Knowledge management– the basic ingredients

Judy Payne – Hemdean Consulting

Martin Fisher – WRAP

APM Knowledge SIG team

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Key messages

• Knowledge is not the same as information.• Knowledge can never be captured completely.• KM has to connect people to people, not just to

information.• The environment is more important than the

techniques you use.• Be clear about your KM purpose.

Your experiences of KM

What tools and techniques do you use for managing knowledge?

NOT DEVELOPING A WORKING DEFINITION OF KNOWLEDGE

Error 1

knowledge

data

information

Data, information and knowledge

Explicit and tacit knowledge

Explicit: knowledge that can readily be codified into words and numbers. Easy to share. Difficult to protect.

Tacit: knowledge that is personal and difficult to express. What we don’t know we know. Difficult to share. The most valuable kind of knowledge.

Why does this matter?

Managing explicit knowledge

Capture and codify as much as you can. Share.

Quite easy to do – and easy to copy.

Document management, case studies, lessons learned databases.

Managing tacit knowledge

Encourage people to connect, communicate and collaborate.

More difficult to do – and more difficult to copy.

Communities of practice, conversations, apprenticeships.

What happens if you don’t have a working definition of knowledge?

DIKW

data

information

knowledge

wisdom

Data does not create information; information does not create knowledge and knowledge does not create wisdom.  People use their knowledge to make sense of data and information. People create information that represents their knowledge, which can then be more widely shared.

Harold Jarche

A working definition of knowledge

Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the minds of knowers. In organisations, it often becomes embedded not only in documents or repositories but also in organisational routines, processes, practices and norms.

Davenport and Prusak, 1998

Knowledge and knowing

Things an

individual can expres

s

Things a group can express

Individual skills, intuition, judgement Shared

understanding

Knowing (as action)

Explicit

Tacit

Individual Group

Cook and Brown, 1999

EMPHASISING KNOWLEDGE STOCK TO THE DETRIMENT OF KNOWLEDGE FLOW

Error 2

The Wheelbarrow Test

Knowledge flows

Right, I’m going to tell you everything I know about KM

Actually, I’ve already told you a lot. You got it yet?

Erm, yes. Of course. We’re not stupid, you know.

Good, off you go then and be good at KM.

Thank you.

No idea what she’s talking about....

Knowledge flows

More knowledge flows...

What helps knowledge to flow?

• Time, trust and territory (Miles, Snow and Miles)

• Hire smart people and let them talk to one another (Davenport and Prusak)

• Shared language• Strong business relationships

It’s the environment,

stupid!

Hierarchies ....and networks

• Relationships mandated• Top-down control• Good for sharing

information and managing explicit knowledge

• Tend to be formal• Managed ‘traditionally’

• Relationships voluntary• Emergent, bottom-up• Good for collaboration,

knowledge-sharing, learning and managing tacit knowledge

• Tend to be informal• Managed by letting go

KM isn’t an exercise in collecting...

With thanks to Chris Collison for the butterflies metaphor

Neither is it an IT project!

DISENTANGLING KNOWLEDGE FROM ITS USES

Error 6

Some basic questions...

What are we trying to achieve?

What knowledge processes are needed?

What’s needed to make the knowledge processes work?

What methods and tools does this suggest?

Back to your KM techniques...

1. Are they based on knowledge or information?

2. Do they focus on knowledge stocks or knowledge flows?

3. Do they achieve their purpose?

judy@hemdean.co.ukfishmart69@gmail.com

@judypayne@fishmart