Tuesday, 24 May 2011


KM and the personal balance


balance scale

To interest people, knowledge management must satisfy the principle of local value.

What they get out of it must exceed what they put into it.
This is a very personal equation. People have limited time, limited energy and limited enthusiasm. If they do knowledge management, they must stop doing something else. The value it delivers, must exceed what people have to put into it, otherwise they will not bother.

So it's a balance. On one side is the personal cost, on the other, the personal benefit.

Personal Costs include the following
  • KM takes Time
  • KM takes Effort
  • KM takes Thought
  • KM may require Exposure (exposure of your ignorance, or exposure of your knowledge)
  • KM requires Change in the way you work
Personal Benefits include the following
  • If you access useful knowledge, this means Less risk
  • If you access useful knowledge, this means Less stress
  • When KM is culturally embedded, doing KM brings Peer approval
  • Sharing Knowledge gives Community approval
  • When KM is a management expectation, doing KM brings Management approval
  • Outstanding delivery of KM may bring Formal recognition
  • KM gives you The chance to be heard
  • KM gives you The chance to make a difference
  • When KM is seen as part of the job, then doing good KM means Doing a better job

Making the culture change in KM means changing the culture one heart and one mind at a time.   Your job, as culture change agents, is to ensure that the personal balance is weighted in the right direction, for each of these hearts and minds.

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