1© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

Metaphor Behavioural Interactions

How can we retain the key knowledge our organization needs for future success?

Arthur Shelley, Intelligent Answers & OZAN*Beverley Lloyd-Walker, Victoria University

AHRI28th August 2012

* OZAN is the Organizational Zoo Ambassadors network An international professional development group collaborating on

application of metaphor to enhance performance outcomes

2

Insightful Thoughts“Sustaining organisational success isn’t just about survival in the present, it is about preparing for the future.” AmZure Consulting 2008

“The best way to way to predict the future is to create it.” Abraham Lincoln

The Knowing-Doing Gap: How smart companies turn knowledge into action. (Book title) Pfeffer & Sutton 2000 Use it or lose it… The best way to keep anything alive is to exercise it and keep it in shape.

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

3

Start with the value…

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

WHYWHO

WHATHOW

WHEN

Desired Outcomes

VALUE

PEOPLE

PROCESS

TOOLS Shelley 2011 www.organizationalzoo.com/blog

WHERE

What can we no longer do if we lose this knowledge?

4© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

Start “Conversations that Matter”

5

Focus on CORE knowledge• Identify what knowledge needs to be transferred

– stuff you can’t buy elsewhere and is difficult to replace (“competitive advantage” or critical)

• Transfer not “capture” – people to people tacit transfer is more effective and richer

(retains aspects of experience and context)

• Target unique individual knowledge hat is aligned with the future needs of the organisation

• Make pleasurable for the knowledge owner• START NOW!Andrews 2009

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

6

Activity: List ACTIONS (or inaction) to mitigate against knowledge loss

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

Actual output from shortened conversation (continue to complete board)

2. Once barriers defined, start to build actionable items that develop foundations for the long term goals

1. More attention to desired future state (outcomes)

3. Prioritise actions into strategic plan

7

Quick reflection on the activity• The main focus was on describing the “problems”

– Note focus on BARRIERS, this is normal but not productive• Need to do this - but then quickly refocus the conversation

around the OPPORTUNITY to resolving the problems and restate as actions that align with long term goals

• Actions need some short term benefits to enable long term changes (more conversation time could have generated other interdependent activities and prioritised them into a strategy)

• Important to start actions immediately • Five actionable items listed that can be done tomorrow

without budget that will start the change –Need to highlight both long and short term, tangible outputs and

intangible outcomes to engage participants and decision makers

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

8

Not rocket science… just takes time

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

Extended from Krishnaveni & Sujatha, R 2012

KnowledgeTransfer

ExplicitKnowledge

Transfer

TacitKnowledge

Transfer

Transfer by formal

methods

Transfer by formal and

informal methods

Interactive collaborative learningMentoring & AlumniApprenticeshipsExperiential learning & projectsProfession networks & communityConversation/dialogue/reflectionMetaphor & analogiesVisualisation & SymbolsStory & Anecdote sharingGames, competitions & eventsProfessional relationshipsSocial networksTown Hall meetingsSocialisation & externalisationInterview (with recording?)Case studiesBrainstorming, prospectingBlogs, forums, wikis, YammerE-Learning & E-Collaboration

9

Examples from “good companies”• Fluor: KNOWember program• Ratheon: SNA when acquiring/restructuring• NASA: APPEL Master Forums• CSIRO: Retirees/Alumni remaining with access• Buckman Labs: Retirees remain on line for Q&A• Henley Business School: Knowledge Forum (extend…)• Sellafield: Knowledge categorisation/preservation• Shell: ROCK (Retention Of Critical Knowledge)• Cadbury: Stories, communities and two-way mentoring• Royal Australian Navy: K- Risk assessments

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

10

FLUOR: KNOWvember competition

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

11

Raytheon: SNA case studies

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

12

NASA APPEL Masters programs

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

13

CSIRO Alumni- lifelong involvement

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

14

Buckman Labs Alumni & Forums

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

15

Sellafield: knowledge asset preservation

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

16

Knowledge without borders

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

17

SHELL: System (eg. ROCK)

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

18

Cadbury: Stories, Communities and 2 Way Mentoring

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

19

Royal Australian Navy

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

Massingham 2010

20

Medical Symbols: Immediate Transfer

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

Tracking patient condition is critical and requires intuitive, fast and accurate knowledge transfer

21

Start doing rather than (just) talking

“The Knowing Doing Gap” (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000)

How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action

It is not that we don’t know what to do…… it is that we choose to avoid the issues

… the outcome is to suffer the consequences

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

22

Useful ReferencesAndrews, K 2008, Knowledge assets, targeted transfer to mitigate risk. Key Issues Risk Management Nov.Bollinger, AS & Smith, DR 2001, Managing Organizational Knowledge as a Strategic Asset, Journal of Knowledge

Management 5 (1) pp. 8-18.Beazley, H Boenisch, J & Harden, D 2002, Continuity Management. Preserving corporate knowledge and

productivity when employees leave. John Wiley & Sons, NY.Busch, P 2008, Tacit Knowledge in Organizational Learning, IGI Publishing.Krishnaveni, R & Sujatha, R 2012, Communities of Practice: An Influencing Factor for Effective Knowledge

Transfer in Organizations, IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, 10 (1) pp. 26-40.Linnenluecke M, Griffiths A (2010), Corporate Sustainability and Organizational Culture, Journal of World

Business, 45Massingham, P, 2010, ‘Knowledge risk management: a framework’, Journal of Knowledge Management, 14(3),

464-485.McDermott, R & van Winkelen, C 2008, Retaining Knowledge & Developing Expertise. Henley Knowledge

Management Forum. Henley Business School, Reading UK.Rivera-Vazquez, JC, Ortiz-Fournier, LV, & Flores, FR 2009, ‘Overcoming cultural barriers for innovation and

knowledge sharing’, Journal of Knowledge Management, vol.13, no.5 pp. 257 – 270.Shelley, AW 2009, Being a successful knowledge leader. What knowledge practitioners need to know to make a

difference. ARK Publishing, Sydney.Swap, W Leonard, D Shields, M & Abrams, L 2001, Using Mentoring and Storytelling to Transfer Knowledge in the

Workplace, Journal of Management Information Systems, Summer 2001, 18 (1) 95-114Vuori, V & Okkonen, J 2012, Knowledge sharing motivational factors of using an intra-organizational social media

platform, Journal of Knowledge Management 16 (4) pp.592 – 603

© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

23© Arthur Shelley 2012 under Creative Commons License. Available for public use provided source is acknowledged. Permission of the author required for commercial use.

Contact: Always happy to chat…

Arthur Shelleyarthur@organizationalzoo.com

FREE behavioural profilewww.organizationalzoo.com/profilerInsights into behaviourswww.organizationalzoo.com/blog www.organizationalzoo.com/ZooTube

Consulting and mentoringwww.intelligentanswers.com.au

Ph +61 413 047 408 @Metaphorage#OrgZoo