KM Six Pack #5

People: Managing, not hoarding, personal knowledge.

By Jerry Ash.

This is the fifth in a series of six articles introducing newly engaged employees and managers to the basics of knowledge-based enterprise.

True story: A company installed an expensive software program to assist call center technicians in diagnosing and solving problems customers were having with their copying machines. Trouble was, technicians weren’t using the software.

So, the company held a contest that offered a handsome bonus to the technician who solved the most problems over a period of time.

Much to management’s horror, the first place prize went to a company maverick named Carlos, a technician who was always out of step with company procedures and didn’t use the database.

Second place went to a new employee named Sharon who didn’t even have the software yet. Her secret? She sat across from Carlos.

Knowledge is personal. Direct management of knowledge can only be practiced by those who have the knowledge – and that’s you.

Personal knowledge management (PKM) is nothing new, but the way people manage their own knowledge is changing in a knowledge-based society.

Carlos is a good example of the power of personal knowledge, and Sharon is a good example of the power of shared knowledge. Just as it is imperative that companies learn to facilitate KM, it is critical that individuals discover how to manage their own knowledge better.

The concept of personal knowledge management (PKM) became somewhat muddied in the beginning when some of its advocates described it as “personal branding.”

Tom Peters, in his Brand You 50 book wrote: “Forget ‘they.’ This is your life. Period.” That was Peters’ first of 50 ways to “transform yourself from an employee into a brand,” implying one should skip networking, collaboration and company loyalty; stick to the “WIIFM” (what’s in it for me).

That’s the old “knowledge is power” myth. The new PKM is all about partnering – with other professionals, colleagues, customers, the company and sometimes even the competitor to share and to learn.

Perhaps it should be called interpersonal knowledge management (IPKM).

Here are a few tips on managing your own knowledge:

• Think about what you know that you’re using, not using.
• Think about what you don’t know and how it could help you.
• Think about your own interests, ones being utilized and ones not.
• Think about strategies to get your knowledge and ideas connected to projects.
• Think about strategies to add to your personal knowledge through networking.
• Think about how you can get involved in departmental or cross-functional teams.
• Think about how you and the company can get the most bang for your brains.
• Think of yourself as an entrepreneur, one among many.
• Think of your relationship with the company as partner, not employee.
• And if you are Carlos or Sharon, think about becoming an adviser to management, providing a responsible critique of the software and why people don’t use it.

See Six Pack #1 through 4in the May through September issues.

The series will be completed in the November issue – Networks: Sharing, learning, discovering together.