1

World Bank Knowledge Sharing Event

Building Blocks for Knowledge Management

June 24, 2004

2

Module Objectives

• To share knowledge about the ‘building blocks’ and ‘stumbling blocks’ of Knowledge Management

• USAID perspective

• New frameworks

• Participants’ perspective

3

This morning’s activities…

Panel Presentation: short, focused presentation of a frameworks with implications for KM

Small Group Discussion: how applicable is the idea based on your perspective and experience

Feedback: Collection and presentation of your views

Voting: What’s most important, collective recommendations

4

Session Agenda9:30 – 9:50 Introduction

- Module

- USAID KfD Strategy

- Building Blocks

9:50 – 10:50 Building Blocks Panel Presentation- Culture

- Change Management

- Governance

- Measurement

Q&A

10:50 – 11:05 Coffee Break

11:05 – 12:05 Small Group Discussion

12:05 – 12:50 Presentation of Recommendations

- Plenary debrief, Q&A

12:50 – 1:00 Session Wrap-up

- Multi-voting

5

• World wide deployment

• Knowledge in many places

• Workforce turnover

• Presidential Management Agenda (PMA) Initiative

Why KfD for USAID?

The Right Knowledge to the Right Person at the Right Time in support of the Agency Mission

6

USAID has three “faces”:

The Field

– On the ground: Development assistance/Disaster relief

– The “public” face

The Strategic

– Defining Agency policy, Bureau and Country Strategies and Program Plans

– The “USG” face

The Operational

– Administrative organizations and processes

– Providing support functions of the Agency

– The “hidden” face

What we found….

Each person sees their role different depending on which “face” they represent!

7

The Extended Enterprise Knowledge for mission success is often not within USAID itself

NGOs, PVOs, Think Tanks, Universities,

Grantees Beneficiaries inDeveloping Countries

Congress,State Dept.,The Public,OMB, NSC,

The President

Other Donors, Co-Financers

Contractors in US & Developing Countries

Technical & Sector Councils.

Advisory Committees

DOD, HHS, Commerce, Treasury,

USDA, etc.

Stakeholders

Federal Leads,Partners

Implementing Partners, Suppliers

UltimateCustomers

Funding Partners

USAID

FS, GS Retirees

8

The KfD Strategy Strategic ObjectivesThe KfD Strategy Strategic Objectives

• SO1 – Knowledge accessed and leveraged across the extended enterprise

• SO2 – Strengthened strategic operations of the Agency

• SO3 – Knowledge-based high performing workforce achieved

9

Our Governance

10

ContentContentContentContent

CollaborationCollaborationCollaborationCollaboration

LearningLearningLearningLearning

ExpertiseExpertiseExpertiseExpertise

PortalPortalPortalPortal

CommunityCommunityCommunityCommunity

MissionMissionMissionMission

PartnersPartnersPartnersPartners

USAID / WUSAID / WUSAID / WUSAID / W

Knowledge for Development

11

USAI D Knowledge f or DevelopmentProgram Architecture

People

Technology

Process

Change Management

Assessments Interventions Communications Training

Program ManagementKfD ProjectPlanning,Tracking,Reporting

KfD Metricsand

PerformanceMonitoring

Knowledge Mapping

ProcessAnalysis

ExplicitKnowledge

Identification

TacitKnowledge

Identification

AAL

LearnBefore

LearnDuring

LearnAfter

Meta DataSubject

TaxonomyEnterpriseTaxonomy

DevelopmentMarketplace

Portal

CoP

CommunitySupport

- Facilitation

- Web Services

- Advisory Services

CommunityDevelopment

- Planning

- Facilitation

myknowledge@USAID

YellowPages

ExplicitKnowledgeResources

TacitKnowledgeResources

Expertise

USAIDDocuments

and Websites

PartnerDocuments

and Websites

ActivityDocuments

and Websites

USAID Extranet

Enterprise Content Management - Records Management

Collaboration Software

KfDStrategy

Refinement

External Information Access

Information Access

Search

LessonsLearnedDatabase

USAID KfD Building Blocks

Change Management

• Culture

• Leadership

• Incentives

• Communication

Program Management

• Governance

• Measurement

12

Building blocks

• At its core, development is all about knowledge sharing

• Severe constraints force focus on knowledge

• New structures (strategic programs, peer relationships, teams) should put premium on knowledge sharing

13

Stumbling blocks

• Cross-organizational constraints more limiting than expected

• The personal characteristics that are attracted to change, and to knowledge sharing, are not necessarily those promoted in organizations

• Differences (cultural, organizational, institutional, gender) affect knowledge sharing

14

Panel Introduction

• Culture – Social Capital– Joe Rabenstine and Omar Azfar

• Change Management – Politics – Gary Vaughan and Tony Pryor

• Governance – KM Org Models– John Crager

• Measurement – Strategy Maps– Jeff Malick and Joe Rabenstine

15

Panel Presentations - Culture

A Development Framework for Social Capital

– Joe Rabenstine

– Omar Azfar

• Social Capital in KM/KS

• Azfar and Subrick Model

• Implications for KM/KS

16

“Social capital trumps all”, Larry Prusak

Knowledge management is heavily dependent on an organization’s ability to build social capital among its employees

Social capital is the (economic) value created by maintaining and sustaining relationships inside and outside the organization

Connections – the ties between people

Relations - the interpersonal dynamics between individuals

Shared Context - common understanding of language and events

17

The issue…

• How can we measure and assess social capital?

• What are its dimensions?

• What frameworks can be used beyond the organizational boundaries?

• How does social capital impact the core processes of our organizations?

18

A Framework From Development

“Social capital, governance and growth: Results from a Cross-Country Panel Dataset on Six Dimensions of Social Capital”, Omar Azafar and Robert Subrick– IRIS Center University of Maryland, 2004

– Notice of EGAT presentation shared by DIS colleague (a ‘knowledge accident’)

– Definition and measurement and impact on behaviors

19

“In this paper we try to measure* some of the individual components of social capital…”

“Levels of trust and trustworthiness vary greatly across countries.”

– Trust

– Spiritual capital

– Rule compliance

– Membership in organizations

– Activism

– Confidence in public institutions

*Data from the World Values Survey and the European Values Survey

“different aspects of social capital can affect economic activity in different ways”

20

Assumptions

• Identification of factors likely to affect behavior

• Questions chosen to construct the social capital indicators

• Investigate correlations across the six dimensions

• Comparison of effects of social capital by country

• Effects on economic growth and changes in government

• Changes in social capital over time

• Correlations across the six dimensions

Analysis

21

Findings…• Large and significant correlations on specific

questions

• These components are a coherent measure of a kind of social capital

• Different components do not appear closely related

• Regional differences exist

And considerations…• Dimensions of social capital that are

relevant to KM/KS behaviors

• Measurement and validation

• Social capital within organizations/within client countries

22

Panel Presentation – Incentives, Leadership and Communications

A Perspective on Change Management– Gary Vaughan

– Tony Pryor

• Politics

• Politics

• More Politics

23

Building Blocks of Knowledge-Sharing: A Political Perspective by Gary Vaughan

The Political Context…

• Government is all about power/politics

• Mix of Electoral, bureaucratic, professional competition

• Result: a frenzied, volatile environment

• Challenge: how to focus, progress with KM

• Metaphor: “seals in a shark tank”

24

The Thesis

• KM is like “running for office”

• You need to “win votes for change”

• KM strategies and concepts are secondary to coping with organizational politics

• Implications for KM: opportunism, momentum, “popular” results

• Metaphor: Apply KM in a competitive “jungle”

25

Need for Traction, Momentum

• Majority of staff need to support KM (“without realizing it!”)

• Group activities crucial (need a “stage”)

• Need broad results vs. isolated successes (to “stoke” organizational momentum)

• Measurement? Simple! KM succeeds when a lot of people say so!

26

KM Professional’s Role

• What you’re not:

– “Knowledge doctor”

– Senior Technocrat

– Joan of Arc! (“crash and burn”)

• What you are:

– Spark Plug

– Broker

– Thomas Edison! (“trial and error”…but looking for that popular ‘light bulb’ result!)

27

Panel Presentation – Governance

The Basics of KM Governance and Structure– John Crager

• Steering Committee

• Advisory Board

• Central Support

• Design Teams

28

KM Governance Structure

29

Panel Presentation – Measurement

Strategy Maps – Objectives, Performance and Accountability– Jeff Malick

– Joe Rabenstine

• Mapping objectives to the Balanced Scorecard

• Linking objectives to projects and processes

• Using existing measures of projects and processes to measure KM performance

30

31

What to map?

• Enterprise Business strategy / objectives

• Business unit strategy / objectives

• Program strategy / objectives

– E.g., Knowledge management program

• Focus on objectives and how they relate to each other – the specifics of what you want to accomplish

Why map?• Strategy drives performance

• Monitor the progress of what matters

• Understand the ‘why’ behind performance to make best decisions to put strategy in action

32

Linkage to projects and processes

• Objectives map to projects

• Projects map to processes

What to measure• Use current process metrics

• Don’t create new measures and mechanisms for recording them

Considerations…• Measurement of KM programs/projects

• Attribution / cause and effect

33

Clarifying Questions for the

Panelists

34

Small Group Discussion Tasks

After your break…

• Re-group at your assigned tables

– Two tables per panel topic

• Consider and discuss the ideas shared by the panelists

– Identify someone to capture ideas on flip charts

– All ideas are good ideas!

• Your facilitator will lead discussions on the topic assigned to your table

– Building Blocks (2 – 4)

– Stumbling Blocks (1-3)

– Next steps and implications

• Develop summary for plenary presentation (3 – 5 minutes)

– Building Blocks (2)

– Stumbling Blocks (1)

– Next steps and implications