Knowledge + Learning = Performance

As I stated earlier in my first post of the KLP Blog, the reason to cover management considerations along with our other topics is because without both project management and change management, even the best designed performance improvement runs the risk of failure.

I’m guessing that just like me, you’ve seen and heard about examples of new corporate learning initiatives that failed miserably—and often the reason for failure is because either the team or implementation effort was poorly managed or the change efforts were not fully thought through or even addressed.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be looking at management considerations such as:
- Project management critical success factors
- Options for automating your project management processes
- The importance of the up-front contracting phase for projects
- Project management war stories
- Change management considerations
- Change management war stories

Watch this category for information on these topics and more!

- Robin

Copyright Robin Donnan 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Performance Associates, Inc.

Over the course of my 20-year career as a workplace learning and performance improvement professional, I’ve had the pleasure of taking on the project management responsibility for many projects—some small and involving only 1 or 2 people producing a single deliverable to some very large projects involving hundreds of people and deliverables. I’ve often also been asked many times to teach and coach others on how to effectively manage projects. Based on this experience, I’ve developed a few tried and true rules for effective project management:

1. Start with a clear understanding of scope and roles.
Many projects can derail either because of unclear expectations about what will be done and/or who will be doing what. Even if you’re managing an internal project, some form of a project agreement at the onset of the project will help to alleviate this potential issue. And if you’re an external consultant, the need for a project agreement or contract is even more important.

2. Take the time up front to define the tasks, their interdependencies, and what work needs to happen each week to meet the final deadline
It’s the old “go slow to go fast” adage—and it’s true. An investment of 12-24 hours on up front planning can save you and your team that much time (and more) over the course of the project, plus avoid any last minute scrambling in the final weeks of the project. How you do the planning is up to you. For complex projects I typically use Microsoft Project; for less complex projects Microsoft Excel and a calendar are all I need. Recently, I’ve also been investigating the use of online project management services automation software such as AutoTask.

3. Have someone assigned on the project with the responsibility to manage the project
Project plans can’t just be developed and sit on the shelf (or your hard drive). They need to be monitored along the way, and adjusted to meet the changes that occur over the course of any project. Sometimes scope will change (and if it increases, you need to negotiate for added time and money), sometimes tasks take longer or shorter than planned, sometimes unforeseen delays arise, and sometimes staffing needs to change. For these reasons, it’s important that you not only plan the work but also work the plan over the course of the project.

4. Make sure that the project manager also has the authority to manage the project
If the project manager doesn’t have the authority to manage the project, then no amount of good planning will be effective—instead, there’ll be the very real possibility that the project manager’s efforts will fall on deaf ears. To solve this, ensure that the project manager has not only positional authority but also personal authority (i.e., the respect and acceptance of all team members).

5. Hold weekly team meetings
Since so much of our project-based work is done in teams and is very dependent upon the relationships that are built, holding weekly team meetings is an excellent way to keep projects on track and ensure that everyone is communicating with each other. These meetings don’t have to be face-to-face; they can occur via conference call or (even better) via web conference. They typically cover such things as progress made that week, what’s coming up next week, and what team members need from one another to successfully accomplish the next week’s tasks.

And one more piece of advice related to meetings—keep your weekly team meetings separate from working meetings or sessions; with two different purposes, it can be very difficult to effectively accomplish the goals of both types of meetings within one session. Not impossible, mind you, but difficult to do—especially if you’re trying to keep to a good guidelines of having your meetings be no more than 60-90 minutes in length. You can certainly hold longer meetings, but people often become saturated after the 90-minute mark and need to move onto something else.

6. Track your actuals
I typically recommend that everyone on the project track their actual hours so that you can not only adjust the plan based on an analysis of planned vs. actual hours, but also so that you can build a record of the tasks and hours required to perform different types of jobs. This becomes an incredibly useful resource to help you estimate future projects with greater accuracy.

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So with careful thought up front, and discipline applied consistently throughout, project management can be the key to not only ensuring that you get your projects done on time and on budget but that you also do it in a way that is enjoyable (and a lot less stressful) for the entire team.

- Robin

Copyright Robin Donnan 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Performance Associates, Inc.

To wrap up our discussion of how to implement an expertise locator system, today we’ll turn our attention to what needs to be done to ensure the success of such an initiative.
To ensure the ultimate success of this expertise locator initiative, many factors needs to be considered in selecting the previous process, people, and technology approaches.

Referring to Davenport and Prusak’s (2000) critical success factors, it is clear that one critical success factor that will benefit this project is having a highly-accessible and consistent technology infrastructure. Fortunately, the target company has already invested heavily in their corporate intranet and it is well-accepted by employees as an important source of information and knowledge.

In a comparison of different authors’ critical success factors for knowledge management, it is interesting to note that both technology infrastructure and willingness to share are the top two items listed (Alazmi & Zairi, 2003). This [combined with other points made during the People portion of this paper] illustrates that the willingness of employees to enter their information in the expertise locator system will be equally important to the success of the project. As this company has recently undergone a period of re-organization, layoffs, and now a merger, there pre-exists a strong corporate need for people to know who they can now contact to answer their questions. The new organization is also much leaner than the previous, making access to individuals with the desired area(s) of expertise more challenging for employees. Thus, there will be a strong pull encouraging use of the system. In addition, it would be recommended to undertake efforts to encourage individual participation by maximizing the key variables that encourage individual participation such as perceived support from colleagues and supervisors, availability and quality of the system, and the perception of rewards and positive outcome from participation (Cabrera, Collins, & Salgado, 2006).

To further ensure the success of the project, the two critical success factors of technology and sharing—as well as supporting factors that bridge the two—must be maximized (Hariharan & Cellular, 2005). For example, the technology and processes must be simple. The relevance of this initiative to the business must be explicitly stated. Senior management must publicly support the initiative (verbally and with active participation). Those who participate should be rewarded and recognized. Sharing of benefits or anecdotal success stories should be featured informally and in intranet articles so as to further drive current and future participation.

Conclusion and Next Steps

An expertise locator system designed and built with careful consideration of the various process, people, and technology considerations outlined herein will help this company solve the immediate need for employees to know who they can contact—as well as begin to build a foundation for sharing knowledge.

It will also be important that this knowledge management initiative is the first in a series of efforts to encourage this newly restructured company to adopt a more knowledge-sharing culture (Davenport & Prusak, 2000). In fact, the need for multiple processes to make the overall strategy work was cited as important to the success of a number of expertise locator and management systems (Mayburry, D’Amore, & House, 2002; Thompson, 2003; “Sharing Knowledge,” 1997). Potential next steps for this company would include conducting a knowledge fair, building an organization-wide base of knowledge champions, completing a knowledge audit, and developing a formal knowledge strategy.

Thus, by making the expertise locator system a first step toward having a knowledge and learning strategy in place that meets the needs of this newer and leaner company, they will be able to help ease the challenges of the recent series of organizational changes as well as ensure a quick return to operational efficiencies and future innovations.

References

Alazmi, M. & Zairi, M. (2003). Knowledge management critical success factors. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 14(2), 199-204.

Cabrera, A., Collins, W., & Salgado, J. (2006). Determinants of individual engagement in knowledge sharing. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 17(2), 245-264.

Davenport, T. & Prusak, L. (2000). Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know (Paperback ed.). Boston: Harvard Business School Press. (Original work published 1998)

Hariharan, A. & Cellular, B. (2005). Critical success factors for knowledge management. Knowledge Management Review, 8(2), 16-19.

Maybury, M., D'Amore, R., & House, D. (2002). Awareness of organizational expertise. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 14(2), 199-217.

Sharing knowledge through BP's virtual team network. (1997). Harvard Business Review, 75(5), 152-153.

Thompson, E. (2003). Effective knowledge management in a cost-cutting environment. Knowledge Management Review, 6(1), 12-15.

- Robin

Copyright Robin Donnan 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Performance Associates, Inc.

It’s often been said that most systems fail because system builders ignore organizational behavior problems. The issue is why does this happen and what can be done about it? Based on what I’ve observed on new system projects in organizations, my initial answer would be because it is often easier to change code than it is to change the behavior of individuals (let alone organizations). Systems are concrete and much more easily modified than the subjective and ever-changing nature of people. Systems don’t have personal agendas, nor do they resist change or take a long time to accept change; you also don’t have to gain their support or commitment. Individuals and organizations, on the other hand, require this and more.

Influencing the ultimate success or failure of a system implementation are such factors as user involvement and influence, management support, level of complexity/risk, and management of the implementation process itself—along with the design, cost, operations, and data of the system itself (Laudon & Laudon, 2006, 552). Of these four main factors, organizational behavior influences three of them. Insufficient user involvement, lack of management support, and poorly managed projects (often due to inexperience or excessive optimism) can be the organizational behaviors that most typically derail the successful implementation of a new system.

Another important element of bridging the IT-user divide is education of both parties. For example, IT needs to understand and embrace the importance of user-centered design (and not dread user input). And users need to understand that while anything is possible with technology, not everything will or should be done. Many users on system design teams seem to struggle with this concept in particular (which furthers IT's frustrations). Instead, IT can help educate users on the trade-offs and realities of system design and development, and work hard to include them in the decision making for what functionality and improvements will and won't be implemented.

And finally, some might argue that as new systems are developed there is no way to determine how the organization will react to it. To the contrary! By involving users throughout the design and development process, you can gain significant insights into how the organization will react to the new system. Involving key stakeholders and decision makers from all the targeted user groups also can help. Furthermore, selecting key members from these user groups (who are supportive of the system and its associated business process changes) to act as champions for the new system will thereby further assist with the change management and system acceptance process. Bottom line, most employees want their company to succeed. If a system can be shown to help the business, that upper management supports, it, and that the business/users were heard in the creation of that system, then the chances for organizational acceptance are much greater.

References:

Laudon, K. & Laudon, J. (2006). Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm. Ninth edition. Pearson/Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ.

- Robin

Copyright Robin Donnan 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Performance Associates, Inc.

Knowledge and learning management initiatives have the potential for making a significant impact on organizational culture and how work is conducted. For example, imagine the shift from a knowledge-hoarding culture to one where knowledge is freely shared and employees work cross-functionally to generate new knowledge and innovations. Dalkir (2005) argues that “corporate culture is a key component of ensuring that critical knowledge and information flow within an organization” (p. 185). To operationalize such organizational culture changes, change management is a critical component for the success of any knowledge and/or learning management initiative. And if the knowledge management initiative is one of an organization’s first, the culture changing implications can be very far-reaching. Thus, having a strategy for managing the change becomes critical for successful implementation.

In looking at change management for knowledge initiatives, Schein (as cited in Dalkir, 2005) “uses the classic three-step approach to discuss change: unfreezing, cognitive restructuring, and refreezing” (p. 184). Schein also emphasizes the importance of the role of leadership in facilitating the change. Cameron & Green (2004) further recommend that “leaders of change need to balance their efforts across all three dimensions of an organizational change: [1] outcomes: developing and delivering clear outcomes; [2] interests: mobilizing influence, authority and power; [3] emotions: enabling people and culture to adapt” (p. 5). These dimensions can be very important in a knowledge and learning management initiative since sharing knowledge—and other aspects that go along with many of these initiatives—can be very scary or intimidating to people. As Cavaleri & Seivert (2005) share, “continually improving the quality of your knowledge for action…is not always easy or comfortable. It means a willingness to be a learning-novice when you enter unknown territory, and also a willingness to change beliefs and behavior when you discover they are no longer effective” (p. 78).

Cavaleri & Seivert (2005) also offer the following advice: “During change efforts, including knowledge initiatives, leaders must be careful to safeguard and sustain [the] essential parts of the organization [such as function, identity, values, and essence] while simultaneously letting go of what is not essential to it” (p. 314). By staying true to their essence and those things that make the organization sustainable, organizations can act efficiently and effectively. Without this central focus, it is all too easy to focus on the wrong things—like simply making money, which is not a goal but a desired end-product for many businesses.

Ultimately, by linking to the company’s essence, knowledge and learning management initiatives can become strategic levers for mobilizing cultural changes that can lead to the growth and sustainability of the organization.

References:

Cameron, E. & Green, M. (2004). Making sense of change management. London: Kogan page.

Cavaleri, S. & Seivert, S. (2005). Knowledge leadership: The art and science of the knowledge-based organization. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Dalkir, K. (2005). Knowledge management in theory and practice. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.

- Robin

Copyright Robin Donnan 2008. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.perfassocinc.com

Dalkir (2005) defines information filtering as the process by which one can “go through an enormous amount of information to find the small portion that is relevant to us” (p. 238). With the vast amount of information we all have access to today, it becomes imperative to develop our own personal information filtering process. For me personally, I use different approaches information filtering processes—one for work and one for school.

For work, I rely upon consistent electronic file structures to enable easy retrieval of information. This structure is used for files as well as for email (including the use of rules to file emails automatically into the correct folders). I also use color coding of my calendar and any physical file folders to more easily differentiate between clients and projects.

For school, I rely upon EBSCO alerts and an AskSam database that I started in my second quarter at Walden (Seaside software, n.d.). To stay abreast of new articles related to my research focus, I’ve set up a number of EBSCO alerts that are automatically emailed to me; I also have them set up in a Firefox page via RSS feeds so that I can quickly preview the articles as they arrive. For my research database, I’ve applied a number of the concepts from this program. I first spent time defining the taxonomy and structure for my database; this involved defining the key categories and search terms I anticipated using when needing to retrieve information from my research. With key words and categories defined, I then began to enter all my journal articles, class notes, and assignments. The most critical thing I’ve learned is to stay disciplined with this entry process, e.g., using the week between quarters to update my database based on the previous quarter. Now finishing my sixth quarter, I’m already finding my database to be an incredibly useful tool for quickly locating the article or reference I may recall based on just a portion of the title or a quote. It has also been very useful in supporting my further research and writing when I need to search the over 400 entries in my database to see how many related hits I have on a particular topic.

References:

Dalkir, K. (2005). Knowledge management in theory and practice. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Seaside software. (n.d.). askSam. Retrieved May 6, 2008 from http://www.asksam.com/brochure.asp

- Robin

Copyright Robin Donnan 2008. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.perfassocinc.com