Learning And Knowledge Management - The Challenges And Experience Of Oxfam GB

Learning And Knowledge Management – The Challenges And Experience Of Oxfam GB

Organisational Context And Knowledge Management Challenges

Oxfam GB is a development, relief, and campaigning organisation dedicated to finding lasting solutions to poverty and suffering around the world. The organisation works with communities, local partners, volunteers and supporters to help overcome the injustices of poverty and suffering. The organisation works internationally as part of a worldwide movement to build a just and safer world.

The organisation employs around 3,000 permanent staff and approximately 23,000 volunteers working in various roles throughout the organisation in Great Britain.

The organisation is structured into five major divisions:

Marketing Division: which is responsible for fundraising, communications, campaigns, and work to raise awareness of development issues in formal education in Great Britain.

International Division: which is responsible for implementing Oxfam’s relief and development programme overseas; for the GB Poverty Programme; and for research, lobbying, and publications about the causes and relief of poverty.

Trading Division: which is responsible for shops (with sales of donated goods and fair trade products) and recycling, in Great Britain.

Finance and Information Systems Division: which is responsible for organisation-wide finance and information systems.

Corporate Human Resources Division: this leads on the work carried out with Human Resources teams in all Divisions on delivering Oxfam’s HR strategies.

Although the organisation prefers to use the term Learning Organisation rather than Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management is one of the key strategic areas featured in Oxfam’s five-year strategic plan. The organisation sees Knowledge Management as

. . . creating, managing, applying and sharing explicit knowledge (that exists typically in documents, databases and as part of processes) and tacit knowledge (embedded in people and their experience) in order to ‘make a difference’ in overcoming poverty and suffering.

Through its Knowledge Management approach the organisation is aiming to transform behaviours in a number of key areas:

• The way in which knowledge is applied to decision-making and choices

• The value placed on creating, managing, disseminating and utilising knowledge

• The attention given to ‘packaging’ knowledge so that it can be effectively applied

• Expectations that individuals within the organisation have of each other in terms of preparedness to maintain a learning posture and also a willingness to collaborate and share

While the organisation sees technology as being an important enabler for Knowledge Management it recognises that effective Knowledge Management requires more than a technological solution. It views technology as being there to facilitate communication, help embed practice (‘know how’) into systems and to enable mangers quickly to extract the information that they need to do their jobs effectively.

Oxfam GB’s approach to knowledge management can best be described as being emergent, rather than following a co-ordinated strategic approach. To-date this approach has encompassed the following areas.

Responsibilities For Knowledge Management

The organisation has chosen to adopt a ‘light touch’ to introducing Knowledge Management rather than launch a large-scale Organisational Development initiative. One of the key messages that the organisation has tried to communicate to its staff is that managing knowledge is central to the work of everyone within Oxfam and hence everyone needs to be responsible for managing the organisation’s, as well as their own, knowledge. The focus has been getting people to think of Knowledge Management as ‘the way we do our work’ rather than it being a separate activity, or initiative.

Some of the underpinning principles of Oxfam’s Knowledge Management approach include:

• Activities need to be clearly linked to organisational priorities, so that learning informs key decisions and debates

• Integral to the design and implementation of day-to-day activities

• Uses simple tools that make effective use of what is already known, rather than generating more information

• Helping the organisation become more skilled at seeking out and sharing learning

Despite wanting to adopt a ‘light touch’ to its Knowledge Management approach some key changes have been introduced to ensure that the organisation is structured effectively from a Knowledge Management perspective.

Having defined its core Knowledge Management goals and underpinning principles the next task for the organisation was to introduce a new management structure thereby ensuring that responsibilities for Knowledge Management are shared across significant parts of the organisation. There are three main strands to the organisation’s Knowledge Management approach and senior managers have been assigned specific responsibilities within these three areas:

Culture: The organisation is aiming to become a learning organisation. It is striving to build a culture in which Communities of Practice and Storytelling techniques are valued. The use of Storytelling as a Knowledge Management tool is seen as having a strong cultural fit given that Storytelling is a natural communication tool used in many of the Southern world countries that Oxfam works with. Because of this learning focus the cultural strand of Oxfam’s Knowledge Management work is being led by the Corporate Learning and Development Manager.

Processes and content: Responsibilities here fall to senior managers from the main business divisions (International, Marketing and Trading).

Technology: While this aspect of the organisation’s Knowledge Management approach is headed up by a senior manager from the Information Systems department, other key players have a responsibility to input to and validate the design of information systems to ensure that they are consistent with the organisation’s Knowledge Management goals. Many of the IT tools needed for effective Knowledge Management are already in existence, these include the corporate Internet, intranet and the use of Lotus Notes.

In addition to these areas of responsibility the organisation has also established two Knowledge Management Reference Groups. These are basically forums in which people within the organisation who have an interest in Knowledge Management can meet to exchange ideas, thoughts and stories about Knowledge Management.

A Knowledge Management Core Group, consisting of the key senior managers taking knowledge management forward, meet once every few months to discuss projects and share progress, and agree next steps.

A wider Knowledge Management Reference Group normally meets over lunch, every couple of months, and has become known internally as ‘the brown bag’ group, since people generally turn up with their own lunch. The format and discussions that take place at ‘the brown bag’ sessions are fairly loosely defined. Staff from different parts of Oxfam including those who work as volunteers, are encouraged to attend ‘the brown bag’ sessions. Visitors from overseas, and occasionally external KM practitioners, are encouraged to come along to share their Knowledge Management stories.

Approaches To Encourage And Support Knowledge Building And Sharing

Enhancing communications across organisational boundaries

Communications is seen as a critical ingredient of the organisation’s Knowledge Management approach. The geographical boundaries of Oxfam’s work however can make communications and cross-boundary learning difficult. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that many people within the organisation tend not to shout about their successes. Culturally there is a tendency for people to hide their light under a bushel. One of the priorities then for the organisation has been to develop a more joined-up approach to its communications activities (e.g. published/unpublished, electronic/paper-based and internal/external communications).

The organisation draws on a number of different communications approaches as a means of ensuring that its people get to hear about the different projects that are taking place in different geographical locations and hence have an opportunity to learn from the experience of others. The main communications tools include:

Internal magazines and journals – the organisation produces a regular in-house newsletter known as VOX (The Voice of Oxfam) and Division specific journals, such as ‘Shoptalk’ in the Trading Division.

Storytelling – Storytelling is now a critical tool in the organisation’s communications approach. Most external and internal communications start with a real story as a way of reinforcing the key message that the organisation is trying to communicate.

The use of narrative in different forms of communications is becoming more and more common. For example, real stories are being incorporated into Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment reports. Including real stories in these types of reports help to illustrate the real impact on individuals’ lives of the work carried out by Oxfam and other agencies.

Video technology – Video technology is increasingly being used so that stories in the organisation can be videoed. These videos are then duplicated so that Team Leaders can use them as part of their team meetings. Examples of stories of successful projects include: A waste recycling project in Datcha, Trade Fair, Rice farming in the Caribbean. Showing videos during Team Meetings is viewed as a key medium for learning and hence is seen as a legitimate use of time.

Intranet – There is a separate area on the organisation’s intranet dedicated to Learning and Knowledge Management. Within this area there is a section known as ‘Talking’. Here staff can read stories of various projects that are taking place in different Oxfam regions. The topics range from ‘HIV/AIDS: Impact on livelihoods in Southern Africa’ to ‘Evaluation: How do we measure up to the job?’

The organisation has also considered introducing a travelling minstrel, whose role it would be to travel around different Oxfam regions gathering and telling stories about different projects.

Encouraging Communities of Practice

Given the geographical scope of the work that Oxfam does the organisation is keen to encourage its staff to participate in Communities of Practice (COPs). An internal document promoting the use of COPs stresses that ‘ Communities of practice are not just “one more thing to do”, but are how people do their work.’ In the future more emphasis will be placed on developing COPs and collaboratives, i.e. groups of practitioners who meet to share their learning as they take practical steps to solve practical problems.

Training And Development

The Learning and Development function within HR see their role as being very much one of helping others in the organisation to build and enhance their knowledge-building capabilities. They do this through:

• Facilitating learning within teams

• Helping teams learn how to tell good stories so that they provide clear messages

• Helping teams unpack stories told by other teams within the organisation

• Helping individuals and teams unpack what they know

• Developing strategic leadership

• Helping line managers build their questioning, communication and visualising skills

Given that Storytelling is a crucial element of the organisation’s Knowledge Management approach a Storytelling component was added to the organisation’s Strategic Leadership Development Programme, which 200 members of the senior management team took part in.

A developmental opportunity available to all individuals within Oxfam (permanent staff, as well as volunteers) is something known as the ‘Tours’. This is an opportunity to go on an extended tour of Oxfam to learn more about its work in different regions. Each tour lasts for between 3 and 6 weeks and involves a group of 6–10 people.

Although not initially envisaged as a knowledge-building tool, the structure and requirements of the ‘Tours’ programme is knowledge enhancing. One of the criteria for being selected to go on the ‘Tours’ programme is that individuals agree to give around 30 presentations to colleagues on their return, thus helping to bring the work of Oxfam alive for others in the organisation.

To help individuals meet this requirement they are provided with cameras and tape recorders so that they can capture what they have seen and learnt. On return individuals are offered onetoone coaching on presentation skills and storytelling so that they are equipped to deliver informative and knowledge-rich presentations.

Revisiting evaluation

Evaluation and impact assessment is an important part of the work carried out within the organisation. It is seen as crucial for ensuring accountability, legitimacy and learning. Part of the learning that has taken place within the organisation is that of learning how to become more effective at carrying out monitoring, evaluation and impact assessments.

Drawing on the lessons learnt in recent years the Programme Policy unit has produced a set of good practice guidelines for Impact Assessment programmes. These include:

• Keep monitoring systems simple and user friendly and ensure that they build on what people know and can do

• Embed Impact Assessment in all phases of the Project/Programme cycle

• Focus on key questions

• Recognize the diversity of different groups views and conditions and where possible tailor reports to take into account their needs

• Ensure that monitoring systems evolve and are adapted over time

• Ensure organisational coherence and alignment, e.g. in incentives, rewards and other organisational practices

HR has a pivotal role to play in building a culture where informal learning is valued and supported. This requires paying attention to the way in which different learning resources are positioned, as well as the physical spaces within which learning can take place. Coaching, mentoring, job shadowing, secondments, back-tothefloor, participation in Communities of Practice and cross-boundary team working are all practices that are being revisited and/or adopted within organisations to build their knowledge base. Equally, priority needs to be given to providing all employees with training in the key knowledge management skills: information management, problem-solving, creative thinking, working with change, collaborative working.

Another role for HR is to help the organisation experiment with, and learn from, new ways of working, such as cross-boundary team working. Cross-boundary team working is one way of tapping into the organisation’s diverse talents. It is also a means to help individuals develop a broader perspective of problems/tasks. Cross-boundary team working can also help individuals build their social capital (i.e. their network contacts).

To some extent there is a potential clash of interest here for trainers whose natural reaction when presented with a learning need from the business is to offer a training programme. However, many organisations are now beginning to re-visit their learning offering, drawing on broader learning approaches including: formal learning programmes; self-directed learning programmes, as well as utilising new technologies for learning.

An organisation in the financial services sector that I came across while carrying out background research for this book has taken a strategic decision not to offer a structured skills development programme for its managers. Instead it is helping to develop its managers through the use of Self-managed Learning. Adopting this approach is enabling managers to focus on their specific learning needs. Learning in Self-managed Learning Sets has the added advantage that it helps managers to develop their ‘soft’ skills (e.g. listening, questioning, offering feedback); skills which can then be applied when working with their teams, colleagues and other stakeholders. This approach can also help to bring about more collaborative working in the future through the trust that is established when working with colleagues in learning sets.

Some factors to consider when creating a learning and sharing environment are:

Make learning and sharing easy by . . .

• Providing time and mental space, e.g. scheduling time for thinking and learning

• Create public and private spaces for learning, e.g. open space areas, coffee areas, quiet areas

• Provide learning resources, e.g. libraries, information centres, special learning laboratories, virtual university

• Drawing, on expertise from outside, e.g. regular talks from external people, and

Make learning and sharing worthwhile by . . .

• Giving recognition to the sharers

• Publicising best practice

• Providing awards for sharers (particularly at annual conferences, thus maximising publicity)

• Rewarding the learners, for example through introducing a time matching scheme for learning

People Movement Plans – Co-Ordinating Plans For The Free Movement Of People (And Hence Knowledge)

In knowledge businesses succession planning needs to have a different emphasis. Instead of thinking of succession planning purely in terms of the upward movement of staff, as is the case with traditional succession planning, there is a need to consider the lateral movement of staff. This is crucial for knowledge to circulate freely around an organisation.

HR has an important role in re-educating managers on how to plan for and manage lateral career moves, as well as helping coordinate plans for the movement of people around the organisation.

People moves, however, do not have to be on a permanent basis. Other ways of working that can enable knowledge to flow across departmental boundaries include: secondments; cross-boundary team working; work shadowing, as well as coaching and mentoring.

Where HR can add value is to make it easier for these knowledge-building opportunities to occur. The Workforce Development team within Berkshire NHS Shared Services, for example, has introduced a KM Sharematch Scheme, providing a way of connecting staff who wish to build their knowledge through workshadowing other professionals, in different healthcare roles. The availability of technology means that this does not need to be an administrative burden for HR. However, there is an important role for HR in terms of promoting such schemes, as well as evaluating the outcomes.

Help People Develop A Sense Of Community And Belonging

As organisations and cultures become more fragmented this can become a source of tension for individuals as it conflicts with one of Maslow’s five basis needs, i.e. to be able to identify with a social group that is close to them. Social isolation, or the fear of feeling socially isolated, is one of the known difficulties with teleworking and home working. Yet individuals can also feel socially isolated when working in organisations that are more loosely structured, i.e. in virtual organisations, or where the organisation is moving towards more mobile working.

As the employee champion, HR has a role to play in ensuring that practices exist to help individuals feel part of a bigger community. This may be something as simple as engineering informal gatherings where people can come together to chew the fat about whatever is meaningful for them. A voluntary organisation that I have been working with holds ‘Air and Share’ sessions. These provide a forum to let off steam and also work through some common problems with colleagues. However, as many of these individuals work autonomously, one of the main drivers for holding these sessions is to help bring people together.

With fun being high on the wish list of what employees today want out of a satisfying career, creating opportunities for them to let their hair down seems important. Club Med in Nice was the chosen venue for staff at Electronic Arts European Head Office as a venue to get together to exchange ideas, share experiences and also let their hair down.

Keeping The Momentum Going

Monitor how you are doing

Evaluation is often one of people’s least favourite activities. But if your organisation wants to move towards and/or remain knowledge-centric then it is crucial that you monitor how you are doing on your journey. This process should cover:

Reviewing the initial KM goals

How are you doing? In what areas have you made most progress? What has been the most significant learning points? What has happened to that learning? Are the initial goals you set still relevant, or is it time to set some new goals?

Taking the pulse of the organisation

It would be difficult to give a blueprint for what to include here as this would depend upon the organisational values, KM goals, or areas that the organisation is striving to improve on. However, some suggested areas for a KM pulse check include:

• My manager is supportive of me participating in Communities of Practice, allowing me to schedule time for this work, alongside other deliverables.

• My manager really listens to my ideas for enhancing performance.

• Team meetings are used as a way to proactively share knowledge and for learning through joint problem-solving.

• I regularly get the opportunity to hear about future business plans directly from senior managers.

• I have a career plan which addresses both my own and the organisation’s future knowledge needs.

• I feel supported in trying out new ways of working.

• There are enough spaces (both time and physical) for me to have learning conversations with others.

• I am encouraged to network with others, both within and outside the organisation.

What seems crucial is to focus on a few key indicators that can be easily tracked, rather than trying to monitor too much. As part of their commitment to enhancing employability Motorola have introduced an ‘Individual Dignity Plan’. This contains six key indicators that managers discuss quarterly with individuals in their team. A negative response to any of these six items is treated as a quality failure and is dealt with in the same way as other quality failures.

If these types of indexes are communicated and discussed alongside other business indicators (such as sales, profits, external customer feedback scores) this can be a powerful way of reinforcing the message that the organisation is taking knowledge management seriously.

Revisit Existing HR Practices To Ensure Knowledge Aligned

Chapter 10 sets out a model for linking HR and KM practices, thus providing a framework for ensuring that a knowledge focus is added to current and future HR practices. The model encompasses steps that can be taken to ensure that a knowledge focus is maintained in the recruitment, induction, reward and recognition, career management and performance management systems.

Communicate, Communicate And Communicate

Build effective approaches for communicating and sharing success stories, bearing in mind the points made earlier about choosing the right medium for the message that needs to be communicated.