Is Old Knowledge Supporting Old Assumptions?

One of the things I enjoy about my job is the opportunity to read local English language newspapers around the world. I enjoy the different perspective that the newspaper take on the same topic. One that I was reading recently was about how the super powers might take a different approach to building their capabilities. As I read it I was reminded of the story of the Miginot Line. I have actually visited the remains of the Miginot Line and would encourage you do so if you can. It was based on a fairly simple assumption – the enemy will come from the direction in which our guns are pointed because it is impossible to bring an army any other way. Now we know from history that the enemy literally went around the Miginot Line and left it impotent. The same story also applies to the British guns in Singapore during WW2, they assumed that the enemy could only come from the sea. Unfortunately for them, the enemy didn’t agree with that assumption. In both examples the guns were fixed and couldn't be moved to confront the enemy coming from the other direction. My reason for mentioning these examples is that sometimes businesses are based on assumptions. The knowledge that the company values, is that knowledge which they believe supports the assumptions. But sometimes things happen that change the environment and cause the previous assumptions to be no longer valid. Unless the knowledge updated the business will very quickly decline. As we enter into the new year, perhaps it would be appropriate to reflect on the assumptions that your business is based on and the key knowledge that you value. Perhaps that knowledge is out of date and your knowledge management plans need to be updated.
Knoco Ltd

Hidden Gems

As part of my New Year resolutions I am trying to ensure that I become less of a hoarder. I am trying to balance ‘that might be useful sometime in the future’ with the ‘do I really need to keep that?’ As part of that campaign the proceedings of the 3rd Annual Conference, Knowledge Management for the Oil, Gas and Power (OGP) Sectors came to my attention. Now I have to say that the proceedings failed the first test; does that look good on the office bookshelf? The book has a pale blue, very plain cover, sort of thing you would find in a university research library. It doesn’t scream, ‘this is a book containing profound wisdom’ at you. But it does contain a paper by me so scores high on the ego charts (only kidding). Even then the title of the paper isn’t exactly inspirational eg In-depth Case Study: Sustainable organisational learning…global reach, local look and feel’. So should I keep it or consign it to the bin? Well I am going to keep it because if found a paper in it about using refinery process control systems to capture and retain ‘process knowledge’. We could have a long discussion about whether is this ‘true knowledge’ or ‘data’ but to be honest it doesn’t really matter what title you use, the key for me is ‘will it help the guys operating the plant do so in a safer, more efficient manner?’ Do you have any old conference proceedings sitting on your office shelf that perhaps might contain hidden gems, might be worth a look sometime soon? Knoco Ltd

I Need New Knowledge

I need new knowledge so I am going to use the BDAL (Business Driven Action Learning) process.

If you go back to my father’s generation, almost all of my extended family worked in the private sector. The picture today is however very different. Nowadays 76% of my extended family either work directly for the private sector or are in receipt of pension / benefits from the state. So in one generation we have gone from almost zero to almost eighty percent depending on the private sector / state for our income.
Now while I find this turnaround astonishing, remember I come from a traditional manufacturing area, a recent development stunned me and that’s the reason for having to acquire new knowledge.

One member of my extended family, now a young adult, never had the traditional teenager Saturday or part-time jobs. Not for them the rite of passage of the part time jobs in the supermarket or hamburger bar. I didn’t think much about it the time. That person, now a young adult, has decided that they don’t want to work. They have no intention of seeking work according to those who know them better than I do. This isn’t someone who can’t find a job but rather someone who has decided not to work. I don’t understand that.

In some parts of the world not working would not be a choice but in this case the state has given them a two bedroom flat and a weekly living allowance. It isn’t in the best location but essentially having never contributed anything to the economy of the country they are now being provided with accommodation and a living allowance. I don’t understand that.

I need new knowledge so I will use the BDAL process to acquire that knowledge.

I am about to head off to a part of the world where I won’t routinely be able to write a blog. I will write when possible.


Knoco Ltd

What Are You Teaching?

I need some space on my bookshelf so decided to move some books and conference proceedings to ‘storage’. While doing that I found this formal definition of Culture in a presentation given by Schein at the Society for Organisational Learning, Monterey, California, Nov 1997.

“Culture is a pattern of shared basic assumptions

Learned by the members of a group

In solving their external problems of survival in the environment and their internal problems of integration

That work well enough to be taught to new group members

As the correct way to perceive, think about, and feel about all aspects of their daily life

Once shared assumptions exist, they function to provide meaning to daily events, make life predictable, and, therefore, reduce anxiety.”

One of the things that jumps out of this definition when I read it is the third line, “that work well enough to be taught to new group members”. This isn’t formal classroom teaching or even elearning but teaching by observing and doing. Remember back to the last time you were the newbie in a company. You looked, listened and observed. You saw how people did things, what they did and equally importantly what they didn’t do. I remember joining one company and was amazed when at lunchtime the people around me started emailing each other to see if they were ready to go to lunch. They could easily have turned to each other and asked but no they emailed each other. I very quickly learned the lesson (or was taught the lesson) that being seen to be busy was more important than actually being busy in that department. Speaking to each other was seen as ‘a waste of time’; working at your computer screen was productive and hence desirable.

What are you teaching the people around you?

Oh by the way, if you haven't been to Monterey, California, treat yourself, it's a delightful place.




Knoco Ltd

KM Plans Superceed Peer Assist

I have been conducting knowledge management master classes over the last couple of weeks and in common with previous such events the delegates asked for some advice. A question that I am frequently asked (in several different formats) is;
• What km process makes the biggest impact?
• What km process would you introduce first?
• If you could only do one thing what would it be?

If I was asked this question before about 2009 I answered ‘peer assist’ but since then I have been answering ‘km plan’. Why the change?

For me, peer assist is a wonderful process and one that will change the culture of your company. It allows staff to asking if someone knows a better, faster, safer, innovative way of doing what they are about to do. Details of the process itself can be found here.

My favourite peer assist at which I facilitated the session was one in which the home team were presenting their proposal to start up a production line for high technology components. One of the visitors was paying immense attention to what was being said, so much so that I just had to ask “Something has caught your attention, what is it?” To the amazement of the home team, he said “Nobody has been able to start up a line in that way, if you get it right it will change the industry!” Now to say that got everyone’s attention would be an understatement. I asked him to expand on the statement and he described how one of the machines in the line was very temperamental and very difficult to get to steady state. Each time that machine tripped the whole line went down and the whole process had to start again. I encouraged him to share with the home team what they did to get over this and he described how they put three machines in parallel (one out of the three would operate) which allowed them to get the whole line stabilised. Once the line was stable they removed the other two parallel machines as they weren’t required.
Importing knowledge in this way allowed the home team to reflect on what they were proposing, update their plans before they were locked into a set course of action.

So if this process is so good and it can add such tremendous value to the individuals and the organisation why would I now prefer knowledge management plans?

I guess the reason is that a knowledge management plan is a higher level and encourages the users to think through what knowledge we need and then how do we get it. A km plan template can be downloaded for free which you can use to structure the thoughts of your project or team. For me, the peer assist has become a component or vehicle that can help to deliver the km plan for the organisation.

I haven’t fallen out of love with the peer assist, I just think that the km plan gives you a wider perspective on what knowledge you need and how you will manage it.


Knoco Ltd

I Am Not An Alien

I am not an alien and I have proof!

In any Hollywood movie where the aliens invade Earth the aliens are always defeated not by bullets, missiles or nuclear weapons but by a virus. We obviously can’t see the virus beating the alien, we just see the alien dropping to its knees (or alien equivalent) before eventually giving in or fleeing the planet.

I was struck down with by a virus this week and survived. So if I survived a virus I can’t be an alien, in pure Sherlock Holmes logic. I feel better now that I know that I am not an alien. I was not destroyed by a virus therefore I am not an alien.
We frequently hear people, especially the more mature amongst the workforce, being encouraged to ‘share their knowledge’. I came across these examples this week of people who shared but perhaps it wasn’t the best idea;

* A robber enters the bank wearing a full face motorcycle helmet, takes the money and escapes but is almost immediately arrested. He ‘shared’ his identity by having his name painted across the front of his helmet.

* A robber breaks into an office and holds the manager at knife point and demands money. The manager explains they don’t have much cash but if he would take a cheque they had plenty of money in the company’s bank account. The robber agreed to take a cheque and when the manager asked “Who should we make the cheque payable to?”, the robber shared his name. He was arrested shortly thereafter.

* A bank was about to be shut down and demolished when bank robber broken in at time. The found the vault empty and lying open. They were amazed at the acoustics of the large empty vault and one of them decided to see what would happen to the acoustics if they closed the vault door. Fortunately one of them remained outside when they close the vault door to check. Several hours later he still couldn’t get the vault door open to release his colleagues and eventually had to call the fire and rescue to release them. Sharing a curiosity about acoustics probably wasn’t a good idea.


Knoco Ltd

Expectation Drives Behavour

I am sure we all subscribe to the idea that leadership is key when undertaking any change initiative such as knowledge management. An important part of that leadership is setting clear expectations which are more than establishing policies and procedures. It’s also about asking questions; “Who have you learned from?”; ”What is the other project doing?”; “Can we use any of their learning here?”

The idea of setting clear expectations is highlighted in this article from the BBC.

The article describes how our behaviour is driven by what is expected of us.

Perhaps it is a logical conclusion to assume that if you expect people to manage knowledge they will.

However that expectation needs to be part of an overall framework that includes roles, accountabilities and governance.