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