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Making the case for KM

Part 1: KM elevator pitch

Go back to the poster, re-work the KM plan and

create an elevator pitch (max 5 minutes) to present

To be learned: apply all models and insights.

The whole afternoon of the last day is dedicated to:

finalizing ‘left over slides’ of the previous one and a half day
re-working the KM initiative participants worked on
create an elevator pitch and napkin

Facilitator: the program for the two days has a fixed order / flow, but to expect is that time is short because time is always too short. Probably participants will have problems grasping the depth and breadth, did not prepare enough and are bothered with day to day business at home / email. That is the reason why the last half day is dedicated at reflecting on their own situation, practicing developing a KM intervention and condensing that into a short pitch and a small drawing.

The elevator pitch has as background that participants get opportunities to talk briefly / occasionally to decision makers and other staff they need to involve in their KM planning. In the workshop they get the chance to develop such a pitch and get peer feedback in a trusted environment (where it is OK to make mistakes and work with trial - error). The same goes for a napkin drawing; over a drink or during lunch / dinner while talking with colleagues and decision makers there is no concept note, or plan, or flip over available to explain the KM initiative. But most of the times there is a pen and a napkin available to make a drawing about the crucial ideas of a KM plan. Again, the workshop gives room to practice napkin drawing.

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KM plan: Guiding questions

Select from their own plan the 2 or 3 most important KM activities (preferably Quick Wins) you will initiate in the next three months at home.

Who? Team?
What? Story on the KM intervention
How?
When? Planning in time
Why? Relation with primary process
Bonus question: budget?
Prepare 300 sec elevator pitch

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Making the case for KM

Part 2: KM napkin

Go back to the poster, re-work the KM plan and

create a napkin to present (max 5 minutes)

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http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com

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KM4Dev Learning from experiences

At the core of Boisot’s work is a conceptual framework called I-Space Framework ([1]; it influenced the development of the Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden). The framework refers the level of codification and abstraction of knowledge (experiential knowledge, narrative knowledge, abstract symbolic knowledge) to its diffusibility (‘how it flows’). The figure below shows the effect of ICT: Boisot refers to the diffusion effect of ICT on the one hand, meaning that more people can be reached in the same time thanks to technology. On the other hand the bandwidth effect also become evident: With more bandwidth also less codified knowledge can be diffused wider. This allows quite large “clan” structures to emerge even distributed far geographically.

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Patrick Lambe 2015 SA KM Summit!

The implementation of Knowledge Management is no trivial task, involving multiple streams (people, technology, process) and requiring changes in infrastructure and the collaboration of stakeholders all over the organisation. International KM expert Patrick Lambe describes the knowledge and information infrastructure as “like one jumbled mass comprising several tangled up balls of string: it’s hard to figure out what’s connected to what, where all the interdependencies are, and what we need to untangle and realign if we want to make a particular, significant change.” Read the full article, “Why KM Is Hard To Do: Infrastructure, KM and Implementing Change” at Patrick’s blog, GreenChameleon.com: http://www.greenchameleon.com/gc/article_detail/why_km_is_hard_to_do/

Often, this organisational infrastructure can seem like an impossibly complex barrier to implementing effective KM and we find many organisations falling into the same - avoidable - traps again and again. Patrick will share his experience, insights and learning from his years of experience across various industries, through two events at the 2015 Southern African Knowledge Management Summit:

What is a knowledge audit? View a summary at http://www.greenchameleon.com/gc/guide_comments/poster_on_conducting_a_knowledge_audit/
Watch Patrick’s answer to “Why do you think companies still struggle to implement KM & Innovation?” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqH_eKOcHfQ

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Take out sessions (after the break)

To be learned: other participants’ / own views.

Facilitator to put all in a circle for a “Talking Stick” – ceremony, where all participants, one after another, hold “a stick” in their hand and share their own comments and feedback of the day again inviting all to rise their voice.

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Closing ceremony

Give everybody involved space to say last words / thank people etc.