© Best Practices in IT Leadership, Mosaic Media, Inc.
Leveraging Knowledge
Small risk, big dividends
BY LOU RUSSELL

Being successful at knowledge management (KM), let alone IT, is a real challenge. There are no “Top 10” items you can buy to guarantee KM success, no standard you can adopt, no workshops or conferences you can “sheep dip” yourself or your people into. The change that enables KM starts with what’s inside you—and continues with what’s inside your people. Let me give you one example of the kinds of problems that can result from poor knowledge management, then I’ll list some ideas you can use to make KM work for your organization. 

I recently wanted to order an older product through the web site of a home delivery company, but the site could only handle current specials. When I tried to order the product over the telephone, the representative told me that the only way to get that particular product was by having a home rep visit me. Since I did not want to coordinate another appointment into an already packed schedule, I chose instead not to buy the product. 

In this example, a piece of valuable company knowledge (which would enable a customer to order a product) existed only in the field. Whether this was a business decision affecting the web site or the customer service department, or the result of how the existing corporate culture treated sales information, this isolation of knowledge resulted in a lost sale to a previously satisfied customer. 

KM in this case was either not giving workers knowledge they could use or not empowering them to use the knowledge they had. Your IT team uses an informal network to constantly share ideas, techniques, and information. No doubt you’ve seen the power of this network, but like anything with power, you want it to work for you, not against you. 

You’ll want to harness this network to allow workers to share what they know and be able to work better because of knowledge gained through a culture that encourages good KM. 

Ideas for making KM work for you 

1 Determine the mission, values, and vision of your IT organization that help your company meet business goals.  Every company should have a clear and concise mission statement, and each department within the company should have one, too. What is your mission, and can everyone in IT express it in 10 seconds at gunpoint? What value does IT add to the company? Is there personal buy-in by the IT staff? A concrete vision allows IT to say yes to the right projects and no to the rest.  

Good KM starts with the question “what is most important here that would help us meet the business goals?” In terms of our product purchase example, by designing the information so that it can be used by those who need it when they need it, the company can get the knowledge it needs from the clutter of disjointed data fragments. That knowledge will then be meaningful in terms of both the mission of the IT group and the company as a whole. 

2 Focus on cultural issues that block successful KM. Some companies develop a “knowledge hoarding” culture, in which people believe their position is enhanced or they are more important if they keep some knowledge to themselves. In some companies, “upper” management tends to isolate itself from “lower level” employees.  

Changing a corporate culture is one of the most difficult processes a company can attempt. Yet the reasons for changing that culture are becoming more urgent as the web is remaking businesses in its image, a distributed network of people.  

Such a redistribution of authority can shake a traditional hierarchy to its foundations. Many business executives would rather forego the chance to fix real problems than face the underlying issues honestly. Your biggest IT leadership challenge will be to stand up for the solid results that you know can come from good knowledge management.  

Take time with others to talk about the obstacles to KM in your culture. Your best sources of information can be customers and external consultants, since they can usually see culture better than insiders. Adjust your action plans to deal with the issues you identify. 

3 Bring your team together to facilitate personal exchange of knowledge. IT managers often discourage talking. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that if technical people are not coding, they are not adding value. In fact, the growth of knowledge requires talking—and lots of it. When I was a new programmer, much of what I learned came from talking with colleagues while our programs compiled.  

Knowledge grows when it is shared. When I give you a dollar, you gain it, but I lose it. When I impart knowledge, you gain it, but I keep it, too. Many companies have eliminated opportunities for employees to share knowledge, such as by removing lunch rooms and cafeterias so more and more people have to grab a quick lunch at their desk. To counteract that, find ways to get your people to run into each another. How often does your team get together? A company I know has teams that meet every Tuesday morning to share challenges and lessons learned. One item on their agenda is “The Mistake of The Week Contest.” The person who made the worst mistake (first time, of course!), but learned the most from it, wins a prize. People learn through mistakes, and sharing these stories spreads the benefit without the associated cost. 

4 Enable organizational exchange of new knowledge. How can your IT department leverage the knowledge that exists in Sales or Human Resources? Just as you would do for your IT team, think of excuses to bring the people from different departments together. These gatherings can be formal interdepartmental meetings, informal coffees between teams, pizza lunches, etc. Exactly what you do depends on the openness of your corporate culture. 

5 Reward the creation, exchange, and transformation of knowledge. Don’t do anything until you consider how to reward people for sharing and receiving knowledge. There may be so many unintentional disincentives blocking KM that it may not work despite your diligence. Be careful to reward all aspects of KM, not just one. A company recently based an incentive on how many new idea entries individuals added to a database. It was no surprise to see that they ended up with a very large database, but virtually no knowledge sharing. 

6 Accommodate ongoing personal development. Help your people leverage their strengths and minimize their weaknesses in learning. Not everyone learns from a Web-based workshop; each person needs his or her own learning strategy. If you use a combination of resources: print-based, Web-based, computer-based, and live classes, you’ll cover the learning styles of everyone on your IT staff. 

7 Confront stress to prevent burnout. Finally, what is the stress level of your IT staff? Is your IT group, like many, expected to be more productive with fewer resources and less support? Many bosses would consider putting in your normal 10hour day after an intensive all-day training session as fair exchange for taking that important project-related training. While this would probably work on a short-term basis, for the long term you’re risking burning out your people. You want to avoid the corporate cost that comes from having to recruit, hire, and train replacements for your stressed-out staff.  

Stress comes from a gap between what is perceived as real and what is desired. Stress can block people from creating or receiving knowledge. Help people attack stress at its source. Deep breathing and other relaxation techniques work, but you may also need to arrange comp time to allow people to recharge after intense projects. 

 LOU RUSSELL
© Best Practices in IT Leadership, Mosaic Media, Inc.