NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

46
David Gurteen How do we make people How do we make people share their knowledge! share their knowledge! David Gurteen Gurteen Knowledge Learning, Sharing and Collaboration The Keys to success in the Knowledge based Organization NetIKX 21 st November 2007

description

The slides of a talk/knowledge cafe I ran for NetIKX in London on 21st November 2007. On "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

Transcript of NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

Page 1: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

How do we make people How do we make people share their knowledge!share their knowledge!

David GurteenGurteen Knowledge

Learning, Sharing and Collaboration The Keys to success in the Knowledge based Organization

NetIKX21st November 2007

Page 2: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

How do we make them share their How do we make them share their knowledge?knowledge?

Page 3: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

The Question!The Question!

• Assumes US and THEM• Assumes THEY need to be MADE to share• Assumes we know better

• A better way to phrase the question

How do we better work together?

Sally, I’d like to talk with you about how

we could better work together.

Sally, I’d like to talk to you about how you could improve

your knowledge sharing.

How do we make them share?

Page 4: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Work with People – don’t do things to Work with People – don’t do things to them!them!

Many of the familiar principles of Quality management amount to an

elaboration of this simple truth:

an innovative, healthy organization requires that we work with people

rather than do things to them.

Alfie Kohn

Page 5: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

How do we better work together?How do we better work together?

How do we better work together?

How do you make them

share?

Many of the familiar principles of Quality management amount to an elaboration of this

simple truth: an innovative, healthy organization requires that we work with people rather than do

things to them.

Alfie Kohn

Page 6: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Knowledge Sharing

Page 7: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Knowledge SharingKnowledge Sharing

• We do not ‘share knowledge’ in the literal meaning of sharing

• Not like sharing a cake– Synergistic 2 + 2 = 5

• More about:– Personal Networking– Helping each other– Working together– Collaborating

Page 8: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Knowledge SharingKnowledge Sharing

• Sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. That is only valid for information sharing.

• Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes.

Peter Senge

Page 9: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Personal Reasons for SharingPersonal Reasons for Sharing

• To help other people & to help ourselves• Other people

– To get things done– To build relationships so they in turn help us

• Ourselves– To get things done– Learning to be gained– Knowledge is perishable– Someone else will make our knowledge productive first

Page 10: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Barriers to Knowledge SharingBarriers to Knowledge Sharing

1. A silo mentality

2. Knowledge is power

3. Lack of knowledge sharing processes

4. No time allowed

5. No knowledge sharing by executives

6. Managers do not walk the talk

7. Poor IT systems

8. Lack of encouragement

9. Bureaucracy

10. Resistance to change by managersKarl-Eric Sveiby

Page 11: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Is Sharing Natural?Is Sharing Natural?

• Some say – sharing is human & comes

naturally

• Other say– knowledge is power and sharing

is not natural

Page 12: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Knowledge SharingKnowledge Sharing

Share your Knowledge

• credit to somebody else• passed over for promotion

• depression• alcoholism

• marital breakdown• destitution• die a bum

Is this really true?

Reasons for Sharing• ego

• money reward• guilt

Page 13: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Do we share?Do we share?

• We ALL help each other to a greater or lesser degree• Within our department• Within our project work• With friends and trusted colleagues• Within our network

Page 14: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Why do we share?Why do we share?

• We share because– it is in our interest– we have something to gain

• We do not give our knowledge away• We implicitly TRADE things

– tangible and intangible

• The major barriers to sharing– lack of TIME!– lack of obvious benefit i.e. there is no trade

Page 15: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Trading KnowledgeTrading Knowledge

• we need to do our job• we are afraid of the

consequences if we don’t• we like them• we want to look good• we want them to like us• we enjoy it • we are looking for promotion

• we are looking for a new job• we want them to be indebted

to us• we want to build a potentially

useful relationship• they pay us or give us some

other tangible reward

We help people when they approach us for a varietyof reasons - tangible & intangible (often implicit):

Page 16: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

The trick to sharing moreThe trick to sharing more

• If we approach someone– help make clear the benefits

• If we are being approached– look for the benefits

• Especially the learning benefits

Page 17: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Benefit & TimeBenefit & Time

TimeAvailability

Benefit

high

low

high low

no brainer

Opportunity for learning/relationship

building

explore/escalate

suggest an alternative

Page 18: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

SummarySummary

• Knowledge Sharing is not the same as Information Sharing

• Knowledge Sharing is about ‘trading intangibles’!– we need to look for the benefits

• Learning is one of the the major benefits

Page 19: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Should organizations reward knowledge sharing?

Page 20: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

For Best Results Forget the Bonus!

Here is what Alfie Kohn has to say about rewards

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

http://www.alfiekohn.org

Page 21: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Rewards PunishRewards Punish

• Threats & coercion destroy motivation and so do rewards

• Rewards are manipulative• “Do this and you will get that” is not much different to

“Do this else here is what will happen to you”• When people do not get the reward they hoped for

they feel punished• The more desirable the reward the more

demoralizing it is to miss out

Page 22: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Rewards rupture relationsRewards rupture relations

• Excellence depends on teamwork• Rewards (especially if scarce) destroy

cooperation• Incentive driven employees will not ask for

help from their manager when they need it• They will conceal problems from their

manager to appear infinitely competent

Page 23: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Rewards ignore reasonsRewards ignore reasons

• To solve problems people must understand the causes

• They ignore the complexities of the problems• Each situation calls for a different response• Rewards tend to blindly promote a single

solution

Page 24: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Rewards deter risk-takingRewards deter risk-taking

• People are less likely to take risks; to explore possibilities; to play hunches

• The No. 1 casualty of rewards is creativity

Page 25: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Rewards undermine interestRewards undermine interest

• Loving what you do is a more powerful motivator than any goody including money

• Rewards are controlling!• If people focus on getting a reward they tend

to feel their work is no longer freely chosen and directed by them

• If they have to bribe me to do it - it must be something I don’t want to do!

Page 26: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

So what’s the solution?So what’s the solution?

How do we make people share?

How do we make people do anything?

Page 27: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Alfie KohnAlfie Kohn

• Pay people well• Pay people fairly• Then do everything possible to take money

(rewards) off people’s minds

Incentives, bonuses, pay-for-performance-plans and other reward

systems violate this last principle by their very nature!

Page 28: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Bob BuckmanBob Buckman

Our approach to KM is far more than stick or carrot.

We say, "Knowledge Sharing is your job. Do it!"

As a reward you may keep your job.

Page 29: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

How Children FailHow Children Fail

Children do not need to be made to learn to be better, told what to do or shown how.

If they are given access to enough of the world, they will see clearly enough what

things are truly important to themselves and to others, and they will make for themselves a

better path into that world then anyone else could make for them

John Holt

Page 30: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

ChangeChange

The only way to change is to change your understanding.

Anthony de Mello, Jesuit Priest

Page 31: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Changing People’s BehaviorChanging People’s Behavior

• We cannot change other people's behavior - only they can do that!

• Threats, rewards and praise do not work

• We don't need to be told what to do. We just need to understand the world better and then

we will see what needs to be done for ourselves

• So how do we better understand the world?

Page 32: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

How do we understand better?How do we understand better?

Through being involved and through open conversation!

Page 33: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Business is a Conversation

Page 34: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Business is a conversationBusiness is a conversation

Business is a conversation because the defining work of business is

conversation - literally.

And 'knowledge workers' are simply those people whose job consists of having interesting conversations.

David WeinbergerThe Cluetrain Manifesto

Page 35: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Conversation is a meeting of mindsConversation is a meeting of minds

Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits.

When minds meet, they don't just exchange facts: they transform them,

reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in

new trains of thought.

Conversation doesn't just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards.

Theodore ZeldinConversation

Page 36: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

KM is about understandingKM is about understanding

For all our knowledge, we have no idea what we're talking about.

We don't understand what's going on in our business, our market, and our world.

KM shouldn’t be about helping us to know more. It should be about helping us to

understand.

So, how do we understand things? It's through stories that we understand how the

world works.

David Weinberger, The Cluetrain Manifesto

Page 37: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

ConversationConversation

“A mechanistic and unproductive exchange

between people seeking to defend their own views against

one another”

“A frank exchange of ideas or views on a specific issue in an

effort to attain mutual understanding”

Debateor

dialogue?

Page 38: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

DialogueDialogue

• When we engage each other in dialogue– we enter into a conversation with a view to learn from each

other– rather than impose our views on the other.

The kind of conversation I’m interested in is one in which you start with a willingness

to emerge a slightly different person.

Theodore Zeldin, Historian

Page 39: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Principles of DialoguePrinciples of Dialogue

• Suspend assumptions, do not judge• Observe & listen to one another• Welcome differences & explore them• Allow taboo subjects to be raised safely• Listen to your inner voice• Slow the discussion• Search for the underlying meaning

Page 40: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

The Role of ConversationThe Role of Conversation

• It is through conversation that we– communicate, co-ordinate & collaborate– surface our tacit knowledge– share our tacit knowledge– learn & gain insights & new perspectives– our blind-spots & assumptions are revealed

• Conversation is central to all that we do • It is key to understanding the world!

Page 41: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

ConversationConversation

Suppose we were able to share meanings freely without a

compulsive urge to impose our view or conform to those of others and

without distortion and self-deception.

Would this not constitute a real revolution in culture.

David Bohm, Physicist

Page 42: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

SummarySummary

How do we better work together?

How do you make people

share?

Better understanding through open conversation

Rewards and Praise

Page 43: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Questions?

Page 44: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Knowledge CafeKnowledge Cafe

Page 45: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

Knowledge SharingKnowledge Sharing

How do we make people share their knowledge?

Page 46: NetIKX Knowledge Cafe: "How do you make people share their knowledge?".

David Gurteen

www.gurteen.com

David GurteenGurteen KnowledgeTel: +44 1252 812 878Email: [email protected]