Knowledge and Innovation Workshop: Outcomes

Yesterday, Activ-Media ran a half day workshop for the 'KIN' network, a 'subsidiary' of Warwick Business School.

The aim was to get people thinking about how 'Rich Media Assets' could be used in the process of Knowledge sharing.

One part of the workshop involved splitting people into sub-groups and getting them to think about the following questions together. I've displayed answers for those people with an interest in Knowledge Management. 

The groups also worked on turning this information into an actual online presentation, using their voices and slides created by them. With a bit of luck, I might be able to post it up here once it's all done! (Need to get permissions first)!

Group 1: What are the challenges in building communities of practice?

• Identifying people with the common interest
• Selling them the benefit of participation both to themselves and the greater community
• Keeping the community alive to ensure success (i.e encouraging positive participation)
• Keeping it relevant to peoples’ work
• Changing organisation culture to break down silos
• Deciding when the end is nigh

Group 2: What strategies could be employed in tacit knowledge transfer?

• Relationship management
  - Who do you trust?
  - Understanding importance of social networks
• Cut out competitive and secretive behaviours
  - Break “need to know” and “knowledge is power” paradigms
  - Encourage people to share
  - “Celebration” of mistakes
• Offer a range of technologies
  - Some people like written words, some like voice
• Cultural and financial support from the top
• Face to face interaction:
  - Creating environment to foster social networking
• Avoid trap of forcing tacit to become explicit

Group 3: What are the benefits of Knowledge Management?

• Increased speed of innovation
• Improved base level of knowledge & skills of employees
• Increased sales opportunities
• Avoid re-inventing the wheel
  - Efficiencies
  - Cost savings
• Better executional quality
• Avoid repeating mistakes and implement better practice
• Higher staff motivation and recognition

Group 4: What are the ways in which people learn?

• Formal education
• Visualisation
• Demonstration
• Formal training
• Watching experts
• Teaching somebody else
• Discussions
• Trial and error/the hard way
• On the job
• Reading
• Trial and error/the hard way
• Professional development
• Practice
• From others mistakes – best practice

The most interesting thing I learnt was that the group were highly enthusiastic about using richer media for knowledge sharing. The over-riding challenge for them seemed to be 'persuading senior management' to take risks. Still, it's only a question of 'when' now, not if!

Technorati tags: kin+network, wbs, activ-media, mattoneill, davidpaul, knowledge+management

Comments

[Julie Lewis]

very informative, matt.

[Stuart Reid]

Very interesting. My main interest is in the role that moving images can play in knowledge management (complementing other formats like print). I'm particularly interested in the ways that video can be used to demonstrate tacit knowledge.