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HUMAN LEARNING -
NATURAL DRIFT TO LOOSE COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
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CRITICAL
SUCCESS FACTORS IN KM - PRELIMINARY FINDINGS. - DEBRIEF - 1. KM can only exist as a multi-discipline. This is the assertion, the presupposition, the foundational assumption, of this group of researchers. Strategy + People Processes + IT + Q + Marketing = KM We may need to call it a 'meta-discipline.' This conviction is firmly held by previous empirical researchers, such as those from the recently reviewed study on Australian HR experts view of KM. So that is a growing assertion but with very serious implications.
In other words, KM cannot be the sole proprietary of senior managers, or that of IT department, or that of the Learning & Development department. It can't be a 'department' discipline. World renown KM thinker, Thomas Davenport, has arrived at the same conviction. Mmmmmmmm. Issue : If the across-functions discipline of TQM took decades for most departments in key companies to believe in and fill out their audits, then what hope is there for KM to achieve 'enterprise-wide' status ? Moreover, unlike BPR and to some extent the Quality Movement, KM it is argued needs a relatively high degree of end-user judgment and hence empowerment. This is the hidden issue ! That's why people are looking to HR for insight ! In other words,
even if you are attempting to do a pilot KM project in one Deeper Issue : General Process Quality is far more measurable than Knowledge 'Quality' (KM). KM is MORE intangible than Quality... requiring far more empowerment.. would you agree ? So, brass tacks ? Who is going to put in all that up front effort ? I spoke with one IT systems vendor who is inclined to KM ideals. He takes a piecemeal approach in his marketing and implementation strategies. Get a system in first... get some quick runs on the board by satisfying immediate felt needs... UPSCALE to KM functionality down the track ! Tackle the tangible end first, even though the intangible end is where the real value-added can be for the company, he advocates. And he says, atleast in installing their IT system into companies, it is working. To then re-sell senior managers on the 'extra features' sounds logical enough but I think he has yet to achieve this objective. I would agree with this IT vendor that senior management in general is not yet passionate about documenting and leveraging its intellectual capital extolled by the KM discipline. It will have to take a paradigm shift by senior management to see how their organisation generates real value not just delivers it. 2. Senior Manager Paradigm Shift. One example of this paradigm shift happened to the former CEO of Intel, Andy Grove. One day, after many years in the job, his 'epiphany' came and has been well-documented. He went from being a Computer Chip Maker to an Innovative Computer company. Intel got into innovative peripherals (the world-standard Bus connection !) in order to sell more chips ! He was soon collaborating and advising IBM and Apple... on how computers need to perform in front of the end-user ! In July 2003, Disney Films was struggling. Very few blockbuster films were being produced. It released Monsters Inc on Video/DVD as a matter of routine. By the end of the year it made MORE money for it than the its film showings in cinemas ! This was a revelation to them. Now... the world-wide film industry is into DVD production...not just film production ! Industry leaders would call that an industry paradigm shift.... an Earthquake...not a tremor. Human beings find DVDs more manageable and more feature-friendly in practice than videos ! This is becoming a LAW in the film industry. Senior Managers too need a paradigm shift towards wealth-creation strategies, of which KM is the DVD of this 'industry.' Yet a person got to a senior management role presumably because they succeeded in following the Old World Economic order, conforming to the old system. Innovativeness has not been a sought after attribute in selecting senior managers. A few CEOs have changed their tune, requiring much personal and organisational pain, as is the case for Lion-Nathan. So it can be done, if you are prepared to pay the price. 3. Management Tools Pre-requisites. Already these companies had both TQM and Balanced Scorecard in place and functioning quite well. In other words, business improvement disciplines were already familiar territory to these senior managers. It was on their radar, on their monthly boardroom agenda, part of their everyday language. . Yes ? Can KM be used on its own without these company drivers scoreboard tools ? I sense it would not survive beyond one year. This study affirmed an Australian business professor's recently documented view that measurement tools like Balance Scorecard are definitely needed for KM to be taken seriously. Early signs of this concomitant use of management tools were seen in Longbottom's 2002 study as well. 4. KM Definition is about humans...not computers. Notice how the research group highlighted the verb 'understanding' rather than 'informing' when defining KM. That is encouraging. KM is about human cognition rather than electronic storing. Aaaaaaaaaah. Proper KM skills by individuals accelerates their understanding of their practice and hopefully translates into improved work performance. That's the promise... the Unique Selling Proposition, the Value Proposition. But we all agree you CANNOT improve the latter by assuming the former is "naturally happening anyway." It simply is not. "We don't have time to think around here !," seems to be the catch-cry of most office environments I am prepared to declare. KM is about cultivating and harvesting individual thinking. Exciting for some but fearful for others. Few organisations see themselves as personally responsible to achieve this in their staff and therefore the staff under-utilise their competencies and rarely uncover their true potential. 5. Business Outcomes Satisfaction please.
It must translate into better customer service and products. Wow ! That is rare to hear in KM literature. We must show through clear number of cases how the marketing people are improving their skills through daily KM practices... to make an improved difference to the outside customer. That is what senior management would like to see. A swag of testimonies... Can you show them ? Have you routinely surveyed your end-users to determine value from their newer KM skills you helped them acquire as a KM practitioner ? The next set of findings from this group will likely show which factors within each of the five functional disciplines are the pre-requisites for great KM implementation. We will wait with keen interest. |
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