Heather B. Hayes writes an article for Federal Computer Week on Firsthand knowledge that takes a look at the challenges ahead for the Department of Homeland Security, as well as many other agencies.
One of the people she interviews for this article is Carl Frappaolo, executive vice president and co-founder of the Delphi Group.
Carl recommends that "Quite simply, ignorance will kill us," and that:
"...Managers should ask and answer some pertinent questions: What knowledge is available? Are there unknowns that could be answered? Is it better to fill that gap or to rely on information already available? What are agency officials doing right with regard to knowledge management, and what are they doing wrong? Does the agency have cultural obstacles to sharing information?..."
Heather B. Hayes continues with:
"...knowledge management is a discipline that is not easily defined, and it needs to incorporate technology, data, people and processes to truly be effective. Cultural challenges abound, including ingrained resistance to sharing information, distrust of other agencies and security issues."
I have found knowledge sharing initiatives to be fraught with numerous challenges--the largest are normally at the 'cultural' level.
As we all surely know by now, successful knowledge sharing solutions are never just about tools.
I believe that Bob Buckman, and Buckman Labs, present an outstanding proof that knowledge sharing and/or management cannot be something an organization just 'talks' about--we have a 'knowledge management' system, we have 'knowledge management' components, we have 'knowledge management' processes--but instead the organization must embody and live. When one has a healthy heart, one has no need to constantly walk about expounding on the beating of one's heart--it is simply autonomic.
In Bob Buckman's view "...the climate of trust that fosters proactive knowledge sharing within the company is the same climate that we want to create with our customers."
Bob Buckman also believes (from AOK: Preparing for Conversations with Bob Buckman): "If you can't maximize the power of the individual, you haven't done anything. If you expand the ability of individual members of the organization, you expand the ability of the organization."
Simple, elegant, and yet difficult beyond measure in organizations that do not value and/or empower the individual to get the job done by affording them immediate access to the greatest amount of appropriate information with the least amount of resistance.
When I speak at conferences and workshops on knowledge sharing, I find that people still look to technology to cover a number of their 'cultural' impediments to successful implementation of knowledge sharing efforts in their organizations.
On this technology note, Heather concludes her article with some prognostications regarding "What's ahead in KM" from a technology perspective:
"...Knowledge management may be a relatively mature discipline, but the technologies that support it are continuing to evolve.
Expect the next knowledge management products to have the following features:
Tighter integration -- Many knowledge management tools typically come as separate solutions, and integrating them is not always easy. Newer products are trying to offer more integrated capabilities. For example, users of some new systems can receive automatic e-mail notification when something of interest has been added to the knowledge management system. Some systems also automatically save newly created content from office applications to a specialized knowledge repository for easier identification and retrieval.
Graceful escalation -- Future products will take advantage of the trend toward closer integration of knowledge management tools and collaboration technologies. For example, employees can take simple interactions, such as an instant message, to a richer and more complex experience, such as a Web conference that features application and document sharing with audio and video capabilities.
Standards support -- Knowledge management tools that use Extensible Markup Language and other Web standards will not only enable an easier exchange of information but also allow a larger variety of systems to work with one another with fewer interoperability issues..."
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