Supporting your knowledge sharing agenda

Structure

The term Knowledge Management has to a large extent been hi-jacked by the IT industry so the term knowledge sharing is preferred as a more inclusive idea than KM. Every business would like to think it was good at sharing knowledge in order that it can get sought after information, knowledge or wisdom to anyone in the organisation or to avoid duplication of effort.

The reality is that it is difficult to achieve because it rests on the two fundamental requirements of leadership and trust. Even if these characteristics are fulfilled it needs to be reinforced with good communication. Observing the outcomes of knowledge sharing initiatives for over a decade has provided a rich background on which John can provide practical advice about how to improve an organisation’s ability to share key knowledge. This has included many major construction organisations across the EU as well as many outside the sector. Recently the approaches of many organisations have been observed through participation in a EPSRC funded research project into the challenges of knowledge sharing where a service is provided from the provision of capital works and subsequent long-term service provision. This has provided exposure to construction, aerospace and process engineering organisations.

A structure that will suit the maturity of an organisation can be proposed with the clear objective of it adding value and being self sustainable.

Seeking consensus views

Particularly in project based organisations there can be many unvoiced agendas concerning knowledge sharing, which if not realised will undermine the best of plans. John has experience of taking people of diverse views through a workshop to expose issues and then led the group to agree goals and the key issues that need to be addressed to deliver that goal. This is one aspect of facilitation skills noted in another section.

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