david gurteen - km middle east 2011
DESCRIPTION
David Gurteen's presentation at KM Middle East 2011, Abu Dhabi, www.kmmiddleeast.comTRANSCRIPT
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Don’t do KM!
David Gurteen
Gurteen
Knowledge
KM Middle East 2011, United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi
You don’t do KM
You solve business problems and develop
business opportunities
There are no KM initiatives or strategies
– They conceptualise the problem
– A project is never just about KM
There are only business projects
Use KM thinking & tools to respond to
business issues
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Most KM projects fail!
Nothing wrong with KM, KM tools and techniques – very powerful indeed
The challenges – KM projects are NOT focused on the business
– KM projects are tough
– KM project leaders are often inexperienced
– KM projects poorly conceived
– KM projects poorly managed
– Lack of support from senior management
– Lack of support from employees
– Lack of understanding or a misunderstanding of KM
– Lack of understanding of organizational complexity
– Lack of understanding of human behavior
Four KEY questions to ask yourself
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The questions
1. What are the business problems we are trying to solve?
2. How do we ensure support from senior management and how do we sustain that support?
3. How do we engage the people in our organization?
4. How do we clearly demonstrate success?
Some further thoughts on how to ensure your KM projects are a
success
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Think! There is no
substitute for thinking
Think for yourself!
Think for yourself
No substitute for thinking
No recipes or prescriptions
No simple set of steps
You need to think for yourself
No one can tell you what to do
KM is highly contextual …
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Context
In our complex business world context is everything
Things are different – each of you are different
– your industry
– your organization
– your people
– history
– timing
– politics
– competition
Identify the business issues
Identify the business
problems, opportunities
or risks that need to be
responded to
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Albert Einstein on problems
If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution,
I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask,
for once I know the proper question,
I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.
We jump far too quickly to a “solution” without really
understanding the problem!
Its better to do the
right thing badly than
the wrong thing well!
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Business issues and outcomes
“People will not share their knowledge” is
NOT a business issue
“Implementing a knowledge sharing system”
is NOT a business outcome
Business issues and outcomes
“Slowness to market of new products” is a
business issue
“Shortening the time to market of new
products” is a business outcome
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Business outcomes
These are not business outcomes
– Doing KM
– Improving knowledge sharing
– Creating a learning organization
– Creating a knowledge driven organization
– Setting up communities of practice
These are business outcomes
– Cutting costs; Improving profit
– Improving quality
– Reducing staff turn over
Identify the business issues
Talk to CEO and senior business managers
What keeps them awake at night?
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Don’t do things to people!
If you have to ask “how
do we motivate people”
then you are taking the
wrong approach!
Work with people
An innovative, healthy
organization requires that
we work with people rather
than do things to them.
Alfie Kohn
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Motivation is intrinsic!
You cannot motivate people
Motivation is inherently intrinsic
People have to find it for themselves
Attempts to motivate are actually
manipulation and are usually seen as such
And have an adverse affect
Do not reward
Do not reward people
for sharing their
knowledge
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Rewards
Research shows that giving rewards (even
praise) actually results in worse performance
and undermines intrinsic motivation
To the best of my knowledge, no
controlled scientific study has ever found
a long-term enhancement of the quality of
work as a result of any reward system.
Alfie Kohn
Alfie Kohn and Dan Pink
Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What
Motivates Us by Dan Pink
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Do not reward
Rewards punish
Rewards rupture relations
Rewards ignore reasons
Rewards deter risk taking
Rewards undermine interest
Credit: Alfie Kohn
• Rewards are gamed
If we don’t reward what do we do?
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Alfie Kohn
Pay people well
Pay people fairly
Then do everything possible to make money
(rewards) off people’s minds
Incentives, bonuses, pay-for-
performance-plans and other reward
systems violate this last principle by their
very nature!
Love what you do
Loving what you do is
a more powerful
motivator than any
goody including
money.
Alfie Kohn
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Bob Buckman
Our approach to KM is far more than stick or carrot. "Knowledge Sharing is your job. Do it!" As a reward you may keep your job.
Daniel Pink
Provide opportunities for
– Autonomy
– Mastery
– Purpose
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Some questions to leave you with!
Is my KM activity focused on the business?
Have I really understood the problems?
Am I thinking for myself?
Are senior managers bought in?
Are employees & other stakeholders bought in?
How do I demonstrate success?
Am I measuring business outcomes & not just activity?
What do I do in place of rewards?
Questions
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David GURTEEN
Gurteen Knowledge
Fleet, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 7774 178 650
Email: [email protected]
www.gurteen.com