Revitalizing knowledge management at KMWorld 2019
Knowledge management is at a cross roads, either organizations are set in their ways or looking to revolutionize their business practices.
At KMWorld 2019, Dave Snowden, Chief Scientific Officer, Cognitive Edge, focused his workshop, “KM Strategy,” on how to build a successful KM plan and revitalize knowledge sharing within the organization.
Videos of KMWorld 2019 awards presentations, keynotes, and sessions can be found here.
The session took takes participants through a step-by-step approach to rethink the role of the KM function within an organization.
He recommends creating a decision/information flow map to understand the natural flows of knowledge; defining micro-projects that directly link to the decision support needs of senior executives; mapping the current flow paths for knowledge within the organization; and finding natural ways to manage the knowledge of the aging workforce as well as the IT-enabled apprenticeship.
“Creating single approaches to KM is a mistake,” Snowden said. “We know more than we can say and say more than we can write down. The most you can write down of what you know is 10%.”
Good knowledge management is building a network to gain different perspectives to solve problems, he explained.
To improve the human element of knowledge management, it’s critical to understand how we can form teams to solve intricate problems, troubleshoot, and innovate.
“Art comes before language in human evolution and that makes is distinct as species,” Snowden said. “Art allows us to see things from different perspectives and human invention based on abstraction not material.”
Organizations should focus on getting workers from different departments, with varying interests, partner to brainstorm. A rapid deployment of diverse people to gain different perspectives is key to reforming knowledge management strategy.
Companies shouldn’t be afraid to experiment and be transparent with employees by presenting a problem to the workforce to find people that think differently, Snowden said.
“Things become visible when you need them,” Snowden said. “When it comes to narrative knowledge, the more stories that are told from experienced people, the more you learn.”
KMWorld 2019 is a part of a unique program of five co-located conferences, which also includes Enterprise Search & Discovery, Office 365 Symposium, Taxonomy Boot Camp, and Text Analytics Forum.
Many speakers at KMWorld 2019 are making their presentations available at www.kmworld.com/Conference/2019/Presentations.aspx.
SAVE THE DATE FOR KMWORLD 2020- NOVEMBER 16-19, 2020!