July-August '98 FAQ: While knowledge management seems like a great idea in theory, it's also an overwhelming idea in a large, complex organization like mine. So where do you start in the mountains of data and information to make a dent?

First of all, we would tell you what we tell our clients: forget the theory and get down to business. We could talk all we want about the high-minded concepts and theories of Knowledge Management, and it won't make much difference in the real world where our clients are working. In truth, there are not that many things a firm can do from a practical viewpoint to better manage their knowledge. So why not just start taking on those few things, getting progress on three or four of them this year, and focusing on another three next year?

So to better help some of our clients, we've come up with a Top 10 list of Practical Actions for Knowledge Management. But before we launch into our list, we probably should lay some groundwork. To us:

        1. Knowledge is that special information that a firm uses (or could use) to better meet its goals and objectives.

        2. Knowledge Management is the systematic process of managing that special information to maximize business results.

        3. A theoretical optimum for Knowledge Management might be "to ensure that every employee has the knowledge he needs, when and where he needs it, to maximize his contribution to the firm's overall success."

Unfortunately it's a long way from that theoretical optimum to the practical world of running a business on a day-to-day basis. For that reason, we frequently recommend to our clients that they focus on the Practical Actions that follow -- the actions will not produce the theoretical optimum, but they will move the firm ahead on the Knowledge Management front.

Now let's look at some of the Practical Actions that can be taken in Knowledge Management (we'll follow this look with ten things Not To Do in Knowledge Management).

1. Target and communicate the specific knowledge subjects critical for the firm
Some knowledge subjects are more critical to the success of the firm than others. The knowledge most critical includes the know-how to better provide the specific attributes of the firm's products and services that are most valued by the customer. It is these knowledge subjects around the manipulation of attributes that must be identified, specifically mapped, and communicated to the firm to allow concentration of energy and resources for the most effective Knowledge Management. And by the way, this first Practical Action is the genesis of the firm's R & D goals and strategies.

2. Identify and support the critical intellectual communities of the firm
Knowledge Management is "a social sport -- not an exercise in library science." Any way you cut it, people are at the heart of creating and using knowledge, communicating that knowledge interpersonally, and applying that knowledge for the betterment of the firm. Decades of research have documented the intellectual communities that grow up around knowledge subjects. These communities are patterned, predictable social structures that can be energized or impeded by the actions of organizations. In Knowledge Management it is imperative to identify the most critical intellectual "subject area" communities that underlie the firm's critical knowledge maps and to provide the kinds of support that will energize and nourish them for maximum effectiveness.

3. Manage critical knowledge in all key processes of the business
A firm has important knowledge "already in play" in all of its processes. Without specific management attention, this knowledge will eventually be ignored or even lost as employees leave, as procedures fall into disuse, etc. Each key process in the firm must be continually managed to ensure its continuing integrity (i.e., that the business process expresses the knowledge critical to the firm). Firms that focus their Knowledge Management attention predominately on the acquiring of new knowledge run the risk of losing critical knowledge that has already been in play for the good of the firm.

4. Stay linked to knowledgeable employees and former employees
Most of the critical knowledge of the firm is in the brains of its employees despite efforts to create impersonal knowledge banks. Retaining the people with the critical knowledge must be a number one priority for all firms who favor Knowledge Management. Key employee categories must be identified and prioritized (using the firm's knowledge maps) so that the firm can put in place the kind of retention goals and programs needed to ensure continued access to that knowledge. In addition, firms must be able to sustain linkages to key former employees (retired or career changed) through post employment relationship programs.

5. Train as many employees as you can in the knowledge the company must keep employed in order to do its business well
For knowledge to be applied on the job for the betterment of the firm, employees must have access to it. The fact of the matter is that very few firms do a good job of training their employees on the specific knowledge that the firm uses to serve its customer and make a profit. Employees may know their technical operation "backwards and forwards," but if they don't know how the company operates, they will only be partial assets. For effective Knowledge Management, employees must have training to be totally business-competent in their jobs. No longer is it enough to be "the technical expert" in the plant -- today's business environment demands that employees be knowledge competent.

6. Be effective at conducting Knowledge Events as needed
While it may be pie in the sky to design and implement comprehensive Knowledge Management processes across most firms, it is quite possible...and necessary...to become effective at conducting Knowledge Management events. Such events range from Best Practice Exercises (to capture potentially-valuable knowledge from outside), to After Action Reviews (AAR's) (to take advantage of lessons learned), to simple Knowledge Fairs or Network Meetings (to enable and energize intellectual communities). Events like these can be targeted to do the most good and can significantly advance knowledge and its management. In addition, such events communicate "a message through action" that "managing the knowledge of the firm is important and expected."

7. Place knowledge expectations/requirements on all employees (all employees are required to "share on the inside" and "secure from the outside")
When a firm decides to formally "manage its knowledge," requirements must be placed on all employees. Some ways of dealing with the knowledge of the firm will no longer be optional to employees. Employees will no longer have the option of "sharing or not sharing" information with other employees in the firm. Sharing must become a job requirement. Employees will no longer have the option of sharing the firm's knowledge outside... knowledge is an asset that belongs to the firm, and it will be "against the rules" to share it inappropriately.

It is one thing to name new knowledge requirements and responsibilities -- it is something else to get those requirements into play in the workforce. Continued persuasive communication with understandable rationales is the starting place -- "take no prisoners" enforcement is where it ends. Day-to-day management attention is required to ensure that "folks who share our stuff with the outside guys get to work someplace else" and "folks who don't share with their fellow employees" inside the firm absolutely don't ever get promoted or raised.

8. Enable Knowledge Management collaboration (Including Information Technology and Communication tools)
When organizations want something done better, they frequently secure tools to assist employees. Such is the case in Knowledge Management. There are tools that can help the firm's employees communicate, collaborate, store, reference knowledge and even make decisions. The key to deploying these tools inside the firm, however, is their strict utility for the specific ways the organization works in Knowledge Management. Many firms have made the mistake of assuming that their new expensive information/communication system was the Knowledge Management process instead of a tool of the process. The idea is to make the tools slaves to the way employees work together rather than making the employees slaves to the tools.

9. Incentivize key Knowledge Management actions
When a firm decides to formally manage knowledge, it will be necessary to "place its money where its mouth is." Incentives will be needed to reinforce the effective management of knowledge...and dis-incentives will be needed to extinguish behavior that does not support Knowledge Management. In addition, as a firm begins its more formal emphasis on Knowledge Management, incentives will need to be used to reinforce "right Knowledge Management actions." Later on, once the right actions have been reinforced, some incentives can be moved away to reinforce Knowledge Management results. Some firms talk a good game with respect to Knowledge Management... but we know it's just talk as long as they are not providing tangible incentives for right action and results.

10. Implement a Disciplined Change Management Method
Getting new knowledge into play requires an organizational change. New knowledge will only provide value to the firm if it is expressed in a new way of doing things (a changed process),
a new kind of tool or assets (a change in the firm's plant, equipment, tools), or a change in employee actions (requiring a change in the skills of the employee and a change of "agreement" with the employee to do it the new way). A firm who expects to put new knowledge into play must have an effective and efficient Change Management method that is accepted and used in a disciplined way by all managers to ensure that the change goes through "on target, on time, and on budget."

Beyond these Practical Actions for Knowledge Management, there are a number of things you probably shouldn't do if you want to stay on the right track.

1. Don't spend time on Knowledge Management activities that don't bring immediate value to customers
This statement doesn't need a lot of explanation; but if more firms followed it, there would be a lot less confusion and wasted energy over grand concepts and complicated tools that don't do anything to make a difference with the customer.

2. Don't set up Knowledge Management with permanent leadership
As a firm begins to focus on Knowledge Management, it may not be a bad idea to put someone in charge of the firm's efforts. However, making that person permanently responsible misses a huge point in Knowledge Management. We want all employees of the firm to understand and value knowledge that is critical to the firm... and then we want them to act accordingly. Once the employees get it , we no longer need a special Knowledge Management leader.

3. Don't try to index everything
Remember, Knowledge Management is a social sport, not a brand of library science. While reference sources and indexed information is important, it is easy to begin to visualize Knowledge Management as "a huge database problem." What frequently happens with this direction is that the huge database becomes the huge database problem. We cannot get away from the core interpersonal dynamics of people at the heart of any firm's Knowledge Management.

4. Don't focus on new knowledge versus old knowledge
We don't worry about whether knowledge is old or new -- we worry more about the knowledge that has been applied to better meet the goals of the business and the knowledge that is yet to be applied. For the already applied knowledge, the goal is to keep it fresh and "in play" in meeting business goals. For the yet-to-be-applied knowledge, the goals is to get that knowledge identified, accessed, spread, absorbed, and synthesized into new business designs -- that then must be implemented.

5. Don't let Knowledge Management become the new bureaucracy
We all know from experience that any new idea or thrust can become the impetus for the launching of a thousand bureaucratic ships. This may be especially true in subjects like Knowledge Management where the water is still muddy and there seems to be important information everywhere. We do not needs a cast of thousands to assist an organization in getting some order and control to its Knowledge Management.

6. Don't believe that Information Technology will be the solution to Knowledge Management
Anytime an organization tackles an information-related subject, there is always the danger that the information technology solution will become the tail that wags the dog. This is especially true when the organizational problem being tackled is relatively intangible and hard to visualize. As we have discovered before, information technology will undoubtedly provide important enabling capabilities, but Knowledge Management will not be optimized by the computer. Effective Knowledge Management will come out of the dynamics of the workforce.

7. Don't let Knowledge Management leadership focus on the content of the knowledge
The leadership of Knowledge Management in the firm needs to be focused on the processes and/or practical actions that make Knowledge Management better. It is a huge mistake to assume that a Knowledge Management leader (with or without his team) can become the repository of the critical knowledge of the firm. The critical knowledge will remain a distributed asset, and a leader's attempt to corral the critical knowledge will surely lead to a second-rate result.

8. Don't focus on trying to measure Intellectual Capital
The idea of intellectual capital is certainly useful and compelling. It's a new perspective for looking at the assets of the firm. But trying to measure and articulate the amount of intellectual capital a firm has is likely to be a frustrating and time/resource hog. The fact of the matter is that measurement of intellectual capital is probably impossible. Yet the public financial markets will do an excellent job of providing an economic value for the firm that includes a premium (or a discount) for its intellectual capital. So don't spend time trying to measure it; spent the time and resources of the firm letting the market know what the firm is up to, and the market will do the rest!

9. Don't forget why Knowledge Management is important
Knowledge Management is important because it can lead to improved results for the firm. Knowledge Management is not important for any other reason. Without care and concentration, Knowledge Management can become another of what has been a stream of diversions that takes the company's eye off the ball... the ball that must be hit for continued business success. Knowledge Management is one of the means to the end of bettering the company achievement of goals... no more and no less.

10. Don't think that Knowledge Management is the new great hope for business
Firms have been tuned in to the management and protection of their know how for a long time. Maybe they haven't been using all of today's buzz words, and obviously, they haven't had access to many of today's computing and communications tools, but they have been alert to the value of their knowledge. Today's emphasis on Knowledge Management will surely lead to percentage points of improvement in the way firms do business... but the new thrust is not likely to result in a quantum leap in performance for the vast majority of firms.

So hopefully, this has given you some practical information that you can use to move your organization ahead on the Knowledge Management front. If you'd like a little more information on Knowledge Management contact Dutch Holland at 713-877-8130.

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