Has anyone found a good method for uncovering the knowledge that is trapped in the heads of the workers? I've discovered that many individuals only share knowledge under protest; these are the same individuals that seem to possess the most corporate knowledge. How do you pry it loose from them for use in a distributed environment such as a KM portal? Saving Changes...
I am in the same boat. Build it and they will come, certainly does not apply to knowledge sharing portals! I have come to realize not everyone comprehends the benefits of knowledge sharing. I have tried to help people understand to no avail. I believe financial incentives is the only way, but is not really an option for me. Anyone have advice on how to capture this knowledge, or how to get management to really support and encourage knowledge sharing? Saving Changes...
Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
I have found that cross functional facilitation focused on improving end-to-end work processes or on developing competitive strategies can uncover incrdible amounts of useable knowledge. Saving Changes...
Michael, that sounds good--but how do you accomplish such an undertaking? Overt an covert operations don't work well... Saving Changes...
Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
Lee, if you send me your address I would be happy to send you a complimentary copy of my book on that very topic. Cheers Saving Changes...
Anonymous
I expect you are referring to tacit [personal know-how] knowledge rather than explicit [recorded] knowledge, which should already be managed in an enterprise firm. There are two major hurdles for developing a knowledge organization. Primarily there is an internal structure to overcome, a complex process and contentious issue, because to prompt knowledge dispersal requires the publication of company events/procedures in a sharing responsive environment to engage individuals to disclose concepts and ideas for tackling these general day to day events and most management wish to keep their position close to their chest. Usually the larger the organization the more politically threatened the individuals may feel in respect to making a statement of position and with competitive internal environments aiding others with their problems goes against an individuals or teams general well being.
If you can negate this primary governor to inspiring knowledge dispersal you are left with the second hurdle, which is to create an infrastructure to capture the knowledge and then to make that knowledge available in the correct context when it is required.
If you are lucky enough to overcome the first hurdle and able to create the infrastructure, you should be proudly on the path to creating a learning organisation.
If you to discuss this further, feel free to email personally at [email protected]
Uncovering "tacit" knowledge is not as difficult as one might think ... in a way it's like an Attorney doing "discovery." Since it is tacit, we don't know what we don't know... so, we approach the subject area, or domain using a structured analyis approach ... flowchart the process, but not from the process point of view, from the tasks of the Subject Matter Expert (SME) During the process of documenting existing explicit knowledge, tacit knowledge is often divulged ... of course, you need to know what you're lookin' for.
The process is like leaving a tape recorder running during an interview. After a while the people forget it's on and speak freely. Saving Changes...
Ok, you have your portal. Now the issue is one of human behavior. We are asking an employee to engage in a new task which they, no doubt, have little time for. In addition we want them to divulge informaton which could destabilize their sense of unique worth and job security. Well, what is in it for them? There are two ways to increase any behavior. You can utilize negative reinforcement contingencies in which you threaten or nag until the employee engages in sufficient “knowledge sharing”. Or, you could utilize positive reinforcement contingencies in which “knowledge sharing” is rewarded. Of course, if you do nothing, rest assured, you will get little more that a few novelty hits on the portal. Nagging and coercion (“you must, here is the deadline, why haven’t you, do it or else.”) is a low effort approach that will appear to work initially. Unfortunately this approach is almost guaranteed to backfire on you. In contrast, positive systems are initially more labor intensive for then project manager, however, in time, they take far less effort to maintain and produce lasting changes in behavior Things to consider when starting up a positive system: 1) What resources/ rewards do you have at your disposal that go beyond salary (Time-off, recognition, praise, access to preferred job tasks, increased responsibilities, decreased responsibilities, paid lunches, commendations, certificates, tie in to performance reviews, cash, etc. etc.) 2) How will you define a post worthy of reward? 3) How, when, and how much reward will be delivered. 4) How will you determine the success of the strategy? 5) How will you thin or fade the rewards once you have a sufficient and sustained level of contribution? In addition, you will want to design a strategy to ensure that the employees are actually reading the contributions of their colleagues.
Before I ramble out of control, I would like to make the point that Project Management, Knowledge Management, or Cosmic Widget Management all eventually boil down to Human Behavior Management. Aubery Daniels book, “Performance Management” is pretty good if any one is interested in the nuts and bolts of Behavior Analysis in the business environment Saving Changes...
In previous organizations I have worked, we tackled it by having a employee suggestion scheme. It works like this. An employee can suggest workplace or process improvement thru email. It was based on a reward system. But the reward was a part of their annual review point system.
Percentages varied from Suggested, Accepted and Implemented in the point system
1. What's often missed out is the decision logic and narrative behind a project audit trail: everyone likes to tell a (their) Story, so investigate methods of facilitating this to capture the the decisions, judgements, opinions, whys and wherefores.
2. People like to advertise themselves and their skills and experiences. Let them do so in order to answer questions, engage in dialogue, volunteer their further tacit knowledge and informaiton resources. In this way, hopefully, knowledge will flow organically.
hi i am new to all this and badly need some help please.
i work in an aged care facility and am currently doing cert. iv in CQI but i need some help with it. the person who currently does our CQI hasent a clue how to help me.
i have to develop a plan that is intented to chart the development of a QMS into an existing facility, taking into consideration the costs and resourses required to do so.
if anyone is willing to help me i would greatly appreciate it as i am lost
thanks Saving Changes...
