Before you cite the example of Company X having improved
productivity when workers in Singapore explained a new way to
machine a widget to workers in Seattle, let’s define some terms.
The sharing of “best practices,” a potentially dangerous sport of its
own, doesn’t constitute managing “knowledge,” just sharing proce-
dures. Similarly, training one group on a skill learned or improved
by another group is exactly that, training, not KM. By putting my
latest presentation on CEO succession into my firm’s database, I
have not managed any knowledge, merely posted information,
making it accessible to a larger population.
To use a tired but in this case helpful literary device, the dic-
tionary defines knowledgeas “the fact or condition of knowing
something with familiarity gained through experience or associa-
tion.”^3 This makes it impossible to acquire “knowledge” without
either experiencing something yourself or interacting with some-
one else who has. What the cheerleaders define as KM is most
frequently just information sharing, which certainly has its role but
doesn’t achieve the original intent of its proponents.
The fundamental, undeniable fact is that knowledge is intrin-
sic to human beings and is gained only by participating in an expe-
rience or having contextual understanding of that experience. The
typical definition of KM as an information technology (IT)–based
process run by chief knowledge officers to enable global sharing of
best practices is nothing more than a string of threadbare consult-
ing clichés. Knowledge exists only in people.
However, all is not lost. The billions of dollars spent on con-
sultants, IT systems, and training courses may still yield some small
return if we’re willing to take a very honest, even brutal look at the
core truths about why KM doesn’t work and how organizations
must behave if they truly want shared knowledge.
My framework addresses KM as experienced by corporate
managers and those in professional service firms, but many points
would be just as applicable on the shop floor. Let’s start with what
doesn’t work.
40 LEADINGORGANIZATIONALLEARNING