Through one of Luis Suarez's posts I was led to the IBM social computing guidelines; a very interesting set of guidance (in many ways, close to Policy) on the use of social computing at IBM. I was enjoying leafing through these, until I got to the last one, which reads
Don't forget your day job. You should make sure that your online activities do
not interfere with your job or commitments to customers.
So even at IBM, online activities are not seen as part of the day job? That really surprises me.
Now I know that these guidelines refer to social computing rather than KM as a whole, but I really really think we are going to get nowhere in our organisations until knowledge management is seen as an integral component of the day job.
Knowledge is a massive asset to the organisation, and managing the value that it brings has to be part of people's day jobs. It's not a spare time activity. Imagine if we treated other management disciplines in that way - "yes, sure, do your budgets and financial planning, but don't let it get int eh way of your day job". "OK, you can do a little quality management if you have time, but don't let it get in the way of your day job". "As a manager, you may need to do some people management, but do not let your personnel management activities get in the way of the day job". Or worst of all "We have safety management systems here, but don't let them get in the way of your day job".
Safety management IS the day job
Personnel management IS the day job
Financial management IS the day job
Knowledge management IS the day job
Even for a construction worker in Texas, KM is the day job. If he finds a better way to do something, he shares it, through an after action review or whatever. He doesn't keep the knowledge to himself.
How do we make KM part of the day job? Through introducing KM as a management discipline, through embedding it in performance management, and through governance
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