My mid-week reflection covers a topic that is the future and has been recognised as being so over the last decade or two. The area is knowledge and what it means to today’s organizations. Increasingly so in the Western World and globally knowledge is driving change, economic output and the fast economic developments we are seeing in numerous industries. It is also promoting rapid industrialization of Less Developed Countries around the world.
However, it is the ability to manage that knowledge that will determine its best use. The old adage of ‘Knowledge is power’ is true but only if it is managed properly and put to good use.
Any knowledge within a company must be:
1. Accessible fast
2. Enable the latest in thinking
3. Allow for better sharing of that knowledge
4. Facilitate the knowledge of who is doing what
A lot of valuable knowledge is tacit and sits within the grey matter of a company’s people. When a person leaves for whatever reason then that knowledge is lost. It is the ability of a business to capture, store, share and utilize that tacit knowledge that will enable it to have a certain competitive advantage.
You take the knowledge held within the specialists that reside within many companies, how often do they share their knowledge or how often have they been asked to share their knowledge for the collective good of the business.
I have come across situations where many individuals take training provided, practice the training in a live environment, improvise their learning and keep that new enhanced knowledge to themselves. Yes! There are some people who may be selfish and want to retain the upper hand in case they face redundancy. Yet! I would criticize the company for not encouraging the development of knowledge and then sharing it amongst colleagues and peers.
By bringing the knowledge of an organizations people into the open the benefits would be increased efficiency and effectiveness:
1. Development of new ideas
2. Rapid resolution to problems
3. New starters hit the ground running
4. Eliminate waste through duplication and re-invention of the wheel
These are some of the transitional benefits to be had whereas if the organization was to go further and investigate ways to make knowledge key to business survival then knowledge can impact key business goals and productivity.
Many companies have a knowledge management expert with databases full of information gathered for the knowledge base. In reality how often do these get looked at and how informative are they. Plus, not every person learns by reading an article or a manual. The key is having different media to capture and share that knowledge. Take Wikipedia for example it allows anyone to amend its content. YouTube is another excellent example of how knowledge can be shared. Social networking sites enable people to get connected and share ideas, discuss and debate.
Any of these and other novel ways can be replicated for use within a business, leading to further benefits such as:
1. Faster innovation
2. Improved customer service
3. Reduce knowledge loss
4. Increased productivity / performance
So it is up to all companies to ensure knowledge is valued and it is used to develop new products, services and smarter ways to work.
Shah Alam
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