The 'C' Word

 

If there's one thing that remains constant in the good times and the bad times, it's change. To make things even tougher, all organizations, big and small, are still resistant to change.

I recently had the opportunity to observe and study the implementation of a global Web-based knowledge-sharing network system in a leading technology consulting firm. This company realized that they were not taking full advantage of their most valuable knowledge: the collective expertise and experience locked away in the heads of their smartest employees. They knew that the ability to adapt to threats and opportunities in the current down economy depended on their success in letting users reach across teams, offices and continents. They also knew they had to let users get one-click, online access to critical knowledge: project tips, technical resources, client profiles and market analyses, all in an browsable, printable and downloadable format. And that meant tearing down the walls between workers, departments and offices and getting managers, consultants and workers to give up their information silos and start making the effort to share knowledge.

Executing the radical plan was the easy part. The hard part was getting people to change their old ways and start sharing the knowledge they had in their heads. Here are some lessons I have learned about sustaining change in these difficult times.

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