Knowledge is in people's head. To make it flow to others takes effort. Ignore that fact and you do not give yourself much of a chance to have a successful and longer-term successful KM initiative. But still some people think that offering technology will be enough to take that effort down to zero (the marketing messages definitely seem to indicate that sometimes). But it does take effort from the person that is supposed (and wants) to share any knowledge, in whatever way. And it doesn't matter whether it is a face-2-face situation (i.e. formulating thoughts in your mind to convey to others, making the active step of revealing information that others can turn into usable and actionable knowledge) or a more indirect situation (i.e. sharing information via technology based means (from Telephone to Twitter), such that others can pick up that information, put it into their frame of reference and context to create their "version" of that knowledge.
There is no such thing as a free lunch here. If you look at the general "knowledge sharing" with the indirection of documenting key information, it depends a bit on how that information is layed out, and, for example, whether the one sharing it thought like a contributor or like a re-user. In the latter case, it might take a little bit more (sometimes only different) effort, but the result is likely to be better, and the effort is going to be lower on the receiving end (not zero though)...
The issue is that key drivers sometimes think, all we need is some cool technology and the right attitude and knowledge can flow without that minimal investment. Get over it, it won't work. Rather focus on spending "smarter efforts", and minimalizing it. One way to do the latter is to reduce barriers, as barriers are guaranteed to increase necessary efforts.
And sometimes it is easer to spend efforts when you get support and backup, that is why a proper initiative support (not just technical support) is essential in my mind, to educate about how to share knowledge smarter, support directly (i.e. knowledge intermediary services) and to keep a general overview to make sure things are moving into the right direction.
Effort is cost, so the more you can reduce efforts, the higher the return on your investment, right? Wrong, there is a minimum (optimal) amount that just needs to be there, and often this is tuned to far towards zero and hence the results are below expectations.
Knowledge sharing definitely takes effort - and it is just as much art as it is science. As I read this post, my mind made the connection to that old saying about great design - you may not be able to describe it, but you know it when you see it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have my own corollary to that idea applied to everyday products - sometimes you have to use it in order to appreciate why it's better.
As we move forward and technology enables us to have new ways to share knowledge, it will become more and more apparent that there are ways to share knowledge that are better than others.
To your point about "smarter efforts," we'll probably find that having a rich vobabulary and strong command of language will continue to matter in our ability to make content both accessible and compelling, and therefore not simply sharing knowledge, but doing it well.