KM MIddle East 2012 - Collison Seminar

www.km-me.com [email protected] 1

© Knowledgeable Ltd www.knowledgeableltd.com

Seminar: Assessing KM Capability, Understanding KM Tools

and Developing KM Strategy

KM Middle East

March 14th 2012

@chris_collison Knowledgeable Ltd www.chriscollison.com [email protected]


Building on the examples from this morning


Our agenda for this afternoon

• Organisational learning tools such as Peer Assist, After

Action Review and Project Review

• Knowledge Capture:

– Examples of how to build and maintain knowledge assets

around strategic topics

• Communities of Practice:

– Understanding the lifecycle of Communities and Networks,

– Practical case studies and tools such as a “Network Charter

Template”.

• Leadership actions and behaviours which reinforce

“asking”, “learning” and “capturing” in cultures which

are already good at sharing.

• Embedding in Strategy



Knowledge in people and networks

Captured Knowledge

Individuals & Teams

Goals Results

Using Knowledge

Learn during

Learn after

Learn before

BP’s original holistic knowledge management framework

£$

Leadership & Culture


L E S S O N S L O S T Learning and transfer are leaky processes.

Thomas Saur


There’s a hole in my bucket...

Project Review Meeting

Learning captured

in lessons learned report

Report stored... ...somewhere!

Project Completed!

Learning in the

heads of the team

Unasked questions

Loss of context, summarisation, loss of emotion, post-rationalisation, legal restrictions...

New Project

?

New project executes



"...the politics accompanying hierarchies hampers the free exchange of knowledge. People are much more open with their peers. They are much more willing to share and to listen.” Lord Browne – BP CEO

Learning before doing – Peer Assists


Peer Assist Animation from Bellanet/University of Ottowa


Peer Assists - how they work

What I know

What you know

What’s

possible?

What we both know

Actions

“Group-think” restricts

possibilities



An extreme Peer Assist!

Great Ormond St Hospital, London Ferrari F1 Pit Team


Learning whilst doing - AARs

Conducted in a Rank-free environment…

10-15 minutes

Col. Ed Guthrie (retd.)

What was supposed to

happen?

What actually happened?

Include the unplanned.

Why was there a

difference?

What can we learn from

this?





Learning after doing – BP’s Retrospect Process

• What was the objective of the project?

• What did we achieve?

• What were the successes? Why? How can we repeat the success?

• What were the disappointments? Why? How can we avoid them in future?

• ‘Marks out of 10’

Facilitated, forward looking team meeting, soon after the project has ended. Has a “customer” in mind…


Asking the right questions…

What would your advice be to another team about to do

the same thing?

Why, why, why… What was the reason for that? What led to that?

What would someone have to do to ensure that they repeated your success?

Could you say a bit more about why you think that? Could you give an example

to illustrate?

What would you say to ensure that someone didn’t make the same mistake as

you?

How many marks out of ten would you give this?

What would make it a ten?



C A P T U R E When you capture knowledge, you kill it.

Rupert Brun


What is a “Knowledge Asset”?

• Creating a knowledge asset is a creative, value-adding

technique for capturing knowledge.

It provides a consistent way to succinctly answer the

question: “What does this organization know about

subject x…?”.

• The knowledge asset may contain guidelines, examples,

templates, documents, contacts and links to people,

distilled, structured and designed with an internal

customer in mind.


Why create a Knowledge Asset?

• Some of the activities that we carry out are repeatable

processes, yet we often fail to learn from ourselves

because the learning has not been captured or

structured with an internal customer in mind.

• Having a well structured distillation of good practices

will increase the likelihood that we repeat and build

upon our successes, rather than investing time in

reinvention.



A few more

What are the top ten things I need to know? Where can I get more detail?

What can I re-use? Who can I talk to?

Even more

Still More

More Lessons

More Lessons Lessons

Learned

The problem with lessons learned databases...


BP’s Business Restructuring Knowledge Asset


Knowledge asset in PowerPoint with embedded videos and stories

C:/Users/Chris/Documents/Clients/Archive/Atradius/restructuring/DEFAULT.HTM



Summary of steps in a building a knowledge asset (i)

1. Is there a customer for this learning? Have a clear customer - current or future - in mind when you build your knowledge asset. Without a customer, you may be creating a “knowledge graveyard”!

2. Are you clear about the scope of your knowledge asset? What is the scope of your activity? What will it be called? The resulting product needs to cover a specific area of repeatable business activity.

3. Is there a community of practice or network relating to this subject? Knowledge Assets should ideally be owned by communities of practice who regularly refresh the content to keep it current. The community and their activities will be the source of the learning in the first place, the users of this knowledge in future, and the people who validate future additions to the product.

4. Is there existing material upon which you can base your knowledge asset? Often, someone in the company will have made efforts to record process steps, lessons or recommendations in some form - this will be important content to incorporate into your knowledge. Your first step will be to collate the existing material.

5. Look for the general guidelines. Provide some context so that people can understand the purpose and relevance of the knowledge asset. What was the business environment when this was created? Why was this seen as important at the time? Who brought this material together?


Summary of steps in a building a knowledge asset (ii)

6. Build a checklist illustrated with examples and stories. The checklist should tell the user of the knowledge asset: “What are the questions I need to ask myself?” “What are the top ten things that I need to think about?” “What is the information that I need to gather?” “What are the steps that I need to take?”

7. Include links to people. Although the knowledge asset will include a lot of “explicit knowledge”, there will be far more knowledge still residing in the heads of the people as tacit knowledge. This knowledge is also a vital part of the knowledge asset and it is important to point to it wherever possible.

8. Validate the Guidelines. Having constructed a knowledge asset, with guidelines based on history and experience. The next step should be to circulate it around any relevant communities and ask: “Do the guidelines accurately reflect your knowledge and experience?” , “Do you have anything to add?” .

9. Publish the knowledge asset. You now need to make it widely available, so that the community or network can access it and add to it at any time.

10. Finally, keep it alive. Initiate a feedback and ownership process. Sustaining a knowledge asset is more difficult than creating it in the first place. When you publish and promote it, make sure there is an obvious feedback mechanism so that users can validate and improve it through use.


C O M M U N I T I E S The heart of a KM Strategy

Rupert Brun



Words you might encounter…









Value from Communities? (Wenger)

Short Term

• Help with challenges • Access to expertise • Confidence • Fun with colleagues • Meaningful work

• Problem solving • Time saving • Knowledge sharing • Synergies across units • Reuse of resources

Long Term

• Professional Development

• Personal Reputation

• Professional identity

• Network

• Marketing

• Strategic capabilities

• Innovation

• Talent retention

• New strategies Org

aniz

atio

n

Ind

ivid

ual


Example from International Gas Company


Schlumberger

• 70+ Technical communities and “Special Interest

Groups” are actively managed and supported by a small

central team (3 people).

• Highly promoted on their intranet :

every community has its own

suite of collaboration tools

• Every year, leaders are democratically elected by

Community members.

• In order to become a Schlumberger Fellow, you have to

have led a Community.

• Knowledge loss is less of an issue to Schlumberger

because “ your entire career is your exit interview”.



Communities in Oracle

• 80 “Professional Communities”

– Facing customer groups and product types

– Meet face-to-face annually

– Provide personal stability

• Community Self-assessment

– Communication

– Developing trust

– Virtual Leadership

– Cultural Understanding

– Sharing Good Practice

Communication Trust Leadership Culture Sharing


Stages of Community Development

• Planning

• Getting Started

• Building Momentum

• Renewing Commitment

• “Sunsetting” or reinventing


Exploring the Community Lifecycle

McCommunities? Community Paella?



Hints and tips: Publicly welcome new members to the group

• When new members join, encourage them to complete their on-line profile first (photo are important), then send an email to the community to introduce them to the group, referencing a link to their profile.

• This will give a sense of momentum to the group, and give established members a sense of new thinking/experience being available

• Consider creating a “Community World Map”, showing the locations of all members (with photos?), and sharing this with the group electronically.


Example of a community “world map” with expertise


Hints and Tips: Stimulate demand by identifying some issues to work on…

• People respond best to a real need from a colleague –

but it can be tough to be the first to “ask for help”.

– Encourage members of the community to share a current

business challenge or problem – make some telephone calls if

you need to.

• Pursue responses behind the scenes

– Again, make telephone calls to people who might be able to

offer a solution, and encourage them to respond – it can be

daunting to be the first to offer a suggestion too…



Hints and tips: Keep a steady rhythm of communication

• Consider a regular electronic newsletter, summarising

activity within the community.

– Incentivise people to complete their profiles, through informal

competition, recognition, peer pressures. Publicise progress (%

of community with profiles) and highlight good examples in the

newsletter.

• Consider a schedule of monthly or bi-monthly virtual

meetings or Webinars where community members or

external experts present on a topical issue.

– A kind of virtual “brown bag lunch” to share case studies

– Ask community members which they would topics like to hear

more about during these events, and if they have any

recommendations for speakers.


Hints and Tips: Promote success stories inside and outside the community

• Create “storyboards” or videos which summarise the

way the community operates to address a particular

issue or question.

– See the RioTinto “bulldozer” story for an online video example:

• Consider how community stories might be used

externally to promote the company, or as part of

induction and on-boarding.


Example from Shell Brochure on Networks and KM



Understanding Communities with SNA


What networking measures matter to businesses?

• The previous football example showed the number of

passes of the ball.

• We need to select the ones which really matter.

– Levels of trust?

– Sources of advice and help?

– Communication types – email, telephone, face-to-face?

– Communication frequency? (daily, weekly, monthly etc.)

– Awareness of others’ expertise?

– Distribution of technical capability

by geography or team?

– How ideas get shared and innovation happens?


Organisational Network Analysis – two key indicators

Nodes indicate people, arrows indicate a connection. Connections can be perceived as one-way or reciprocated. They are characterized by a reason for the connection Arrows can be colour-coded to indicate the strength of a connection.

Nodes with many connections are said to have high “centrality”. Nodes which bridge between groups are said to have high “betweenness”. Both of these are important characteristics for networking. ONA is often repeated after a period of time to demonstrate an improvement in connectedness.

Jassim Zaheer

seeks technical advice



Brazil Switzerland

US

Island Groups – how can we connect these?

Key Connectors/Bridges How can we reinforce these?

“I go to these people for advice and support”

Organisational Network Analysis example


Typical analysis topics

• Identifying the risks and vulnerabilities – Which individuals and groups are disconnected?

– Where is the integrity of the network in the hands of one individual?

– How effective is communication?

– What would happen if x, y and z left the company? (Network cohesion, key connectors)

• Identifying roles – Who would make a good leader of a Community?

– Who would make good regional representatives?

• Identifying preferences – Which communication method is most effective for cascades?

• Measuring trends – How much more connected are we in 2012 than we were in 2011?


Using ONA to find silos, connectors and potential champions



Learning in Communities (Wenger, White & Smith, 2009)


L E A D E R S H I P Creating the Environment

Rupert Brun


Knowledge-based Leadership Competencies



Leadership Actions from Centrica

• When encountering a business problem, I reinforce the importance of learning from others - rather than simply providing an answer.

• I personally demonstrate that “asking for help” is a sign of strength rather than weakness.

• When reviewing a project proposal, I challenge to ensure that it brings to bear knowledge from other projects.

• I coach my team to network more effectively - internally and externally.

• My team see failure as something to learn from, not something to cover up.


Leadership Recognition for Knowledge Management


S T R A T E G Y Designing, Embedding, Measuring.

Rupert Brun

http://spupks.conocophillips.net/Archimedes/Gather3.tif



Integrating Acquisitions

Launching Community Sustaining a Community

Information/Document Management Tools

Expertise Directory

Storytelling techniques

Collaborating with 3rd Parties

Collaborating Internally

Building a maturity model

Peer Assist

Knowledge Asset

Plan for Integration

Process

Identify Strengths

& Synergies

Design Organisation

Achieve Synergies

Implement New

Organisation

Manage Transformational and Cultural Change

Peer Assist Peer Assist Project Review

Capturing Personal Knowledge


Choosing a supplier

Clarify Requirements

RFI RFP Assess

Proposals Supplier Selection

Contract

Peer Assist Retrospect

Knowledge Asset Finding Expertise

Project Review

Information/Document Management Tools

Collaborating internally and Collaborating with 3rd Parties

Peer Assist

Peer Assist

Expertise Diretory Knowledge Asset


Recruitment

Induction

Training and Development

Promotion and Job change

Retirement

Knowledge-sharing embedded in recruitment criteria, selection processes and screening.

Receive details on knowledge-sharing approaches. Use of expertise directory. Connection to communities. Mentoring from Seniors?

Knowledge-sharing embedded in management and leadership development. Competencies include knowledge-sharing and learning Course delegates encouraged to form and use communities. KM toolkit integrated into most training programmes People encouraged to update expertise directory after training.

Access to lessons from previous job-holder. Rapid connection to new communities. Encouragement to learn from outside Company X. Link community leadership /participation to technical promotion ladder?

Link to Alumni network. (physical and virtual meetings) Continue to participate in existing communities. Involvement in judging/connecting entries for Company X awards? Knowledge capture/salvage on exit.

The employee lifecycle



Recruitment, Development & Training

Communities accelerating time-to-competence

Value

Cost

Increased value through Connection to a community

Ongoing Access via

Alumni Programme

Time Breakeven Point

Value from applying know-how to individual high-performance business delivery

Retirement

Community involvement

“post-retirement”

Knowledge “salvage” on exit


Assessment of KM Capability (Learning to Fly. Collison & Parcell 2004)


BP’s KM Strategy

• Look for what’s already going on inside the company.

Find some heroes.

• Check the external world for good practices and test

them inside the organisation.

• Focus on a few key tools and promote them. Make it

simple and avoid creating a new language.

• Work in depth in a few critical areas to prove the

value.

• Look to the existing company processes and ‘infect

them’ with KM principles.

• Build a community of KM Practitioners and Champions

who can generate sustainability.



Thinking about sustainability…

Training and support

Emb

edd

ing in

pro

cess

Ch

alle

nge

an

d e

du

cati

on

conscious incompetence

unconscious incompetence

unconscious competence

conscious competence


KM Strategy – Options for Implementation

Top-down, Big Bang

Stealth

Slipstream

Pilot


End H1 2012 2011/H2 2011/H1 2010/H2

TECHNOLOGY + CONTENT PEOPLE CAPABILITY

PRO

CES

S C

ULT

UR

E &

LEA

DER

SHIP

Current Position

• Fragmented approach to information and records management

• Technology changes fraught with difficulty • Poor directory capability makes it hard to

find people • Library is viewed as a reactive service • People have nowhere to store lessons

learned • Lack of learning rigour in Project

management means that we reinvent the wheel

• Complexity and politics makes it hard to get any traction. Large programmes vacuum up the funding.

Expertise Directory

Project Mgt Lessons Learned

“Knowledge Space”

Intranet access for all

Internet access to deliver external

content

Video stream AV Output

Collaborative Tools

Departmental Metadata Scheme

Departmental Taxonomy

Single Library Management

System

Wider use of Search Tools

Information Centre

Software tool for managing

gateway coordination

Competence framework by level for everyone

in KR (to reflect specialisms)

Management Framework

Role Profiles

Other Priority BU Knowledge

Capability

100 Day plans

Capturing Experience

Toolkit

KM Checklist

Captured Experience Knowledge

Asset Network of Knowledge Facilitators

Spreadsheet of Legal

Gateways

“Front door” Legal Gateway Coordination

Internet Access for

All

Text Mining Capability

Intranet Content

Management

Departmental Metadata

in Use

Wider use of EDRM

Enterprise Content

Management

Cross-Dept. Databases

Centrally managed budget

for external content used across Dept. E.g. Company info.

Departmental Methodologies for

Identifying high value data

Knowledge Capability Definition

FOI

DPA

RM Guidance

Public Records Access

Managing (Getting)

Resources

Risk Mgt DRO ,Law

Monitoring Prioritising

Influencing Decisions

Flying the Flag

Promoting Services

Guidance Improvement

Copyright/PSI Guidance

Cross KAI Projects

Leadership Development

PIU Continuous

Improvement

LEAN Management

Company Museum

Seamless Flow TNA

Initial Prototype methodology for high Value Data

Internal Guidance

in BG Format

Facilitating learning Events

Retention periods

established for Customer Records

Virtual Knowledge

Space

EDRM Pilot

Standardisation of Business

Area Intranet Sites

Automated Internet Searching for info briefings in order

to deliver to greater audience

TS Info Brefings

Vision for KM in Company

• Maximum use of the most profitable sources of accurate, quality data • People understand rights and responsibilities to departmental information • Manage electronic content effectively in line with corporate standards • Tools for knowledge sharing supported by

Culture for knowledge sharing • Ability to find info easily, use networks, communities and systems • Embedded culture of learning lessons and continuous improvement • Distilling, Refining, Enhancing, Advising and Learning – Actionable for the

business to create value. • KM Team seen as playing a critical supporting role in a successful

organisation

Funded Project

Existing Service

Unresourced Idea

Complementary

Pilot

Information Centre

Information Centre

Information Centre

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/photos/millar-pro-cycling-cleaner-than-its-ever-been/96855



Thank You!

@chris_collison Knowledgeable Ltd www.chriscollison.com [email protected]