Employees investing in Knowledge? Today? Possible?

I had this oppurtunity of meeting a dear friend, a very senior person from DELL recently and this is a summation of a hilarious and a heated conversation. We realised that in the 90s every conversation would eventually end in what investment in education should be done to advance ones careers. The investments made then , I would imagine has really paid off, not just because of our current designations or the monies that we earn, but because of the employability that we have created for ourselves both in terms of domains and skills, but also in business exposure.

Has things changed? I do belive so.

1. The organizations then didn’t feel the need to change. Most organizations then were protected by the lack of competition, protective policies of our government and in my opinion also a sheer lack of organizational ambition and belief . Since there weren’t too many companies and jobs were few, the only way for an employee to grow or get a better paying job was based on his superior knowledge. So even traditional companies could attract engineering and management graduates from the best of schools. ( Not to mention post graduates working as clerks and sweepers in railway stations )

So employees learnt and the organizations didn’t.. or rather didn’t have to. And employees spend from their own pockets. The employer paying for higher education was a miracle...almost unheard of.

2. Today, it’s the other way around. The employee’s do not want to invest in education, while the organization is ready to go all out to help their employees learn. Most employees do not think it is worth while to invest education, because even with their current skills, they are highly valued in their current organization and more importantly, the availability of basic skills has become rare in a market place whose GDP is growing at an annual rate of 8%.

Organizations want to learn, because in a dynamic environment, the only key long term differential is its ability to add value consistently to all stakeholders. That’s possible only if you have an evolving workforce

So I believe, there’s a strong correlation between the demand & supply of talent and the willingness of organizations or the employee to invest in knowledge and capability building.

The bottom line however, is that irrespective of what hat one wears i.e an employee or an organization, to survive, compete and to be on top, one must invest in capability building

* Photograph:Red hills, Ooty, India. Camera- Cannon 350-D -EF-S- 18-55

Maturity before a Maturity model

Over the last 12 months, my love for knowledge management ( Well different people have different definitions!!!) has exponentially grown. I choose to use the term "love" for the simple reason that I seem to be engulfed in a passionate crusade to implement and understand the science and art of knowledge management.

While Google has been my primary source of information, I have been fortunate to discuss this topic and its usefulness with a lot of seasoned professionals in various industries. And one thing that emerged is that theres a deep lack of understanding of this subject. Sceptics turn to passionate believers once the scope of this opportunity is explained.

The second point that struck me is that theres a deep lack of understanding about the sustenance of this "program" / "project" and how does one go about its implementation. In reality one cannot consider this to be a project. Its a journey!

The third point according to me is the pertinent question... " Are we ready for a Knowledge management maturity model". In other words, is the organisation mature enough to embrace such a change of such huge proportions. Personally, I donot know how to gauge the maturity levels and my effort is about learning this very fact.

The APQC maturity model is a classic one. Most management gurus have extolled the virtues of standardisation and innovation. Incidentally these are levels 4 & 5 of the KMMM model.Our counterparts in Japan have excelled in continuous improvement. But the real challenge will be in creating a culture where we use our collective knowledge for innovation. In a world where people donot believe in staying in the organisation for more than a year...how do we get folks to look beyond today?

I read that in BP, in senior management reviews, when theres a "red" on the management dashboards, the arent supposed to ask " why is it red"...instead they are encouraged to ask " have you asked Mr.X? He had a similar issue in the past". .This is a huge paradigm shift. It forces you to collaborate...forces you to not reinvent the wheel.

GE had a wonderful program called the "copy cat" program that encouraged people to share and implement best practices. Both the creator and the "stealer" were rewarded. ICICI bank has a patent office. People give ideas and then the people and departments that implement these ideas are rewarded. More recently , I hear the TATAs have created the NANO through extensive knowledge sharing. A long journey indeed for them when you think of the TATA Estates to the TATA Nano.

I am convinced that organisations need to create a culture which encourages people to share knowledge . And therefore all folks who believe in the power of knowledge management need to be the evangelists to propagate this relentlessly. The mantra is " How can we show and demonstrate value to the folks who need it the most"

* Photgraph of the local tribal folk of Nilgiris. Camera Cannon 350D- ES 18-55

Organisations must learn

Over the years, I have been baffled by the fact that organisations have this amazing ability to refuse learning. Recently I was invited to talk at a seminar in Pune and during my efforts to create a presentation I stumbled upon an interesting quote

“Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it”... Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson.

Some of the questions that usually arise in informal corridor conversations revolves around why are we reinventing the wheel? Why are we repacking the whole thing? We know this isn't going to work but why are they asking us to do it? etc etc... Then when I stumbled on this interesting quote... I probably got my answer.

Therefore anyone who is trying to perculate or create a culture of knowledge sharing and management need to also understand that not all people are interested in gaining knowledge and maybe they are content with what they have....And therefore the need to reward and recognise people.

In organisations, the need to do what the management wants is one of the key drivers. Therefore the involvement and the need to make the key decision maker(s) an evangelist of knowledge sharing is the need of the hour...that is if you want to be a successful knowledge management professional

* The photograph was shot in Kabini, near Bangalore on a 350D Cannon

The very first!

I really think this is an exciting journey that I am embarking on. I really donot know if anyone is going to read or further still if anyone is actually going to comment. In numerous occasions , I have had the oppurtunity to discuss and present my ideas and thoughts... Somehow it seemed to sail past . I guess, I spoke about subjects that I am passionate about and maybe the subjects that I spoke about arent ones that turn people on.

I intent to use this to express my ideas about my experiences in the field of training and knowledge management. More so how it impacts people. I hope people can add value to my journey.