you find all the steps (i.e. breaking down larger actions into smaller steps) it became evident that there was a lot more going on that we realised. As one of my colleagues said to me ‘I thought you just went up and talked to people and that was it’.  What actually happens is a whole load of work around identifying events/meetings that will yield useful contacts, paying attention to online activity to identify common interests, having an outcome in mind when talking to people, assessing which contacts are worth (for all involved) following up, and actions that are taken to keep them going.  I actually didn’t realise that I do half the things I do,  and the same applied to others who were looking at what they did to make connections.  We really don’t know what we know – so how can we share it with others?  I think the NLP technique for eliciting strategy has a lot of value for KM practitioners and I shall certainly continue to use it.

I had my tarot cards read today as a bit of fun.  When it was finished, the reader asked me what I did.  I told her I was a knowledge manager and she said ‘you manage knowledge?’  I told her it was about enabling people and putting them together with the knowledge they need to do their jobs.  A bit like me, really, she said.  I laughed, but, thinking about it afterwards, there is a grain of truth in the comment.  In tarot readings you might ask a question, pick some cards and then the reader will interpret what those cards mean in relation to the question.  That might enable you to make a decision.  In KM, you have a question and you look for resources that might help you find an answer or make a decision.  The job of the knowledge manager is to interpret correctly what people need most to support that answer and/or decision and act as guides to the final destination.  Not mystical, but definitely some interpretation of fuzzy signs required!

I have a great opportunity to try out something new now that I am leaving the company.  In addition to the standard handover (list of projects and status, list of contacts, general updates etc),  I am endeavouring to hand over capabilities as well.  I realised that there are some NLP techniques that might be really useful in this area and have been passing some of them on to colleagues.  But, by accident, I have also stumbled across something else.  We were looking at ‘well formed outcomes’  and were using my handover as an example to practice with.  What came out was that my personal objective is not to hand over my work, but to leave people in a position where they will be better for me leaving due to the efficacy of the handover.   It also became evident that this was not necessarily what my colleagues wanted.  As a result I realise that I have to do different things to meet the outcomes for different people. 

The way that I think this might work is to provide the usual lists, but also to look more closely at the NLP approach to eliciting strategies.  In other words, looking not at WHAT someone does, but HOW they do it.  Then taking what is useful and using it yourself to meet your requirements.  In other words, instead of just handing over contacts, perhaps look at how I got those contacts and see if there is anything in that process that others don’t do that is transferable. 

I think this has great potential for getting better results when trying to identify the tacit knowledge that people have.  We are already seeing some results, just by questioning accepted ways that we do things within the team.  Absolutely fascinating.

Lots and lots of change going on at the moment – the new organisation I am in is only a few weeks old now and I can already see a host of opportunities for the knowledge team to really make an impression.  Culturally, this is an ideal time to embed knowledge sharing behaviours as people are looking for guidance as to how to behave in a new environment.   Personally my first step would be to look for areas where the team can make highly visible contributions.  For example starting by bringing cohesion to the newly formed directorate in which we sit by helping the various elements understand what the others do and how we fit together.  Gathering people and skills information is another area where we have a really quick potential win as it will help us make better use of what we have – particularly when matrix management is the stated way forward.  Finally – get us on the intranet in every way we can as a really visible presence across the new organisation, with a clear description of what how we can bring improvement and help areas meet their performance objectives. 

However, as I will be leaving shortly, I guess I shall watch (and learn) with interest how things pan out. 

I got a bit of a shock when I watched the news and saw that the Sea Diamond had sunk off of Santorini.  This is the same ship we were on for the cruise a few weeks ago and I remember that it was touch and go whether we stopped at Santorini or not because of the bad weather.  It’s not often you have a ‘there but for the grace of God’ moment, but I had one today.

You wouldn’t normally put football and km together in the same breath, but I was talking to someone who is involved in some very useful work in an improving football club.  He knows nothing about KM as a discipline but I could clearly see it had been applied.  For example:

• - developing a culture where people are encouraged to come forward with ideas and aren’t afraid of failure
• -learning from mistakes – if a match is lost, not dwelling on it, but working on what can be done better
• -transferral of best practice.  He is looking at how to get some of the processes that have worked well to spread more widely across the club

The one issue I think he has (and it is one that is highly relevant to many KM initiatives) was that this work is being driven mostly by one individual – so when I asked what would happen if that person left, there was a bit of a pause.  It turns out that,  in football, you often take your supporting staff with you.  This means that the core of the people understanding and driving this change would be likely to move on at the same time.  Highly likely, in that case,  that the changes would not stick.  This is a really key question for knowledge managers – how to I get KM so embedded in the organisation that it survives a K team being disbanded?  Even more importantly, how do I ensure it is not only embedded, but is able to transform and grow so that if it was re-visited a few years later, it would still be evolving?   I have always believed that, if you are successful in KM, you should put yourself out of a job because people are taking responsibility for their own knowledge and development, but I wonder whether there will always be a role to keep it innovative?  Many questions, fewer answers….