Knowledge Management

Cultivating a Learning Organisation

Be constantly receptive to new knowledge; view ourselves as life-long

learners – the Beginner’s Mind is an essential ingredient of success.

Part I

What is Knowledge Management?

Reports?

Extranet?

Emails?

Data?

Website?

Newsletters?

INFORMATION?

Function?

Procedure?

Everyone uses the term yet there is no definitive definition of knowledge management because there is no definitive definition of knowledge!

Where is its source?

Knowledge Management is in the Culture, Mindsets, Behaviour of an organisation.

What does it need to be?

Effective Management of Knowledge is more than a value; it is more than a belief, to

be really effective it must be an organisational ASSUMPTION!

Where lies the Significance?

Because if we fail to understand knowledge in all its facets, then there is a danger that in doing so we miss out on the most valuable

aspects of knowledge management and end up delivering a system-driven solution, rather than a cultural shift towards sharing and

learning from experience.

Values v Assumptions

Believing V Doing

What’s the difference?

Value or Assumption?

Flexibility Demand-driven

Learning Organisation

Capacity Building

Reflection

Consensus Building

Why is the distinction Important?

It points to the gap in Knowledge ManagementBecause If we’ve never:

1. Defined ‘It’2. Broken it down into its parts3. Worked out the value it brings to our Mission

To improve the Quality of Teaching and LearningThen……

We cannot apply it

Part II

The Sum of its parts

Flexibility

Adaptability Learning Agility

Environments

People

Reflect

Adapt

Outcome/Goal Setting

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently what should not be done at all!

Outcome Activity

Outcome

Strategy without Learning Agility

Stage 1

Outcome

Strategy without Learning Agility

Stage 2

Outcome

Strategy with Learning Agility

Reflection

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

Albert Einstein

Barriers to Progress

NE

SLO

SS

If I’m given 6 hours to cut down a tree

I spend 5 of them sharpening my axe!

Part III

Putting it into Context

Taking Stock

• Goals

• Objectives

• Strategy

• Approach

• Roles

• Responsibilities

How do I know what’s important?

Does it impact the following?

What V Why

It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The real question is what are you

so busy about? Thoreau

Levels of Learning

Understanding

Knowledge

Information Tacit & Explicit

DataExplicit

Wisdom ‘Know – When’

‘Know – Why’

‘Know – How’

‘Know- What’

‘Know - Who’

Pay attention to the ‘why’ of what you are doing, not the ‘what’

Harnessing Knowledge

Tacit experience and information

Turned into knowledge that is useable

Knowledge is used to innovate

Knowledge is embedded in GeSCI’s services

Value is added to GeSCI’s services as a result

Current Behaviour

GeSCI’s KM is informal and tacit-heavy

How can we transform it?

Examples:

• Educationist Group

• Trip Reports

Facts, figures and external reports do not capture the organisational tacit knowledge that is invaluable to GeSCI as a facilitator of change. Subtlety, sensitivity and awareness

must be finely-tuned. This knowledge is tacit and must be elicited internally.

Part IV

Piecing it all together

A Knowledge Management Framework

The Big Picture

Reflect

AdaptPlan

Action

The Learning Organisation

“Go to the people,

Live among them,

Learn from them.

Start with what they know,

Build on what they have.

But of the best leaders,

When their task is accomplished,

Their work is done,

The people will remark,

“We have done it ourselves.” Ancient Eastern Saying