Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world Global Solutions Enabling Resourcing...

Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world

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About ERM (Environmental Resources Management)

• One of the world’s leading providers of environmental consulting services

• Over 100 offices in 40 countries

• 3,000 professional staff

• Worked closely with around 60% of the Global Fortune 500 companies in the past 4 years

• Over 30 years of experience


Knowledge and Information in the workplace: love it or hate it?

Dr Bonnie Cheuk

ERM (Environmental Resources Management)

Global Head of Knowledge and Information


In the past 2 weeks, in your work context….Either

Tell the person sitting next to you an instance that you fall in love with the information you got.

OR

Tell the person sitting next to you an instance that you are disappointed with the information you got.


Love

‘That report saves my life…’

‘I came across this fantastic website…’

‘Tom is so knowledge and have helped me a lot in this project…’

‘The training course complete changes the way I think about customer relationship. I would highly recommend it to anyone…’


Hate

‘There is too much information, I don’t have time…’

‘My email box is overloaded…’

‘The search results are so irrelevant…’

‘That report does not provide any useful insight…’

‘How dare the reports are recommended as best practices, they won’t work for my department…’


Time 1 and Time 2

Same piece of information, same person

Time 1: Really good, save my life

Time 2: Irrelevant, info overload


Lesson Learn #1:

User decide what is good for them at the moment when they interact with information.


The Practitioner’s Dream:Our users are happy all the time


Love (Practitioner)

‘My users love my information system and services, they keep coming back’

‘My information system and services directly help employees to improve their work productivity’

‘Every time they use the information system and services, they learn something new…’

‘My information system and services are perceived by our users as helpful and relevant…’


Hate (Practitioner)

‘They don’t like change, they do not use the new system which is much better…’

‘Employees never learn to use the system properly…’

‘They always complain they do not get the right or relevant information…’

‘The information is available within the organisation, but they do not read…’

‘Employees are lazy, they take whatever info that is easily accessible… Google is the answer to everything’

‘Employees are not information literate, they cannot deal with a vast amount of information…’


Looking through the eyes of an employee

When employees need information…

… they want it quick, they apply the law of least effort

The employees’ performance are not judged by…

… how good they conduct research

… how much they learn in the process

… The focus is on getting their work done.

The employees really like to talk to other people

… who know the subject

… to clarify their understanding and gain insight


Dervin’s Sense-Making

Sense-Making makes no distinction between content, information and knowledge. ‘Knowledge’ is the sense made (and unmade) at a particular point in time-space by an individual.

Reference: Dervin, B, L Foreman-Wernet, and E Lauterbach (2003).Sense-Making Methodology Reader: Selected Writings of Brenda Dervin. New Jersey: Hampton Press.


Sense-Making Moment

???Bridge• documents, ideas, resources• beliefs, values, feeling, emotions• stories, narratives

Situation• histories• experiences• identities, roles• present horizons• barriers, constraints

Outcomes• helps• objectives• future horizons

Gaps • questions• confusions

• sense-makings• sense-unmakings


Lesson Learn #2: We are intervening at a moment which is very personal, emotional and unique to the employee – i.e. when they face a gap in getting their work done. No wonder they always complain.


Lesson Learn #3:

Information (plus all other factors) -> decision -> business impact

Information impact not necessary = business Impact

In the workplace, we are looking for business impact, not information impact.


The Information landscape in the workplace has changed dramatically


Changing information landscape

• OLD WORLD

• Information is scare

• Find what is available

• Gain competitive edge

• Do the analysis

• Know more than your competitor

• Make better decision than your competitor

• Gain competitive edge

• Gain marketing share and make profit

• NEW WORLD

• Information is abundant. multi-media, web accessible

• Information is out there for you and your competitors (and your customers) to access

• Impossible to process all information

• Know what to pay attention to

• Gain insight & innovate

• Gain marketing share and make profit


Changing information landscape• OLD WORLD

• Library and information centre

• Records management

• Research unit

• Current awareness / SDI

• Librarians / Researchers

• Analysts

• Information is scare

• Reliance on Personal Assistants, researchers, analysts to find the best information available

• NEW WORLD

• Intranet / Internet / Online knowledge bases

• Employee receive information services from their personal information world

• Emails and ICT tools allows them to talk, connect with peers

• Employee becomes a freelance researcher

• Self Service

• Information is relatively cheap

• Insight / innovation is priceless


In the 1990s

- Employees complain they are not getting relevant information to get their work done.

- Multinational organisations embark on Knowledge Management Initiatives

- Focus on using information/knowledge to support sales process, product development & design, innovation, build customer relationship with the ultimate aim to support decision making and create business impact.


The Senior Executive’s Brief:Give my employees easy access to the right information at the right time


The Assumptions

Having access to information is good

Users are active information seekers and users

There is some good information out there, find ways to provide access for our users

More information is better than less, users are more informed

Information can be easily transferred from one source/person to another

Good information lead to good decisions/actions


Practitioners design interventions:

1. More information – Build a one stop shop for information

• More documents and information in the KM system the better

• Link up all internal systems, make them all available and searchable

• Give incentives/bonus for the staff to share documents / best practices on the KM system

2. More usage – all employees should use the KM system

• Training to get more staff access information in the system

• Track usage rate of information system (note: not ‘information use’)

• Give incentives/bonus for the staff to use the system

3. More quality information – the right information

• Solve the information overload problem

• Expert committee decide on ‘best practice’ and make them widely accessible for all to benefit


But…

• More information -> increase information overload

• Give me only 10 relevant documents (not 1000)

• More training -> users do not change their behaviour

• Rules of least effort continues

• They forget how to use the system, they do not go in all the times

• Even they use it, does not mean they get value out of it

• More best practices -> reduce the relevance of information

• continue to reinvent the wheel

• It is not helpful to us

• That is not enough

• I want to see other examples, not just best practices


The dilemma:

• If we increase the info available, employees say they are having information overload

• If we hand picked the best ones for them, and only make them available, employees say they are not relevant


Employee A (Time 1) = 10 docs

Employee B (Time 1) = 10 docs

Employee A (Time 2) = 10 docs

Employee B (Time 2) = 10 docs

But they are not referring to the same 10 documents!


Lesson Learn #4: Traditional assumptions about information do not apply in the new information landscape in the workplace.


Have a got a bigger problem?

(1)We think it is about the amount of information, may be it is not.

(2)What matters is whether the information ‘make sense’ to the users

(3)More information NOT = information overload (if users can make sense out of it)

(4)The boss cannot pre-define what ‘make sense’ to the users

(5)We need to make the information available and find ways to allow users to interact with vast amount of information to create meaning

(6)How?


What else can practitioners do? Is there a bigger and deeper issue we need to address in the workplace?


My worries

• (a) Practitioners are not designing practice informed by the LIS research findings;

• (b) Practitioners do not have influence within organisation to get attention and the budget to design practices informed by the LIS research findings;

• (c) IS/KM systems/practices are designed by people outside the LIS field and with limited understanding of interactions between ‘users’ and ‘information’


If we go beyond providing easy access to information (and teaching employees how to use the tools to access information), in an information abundant workplace, where should we place the emphasis to create business impact?


Video Time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE


Lesson Learn #5: It is not about the amount of information available, and giving people access to them. The information is there, right in front of our’ eyes. Do you see them? Do you pay attention to them? Do you interact with information to inform decision and add value to the business?


Snowden, David (2002) Complex acts of knowing: paradox and descriptive self-awareness. Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol 6, no 2, pp 100-111.


The new role of LIS practitioners in the workplace context to facilitate information interaction


1. Make information service/system so seamless to the employees day-to-day working lives


2. Get the information agenda into the business strategy. Propose how to use information to create business value. Spot opportunity where improve information provision can make a huge difference and create business impact. Sell. Sell. Sell. Offer your service.


3. Be an amoeba. Information is only meaningful in context, through the eyes of the users. Offer information services in specific business context. Use your information competence to address real business issues. Partner with business executives. Hand hold them to solve a business problem from the beginning to the end. Offer project-based information services.


Help….• The Customer Service Director wants to find ways to capture

customers’ feedback in order to identify areas for service improvements

• The product development team want to review the product development process to ensure that the company is bringing the right product to the market

• The global IT helpdesk wants to build a knowledge base so they can learn from one another, re-use solutions, and provide better support to the users

• A company is about to roll out a new email system. Work in partnership with the IT Director to take this opportunity to introduce more effective ways to use email system to increase work productivity


4. Be a facilitator. Bring people together to have dialogue. Challenge and help employees stretch their minds through looking at information from different perspectives (at the time they need to solve a business problem).


Cheuk, Bonnie (2006) Applying Snowden’s Narrative Technique to Conduct Project Debrief within the British Council: An Exemplar of Knowledge Management Project, Journal of Information & Knowledge Management, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp1–8.


5. Recognise learning through information interaction will cause unease. Can we turn this into a Unique Selling Proposition to create real business impact, rather than allowing employees to dismiss the feeling as stressful.

(Slogan: Come to the ‘deep thinking session’ and get ready to be torn apart…)


Example

• Senior leadership meeting - Help them to think about business issues in different ways, and get them to challenge each another’s thinking in a ‘safe’ environment

• Support innovation by facilitating workshops to help people to look at information from multiple perspectives (e.g. customers, R&D, customer service representatives) to inform decision making about product development.


6. Be a coach. Be a trusted advisor. Provide one-on-one coaching to C-Level executives, sales directors on strategies to manage and use information. They are drowning in information. They need to understand what options/strategies are available.


Example

• Chairman: coach him how to use latest technology to manage and interact with information

• CEOs: coach him on new technologies (e.g. wiki, blog) and how to use them to add value to business and to engage with customers.

• Sales Directors: offer training and coaching to personalise his personal information environment so he can get easy access to information according to their specific needs


Some thoughts on designing IS/KM system in the workplace which support employees to create meaning…


1. Information is not just in documents. It is in conversation, in people’s personal drive, in people’s mind, in videos, in voice recordings, in online chat. How can we integrate information systems seamlessly with communications system?


2. Can we build information systems which allow different voices / multiple perspectives to surface, and allow employees to co-create meaning? Rather than building a system which present only the authoritative (usually the senior leaders’ voice)?


3. Can we build information systems which allow employees to encounter information in an unexpected way? Can we introduce serendipity in systems design?


4. Can we build information system which allows people to scan for patterns? Rather than expecting people to look at every piece of information in detail?


Cheuk, Bonnie (2006). Using Social Networking Analysis to Facilitate Knowledge Sharing in the British Council, International Journal of Knowledge Management, 2(4), 67-76, October-December 2006


What does that leave us with information literacy in the workplace?


Information literacy in the workplace

• I am interested in information literacy in the workplace since it has direct impact on my work

• In 2000, I presented a UNESCO paper on information literacy. I highlighted 9 problematic areas to showcase the lack of ability to interact with information in the workplace

• In 2006, I critically reviewed my own paper, and asked whether the problems still exist in the workplace, I realise that they have not gone away.


Bonnie Cheuk, "Information Literacy in the Workplace Context: Issues, Best Practices and Challenges," July 2002, White Paper prepared for UNESCO, the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, and the National Forum on Information Literacy, for use at the Information Literacy Meeting of Experts, Prague, The Czech Republic.

Available at: http://www.nclis.gov/libinter/infolitconf&meet/papers/cheuk-fullpaper.pdf>



• Case #1: Unable to determine the nature and the extent of the information needed

• Case #2: Unable to retrieve information effectively from the information systems

• Case #3: Not aware of the full range of resources available

• Case #4: Unable to evaluate and filter information

• Case #5: Information and Electronic Mailbox Overload



• Case #6: Unable to exploit technology to manage information

• Case #7: Unable to relate information creation and use to a broader context

• Case #8: Unethical Use of information

• Case #9: Unable to evaluate the costs and benefits of information management


Challenges: How do I intervene?

• The phrase is not welcome

• ISP is ok, but…

• Employees are not here to learn at work

• I know what I am doing, I am good at my work….

• Real challenge:

Does information literacy = business impact?

I intervene when I identify opportunities use information to create business impact.


Information literacy in the workplace: How?

• This is not directly about learning, this is about make the best use of information to create business impact or improve work productivity.

• On the highest level, information literacy is about effective use of information to drive business growth and deliver business strategy. It is not a nice to have, but it is the only way to stay competitive, productive and attract talents.

• It is a set of principles (a kind of mind set) in running the business through (a) making information accessible and (b) encouraging employees to interact effectively with information in order make decisions to create business impact.


Information literacy in the workplace: How?

• This is about focussing on specific business problems and work in partnership with the business executives to resolve the issue.

• This is not about telling the employees what to do. This is about promoting self-descriptive awareness, i.e. helping your employees to reflect and think about issues through multiple perspectives.

• This is about the LIS practitioner building reputation as a credible partner, facilitator and coach to help the business to address business problems.


The real challenge

• This is not about changing the employees, offering information literacy training courses, giving them the skills to use the tools

• This is about changing the senior and middle management to think about information is a different way in order to stay competitive in the knowledge economy.

• This is about a new management philosophy of truly empowering people through giving them not only access to information but opportunities to look at information from different perspective.

• This means people in power need to recognise their views could be (and should be) challenged and a willingness to accept good ideas which can come from a junior staff.


Researchers / Practitioners ….I need your help


I want librarians/educators to develop students into

• Employees who are not afraid of information

• Employees who are capable of using new technologies

• Employees who see the value of managing information

• Employees who can scan information and see patterns

• Employees with good communication skills who can engage in meaningful dialogue

• Employees who are open minded and willing to learn and unlearn (and to accept criticism without being defensive)

• Employees who reflect and critique their own thinking and work

• Employees who can challenge and think out of the box

• Employees who are able to look at issues from multiple perspectives


Research agenda

• Look at the workplace context. Research which draws on theories, models and findings from multidisciplinary areas (e.g. psychology, decision making, learning, and LIS research)

• What is the impact of ‘information literacy’ on business outcomes? Does it lead to faster innovation? More profits? Customer loyalty? Can we measure this at all?

• What models can help me to design information system which does not only focus on search, but to allow people to explore multiple perspectives? to scan for patterns out of vast amount of information? to create meaning through interaction with information?

• What are the learning frameworks I can use to design workshops (and design web-based information systems) to allow people to be more effective in using information?


Questions? … not yet


What is the one thing you have learnt from this presentation that you can apply to your work?


Questions?

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