Knowledge Transfer: From Creation to Application

Connecting Creation to Application.

Albert SimardKnowledge ManagerDefence R&D Canada

INF0NEX Public Sector Human Resource Management

January,18-21, 2011; Ottawa, ON

Knowledge Transfer:

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A Definition…

• Knowledge Transfer: Act, process, or instance of conveying, copying, or causing knowledge* to pass from one person, place, or situation to another.

*As used here, knowledge includes all forms of content: objects, data, information, knowledge, and wisdom.

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Knowledge Transfer – Human Resource Perspective

• Increases employee skills and capabilities

• Supports career development

• Enhances employee engagement and retention

• Mitigates human resource risks

• Enables succession planning

The more employees know, the more valuable they are to the organization.

The more employees know, the more valuable they are to the organization.

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Knowledge Transfer – Knowledge Management Perspective

• Enables organizational work

• Leverages knowledge for multiple uses

• Reduces duplication and reinvention

• Supports preservation for future use

• Facilitates collaboration and synergy

• Enhances competitiveness and sustainability

Knowledge transfer is the lifeblood of an organization.

Knowledge transfer is the lifeblood of an organization.

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Outline

• Individuals

• Communities

• Context

• Strategy

• Practices

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Different Views of People

• Workers – who, what, when, where, why, how

• Human capital – workforce, skills, productivity, salaries

Human nature – behavior, attitudes, interests

Communities – connectivity, functionality, impacts

• Culture – domain, ideology, values, norms, rituals

• Human Resources – staffing & retention, supervision & performance, training & development

IndividualsIndividuals

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Incentive Framework

Type of Incentive

Individual Response

Organizational Results

Compliance Behavior Functionality

Motivation Attitudes Productivity

Engagement Willingness Creativity

Peter Stoyko (2010)Peter Stoyko (2010)


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Incentives• Compliance (you will)

– Pay, job security, duty, penalties– Military, manufacturing, law, policies– Meet quotas, minimum standards, no change

• Motivation (you’ll be rewarded)– Ambition, challenges, bonuses, rewards– Efficiency, productivity, quality– Increases, improvements, evolutionary changes

• Engagement (would you like to?)– Autonomy, mastery, purpose– Design, innovation, discovery– Commitment, involvement, revolutionary changes


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Why Engage Knowledge Workers?

• Knowledge cannot be conscripted; it must be volunteered.

• Knowledge workers need to commit to and become truly involved in their work.

• Ideally, they work:– Not because it is asked of them,– Not because they expect something in

return,– Because they want to; they enjoy doing it.


Human resources + knowledge management PARTNERSHIP

Human resources + knowledge management PARTNERSHIP

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Engagement: Autonomy• Task: what to do (% of time, mutual agreement)

• Time: when to do it (schedule, location)

• Technique: how to do it (results, not methods)

• Team: (self-organization, select coworkers)

Daniel Pink (2009)Daniel Pink (2009)


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Engagement: Mastery

• Mindset: (want to excel, can increase ability and skill, learning, practice)

• Pain: (perseverance, passion, overcoming obstacles, long-term, time & effort)

• Asymptotic: (approach, but never quite reach, close but can’t touch)



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Engagement: Purpose

• Goals: quality of life, life with meaning, looking beyond oneself, social responsibility, stewardship

• Words: indicate intent, describe meaning, affect attitude, guide behavior, soul-stirring, emotional

• Policies: ethics, individual choice, meaningful ends, guidance



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Engagement Methods

• Hire “engageable” employees

• Match projects, passions, proficiency

• Stress employee ownership

• Clarify mutual goals and expectations

• Earn trust continuously

• Provide frequent feedback

• Talk and listen often

Wendy Fenci (2008)Wendy Fenci (2008)


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Engagement SignalsPositive

• Mutual expectations

• Listen to ideas

• Ask for help & advice

• Jointly review progress

• Freely share information

• Work collaboratively

• Delegate decisions

Negative

• Monitor closely

• Don’t include in planning

• Ignore suggestions

• Seldom interact

• Withhold information

• Control tightly

• Approve all decisionsTosti & Nickols (2010)Tosti & Nickols (2010)


Science knows much more about engagement than departments

practice.

Science knows much more about engagement than departments

practice.

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Outline

• Individuals

• Communities

• Context

• Strategy

• Practices

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Community of Practice

• Government, department

• Sector, branch, division staff

• Scientists, engineers, lawyers

• Policy analysts, regulators

• Finance, purchasing officers

• Information, communication specialists

CommunitiesCommunities

People who share common expertise, skill, or profession (position, work, colleagues)

People who share common expertise, skill, or profession (position, work, colleagues)

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Participants- Help with their work- Solve problems- Find experts- Receive feedback- Place to learn- Latest information- Enhance reputation

Participants- Help with their work- Solve problems- Find experts- Receive feedback- Place to learn- Latest information- Enhance reputation

Management- Connect isolated experts- Coordinate activities- Fast problem solving- Reduce development time- Quickly answer questions- Standardize processes- Develop & retain talent

Management- Connect isolated experts- Coordinate activities- Fast problem solving- Reduce development time- Quickly answer questions- Standardize processes- Develop & retain talent

Community Benefits

Outputs- - Tangible: documents, reports, manuals,

recommendations, reduced innovation time and cost- - Intangible: increased skills, sense of trust, diverse

perspectives, cross-pollinate ideas, capacity to innovate, relationships, spirit of enquiry

Outputs- - Tangible: documents, reports, manuals,

recommendations, reduced innovation time and cost- - Intangible: increased skills, sense of trust, diverse

perspectives, cross-pollinate ideas, capacity to innovate, relationships, spirit of enquiry


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Common Characteristics of Communities

• Self-governed: norms and guidelines govern practices.

• Self-organized: purpose, direction, and management.

• Productive enquiry: answer questions based on practice.

• Collaborate: synchronous and asynchronous channels.

• Generate knowledge: new knowledge is created.

• Support members: provides a forum for mutual support.

Saint-Onge & Wallace (2003)Saint-Onge & Wallace (2003)


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Diverse Attributes of Communities

• Size: small to large; large communities need structure

• Structure: informal, semi-structured, structured

• Diversity: homogeneous to heterogeneous

• Boundaries: often cross boundaries

• Life-Span: few years to permanent

• Establishment: informal or formal

Wenger et. al. (2002)Wenger et. al. (2002)


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Community Behaviors

Positive• Dialogue• Trust• Safety• Meritocracy• Equality• Outliers

Negative• Discussion• Debating• Arguing• Agenda• Authority• Assuming• Majority• Consensus• Groupthink


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NetworksInterconnection among many individuals groups or

organizations with common interdependencies, interests, or purpose.

• Networks are much bigger than communities (100s to 1,000,000s of members).

• Participants don’t know most other participants, limiting trust and security.

• Large numbers of nodes leads to complex behavior.


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Network Behavior

• Positive feedback - The bigger the network, the bigger it gets.

• Biological growth - Crossing a “threshold” yields self-sustaining, exponential growth.

• Synergy & emergence – Networks can yield more than any individual can accomplish.

• Winner take most – There is a tendency for one member to dominate.

• Extreme leveraging – A small effort can trigger market domination.

Kevin Kelly (1998)


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Outline

• Individuals

• Communities

• Context

• Strategy

• Practices

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Continuous Transfer

• Knowledge transfer should be embedded into all knowledge work.

• It should occur periodically as part of normal reporting.

• It should occur whenever something significant is learned.

• It should involve both explicit and tacit knowledge.

ContextContext

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Discontinuous Transfer

Positive Change

• New employee arrives

• Employee changes position

• Employee retires

• Project completed

Negative Change

• Employee terminated

• Project ended

• Location closed

• Organization shut down

ContextContext

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Transfer During Change

• If previous knowledge was not transferred, it isn’t available for current work.

• If current knowledge isn’t transferred, it won’t be available for future work.

• For positive change, people dispose of documents and forget what they knew.

• Negative attitudes from negative change preclude effective knowledge transfer.

• If transfer has been ongoing, it’s simply a matter of implementation during change.

ContextContext

Knowledge transfer connects the past, present, and future.

Knowledge transfer connects the past, present, and future.

Starting transfer during change is too late!Starting transfer during change is too late!

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Outline

• Individuals

• Communities

• Context

• Strategy

• Practices

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Knowledge Infrastructure

Peoplelearning, motivation,

rewards, incentives,

staffing, skills

Governance roles, responsibilities, authorities, resources

Processes

work routineslessons learned, best practices,

Content, Services

data, risk analysis, reports, monitoring, operations, policies

Toolssystems to capture, store, share, and process content

StrategyStrategy

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Knowledge Management Levels

Knowledge Assets

Knowledge Sharing

Knowledge Work

Knowledge Transfer

Knowledge Infrastructure

Stock

Flow

Business

National Defence, Public Safety

Defence R & D Canada

Markets

Resources Government

StrategyStrategy

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Knowledge Cycle

CreationCreation ValidationValidation

OrganizationOrganizationAuthorizationAuthorization

StrategyStrategy

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Knowledge Management Regimes

Authoritative Hierarchy

Organizational Infrastructure

Negotiated Agreement

Responsible Autonomy

Purpose (Why) Authorize Organize Collaborate Create

Entity (What) Decisions & Actions

Objects & Tasks

People & Connectivity

Environment & Interests

Process (How) Decide & Act Capture & Structure

Connect Communities

Engage people

Interactions Hierarchy Work Process Agreements Dialogue

Knowledge Authoritative Explicit Tacit Innate

StrategyStrategy

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Knowledge Services Value Chain

Use Internally

Use Professionally

Use Personally

Generate

Transform

Add Value

Transfer

Evaluate

Manage

Extract

Advance

Embed

Legend

S&T PartnersDefence Research & Development Canada

Forces, Practitioners, Stakeholders

StrategyStrategy

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Knowledge Users

• Government users – leaders, managers, planners, advisors, coordinators, workers

• Body of knowledge – national & international science & technology communities

• Intermediaries – governments, business, practitioners, trainers, researchers, media, NGOs

• Practitioners - governments, business, practitioners, trainers, researchers, NGOs, international groups

• Canadians – e.g., community, well being, safety, employment, education, environment…

StrategyStrategy

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Transfer Strategy

Destination Difficulty Audience Purpose Transfer

Government Complex One Intervene Conversation

Knowledge Conceptual Few Support Paper

Intermediary Complicated Few Promote Specification

Practitioner Professional Some Explain Consultation

Canadians Popular Many Advertise Self-help

Rich

Reach

StrategyStrategy

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Knowledge Markets

• Communications - one-way dissemination of approved messages and positions.

• Transaction - two-way exchanges of knowledge products & services.

• Parallel - Transferring knowledge products & services from two or more providers.

• Sequential - Multiple organizations sequentially produce and transfer knowledge products & services.

• Cyclic - Knowledge services “value chains” continuously create and transfer new knowledge.

• Network - Transfer among large numbers of participants in a “knowledge ecosystem.”

StrategyStrategy

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Outline

• Individuals

• Communities

• Context

• Strategy

• Practices

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Transfer Challenges

• Trust and safety• Organizational culture• Incentives and motivation• Difficulty of explaining • Different expertise

• Security and privacy• Control and hoarding• Large distances• Different languages• Inadequate technology

PracticesPractices

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HR Approaches to Transfer

• Training

• Mentoring

• Guided experience

• Special assignments

• Work shadowing

• Paired work

• Succession planning

• Retiree access

Primarily through assignmentsPrimarily through assignments

PracticesPractices

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KM Approaches to Transfer

• Communicate sharing goals regularly

• Train employees on using sharing tools

• Demonstrate the benefits of sharing

• Highlight sharing success stories

• Practice good sharing behavior

• Reward good sharing behavior

• Discourage poor sharing behavior

• Encourage community development

Primarily through behaviorPrimarily through behavior Stan Garfield (2010)Stan Garfield (2010)

PracticesPractices

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KM Explicit Transfer Methods• Capture: Represent explicit and tacit

knowledge on reproducible media.

• Inventory: Find, list, and describe knowledge and expertise; map to business needs, value and prioritize.

• Needs: What needs to be known to conduct business; identify core knowledge and vulnerabilities.

• Preserve: organize, store, maintain and migrate knowledge throughout its life-cycle.

• Access: Increase awareness, grant permissions, maximize accessibility, enable search and retrieval.

PracticesPractices

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KM Tacit Transfer Methods

• Conversations, discussions, dialogue (colleagues, peers)

• Questions & answers, problems & solutions (novice/expert)

• After-action reviews, lessons learned (event/group)

• Capture, document, interview, record (expert/facilitator)

• Extraction, identify, codify, organize (expert/know engineer)

• Advising, briefing, recommending (subordinate/superior)

• Teaching, educating, training (teacher/student)

• Storytelling, narratives, anecdotes (teller/listener)

• Explaining, demonstrating, describing (technician/user)

• Presentations, lectures, speeches (speaker/audience)

PracticesPractices

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Transfer Technology

• Telephony• Groupware• Video conferencing• E-mail• Chat rooms• Bulletin boards• On-line forums• Web portal• Expertise locator• Blogs, microblogs• Wikis

PracticesPractices

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Knowledge Transfer:

• Moves knowledge from creation to application.

• Is the lifeblood of an organization.

• Part of every aspect of knowledge work.

• It must be enabled, facilitated, & promoted.

• Needs a partnership between HR and KM.

Knowledge Transfer: From Creation to Application

Business

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