Knowing the learning hot spots

To summarize the message in this chapter so far, creating a smarter business requires quality business intelligence, observation of performance and clear direction. If your business does this well you are much more likely to identify the important hot spots or areas for knowledge improvement. As each hot spot is addressed the business can then move on to the next , and so on.

Clearly, if you wish to get individuals to ˜buy in , the business must communicate why addressing these hot spots is important. People must see that learning about hot issues is meaningful, real and important work. You need to grab their attention by stimulating their curiosity . On a personal level you may need to stress the benefit of working and learning about these issues. Other personal benefits may involve enhancing people s reputation, employability, feeling of acknowledgement , development of mutual respect and making people look good. Likewise you may also link the broader benefit to the business, customer or society. Needless to say, the benefits can be both large and diverse.

The key here is about maximizing contribution to knowledge and learning and not about living out a prison sentence . Forced contribution has a very low success rate, as well as generating hostility or passive resistance. So go for short bursts of innovation rather than long and protracted involvement.

As discussed in Chapter 4, depth of thinking is also vitally important. Encourage people to keep journals and to contribute to archives of knowledge on the hot issue under investigation. If you have access to digital software you can use it to encourage people to answer and help each other. Again, practical assistance can help people contribute; instead of having vital people spending hours proofreading and editing text, get others to help them to do this. Remember, forcing people to contribute will at best only reduce tokenism. You must gain their permission, trust and goodwill.

Where you face resistance by people not wanting to help or offer assistance, you may wish to explore the following questions to increase their involvement:

• Do you know why this issue is so important and what it involves?

• Do you know how easy it is to help?

• What needs to change in order for you to continue?

• What other issues need to be discussed first, before you are ready to commit?

• What happened last time you tried to share or contribute?

• What could we do more of to encourage you to participate differently?

• What are you concerned about losing if you shared or contributed ?

• What would you see are the benefits of sharing or contributing more?

• Are you prepared or interested in being part of the solution?

You will find these questions will help clarify misunderstanding as well as bring to the surface hidden tensions or concerns. Also, you may need to consider conducting formal training and coaching to clearly demonstrate that sharing knowledge has merit for both individual and business benefits. Of course, when you design the training make sure it embodies the principles of knowledge sharing and celebration , as opposed to being a formal lecture where the opposite dynamics are usually the case.