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How to Build a Competitive Advantage Through Knowledge Evolution (Video)

Video produced by Steve Nathans-Kelly

In a session at KMWorld 2019, Exxon Mobil KLIC strategist Wendy Woodson explained how Exxon Mobil has leveraged knowledge management during a presentation at KMWorld 2019, titled "Winning Strategies For KM."

Woodson discussed her organization's knowledge evolution and learning culture shift. "We had taken a pause when we first came to the corporate learning organization because everybody said, 'Nope. Knowledge management doesn't belong in learning.' The core learning people that came from all these businesses said, 'I don't know why you're here. This doesn't even make sense.'"

However, said Woodson, "For us, it made sense, but again realize we're the experts in knowledge management. So here we are, we just intuitively get it. You know how when you're trying to transfer that tacit knowledge from the expert, and you ask them, 'Why do you do that?' And they're like, 'I just do it.' It just made sense to us. But what we had to do was pause and reflect and think, 'How can we tie this all together for everyone within this learning space? as well as, 'How can we grow this out across the organization?'"

Woodson and her team had to help people within their own group, and then help them be able to sell the message across the organization. "And so what we came up with is: Here's that learning cycle. So it's that foundation, it's continuous, it's happening whether it's at home, or it's on the way to work, or it's at work, or whatever it is. You are pretty much in this learning cycle in all periods of your day. And so then we have that foundation that builds the knowledge. So here I am. I'm creating all these little knowledge nuggets in my head. And then when I have the knowledge, I'm sharing it now, and that sharing gives us that innovation. I'm connecting the dots. I'm giving you my knowledge nugget. You're sharing your knowledge nugget. And now we're going, "'h wait, you did that, I did this. What if we did this?' And we get that innovation, and that innovation ultimately takes us where we are able to create that competitive advantage that we're all out there."

All organizations want to be competitive, to stay ahead of the game, Woodson said. "Keep ahead of that person. Let's do this. We need to make sure we're making the most profit. Whatever we're doing, we need to be the ones coming up with the ideas, or whatever that is. We want that competitive advantage. And so for us this made sense. The learning, it's happening, it's building the knowledge. The knowledge sharing, yes."

Videos of KMWorld 2019 awards presentations, keynotes, and many sessions can be found here.

Many speakers at KMWorld 2019 have also made their presentations available at www.kmworld.com/Conference/2019/Presentations.aspx.

SAVE THE DATE FOR KMWORLD 2020: NOVEMBER 16-19, 2020!

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