Emancipate yourself from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds. – Nesta

Feb

9

The Four Rights of Knowledge Management

Filed Under Knowledge Management, SharePoint

As the most forward-thinking companies are starting to hire and/or organically grow Chief Knowledge Officers (CKOs), the already opaque waters of Knowledge Management are becoming further muddied by the day.  Don't get me wrong – I absolutely love the concept of the CKO.  In fact, if you have not heard of the CKO yet, don't worry, you will.  If your company has more than 1,000 employees, and you still do not have a CKO, you will…and if you are concerned about the long-term success of your company, you should hope that day comes sooner rather than later.  I love the CKO position so much that I have been taking the appropriate steps for the past 2-3 years to position myself and my company as an indispensable resource for companies in this area.

I am very excited about the prospects there and cannot wait to make the formal announcement regarding our processes and services in this area later this year.  However, I do not want to give away too much information in this forum, as someone with greater resources than myself could easily rain on my parade if they knew my plans.

Anyway, the main problem of CKOs from a "real people solving real problems in the real world" standpoint is that Knowledge Management, already a difficult undertaking, is becoming even further bogged down with project charters, mission statements, corporate oversight and "analysis paralysis" of the highest order.  The entire concept of Knowledge Management, longtime corporate bridesmaid, is finally starting to spread its wings, yet simultaneously becoming even more difficult to quantify and as a result, exponentially more difficult to bring to fruition.

Enter The Four RIGHTs.  An effective Knowledge Management implementation will put the RIGHT information in front of the RIGHT person at the RIGHT time to take the RIGHT action.  It's that simple.

Sure, in a large company, figuring out each one of the RIGHTs could take 6 months, and a near-flawless implementation of technology and process surrounding that RIGHT could take another 6 months, but the four RIGHTs should be the rallying cry of every CKO and Knowledge Management consultant in the world.  In fact, the first thing I do in every strategic Knowledge Management engagement is drive home the concept of the four RIGHTs.  I put it on the wall of the interview room; I put it into every slide deck; and I try to work it into every conversation.  It immediately cuts through any nebulous concepts surrounding Knowledge Management in general and a company's approach to Knowledge Management in particular.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been bogged down in the middle of a conversation talking about corporate naming conventions and how they should be implemented in a specific knowledge management portal (Microsoft SharePoint).  It is usually during those moments that I start bringing everyone back to The Four RIGHTs.  I don't care if you call it a work instruction, policy, or a ham sandwich…does it help us get through each of the RIGHTs, so we can maximize the chances of the RIGHT action?  If not, why are we talking about it? Besides, if working in Knowledge Management for 12 years has taught me anything, it has taught me that names are political, and he who has the bigger office gets to choose the names of objects in the knowledge management system. That's just the way it is.

At any rate, I have found that this kind of approach is sorely lacking in the Knowledge Management community today, and we only have ourselves to blame.  In fact, we have gone so far toward the nebulous that one of the key defining concepts within Knowledge Management is actually called a "Continuum".  It's true – I did not make that up.  The "Continuum" originally started out as a progression from Data to Information to Knowledge.  Recently, there has been another level added…Wisdom.  Oh, great.  Just what the whole concept needed – more abstract terminology.

Just for kicks, take a look at this picture and tell me what each of the terms on it means to you.  Now, go ask someone else to do the same. Can you see how Knowledge Management has gotten its current reputation of a bunch of flowery language with no substance?

Hopefully, you not only agree, but will help me spread the word.  Knowledge Management does not have to be so hard, and it certainly does not need to be as misunderstood as it has been in the past.  All you need is to be ever mindful of The Four RIGHTs…if you do right by them, they will take care of you as well…if you lose sight of them, they will tear you a new one.

Comments

2 Responses to “The Four Rights of Knowledge Management”

  1. Don’t Fear the SharePoint Reaper : The Mack Page on February 9th, 2009 3:58 pm

    [...] The Four Rights of Knowledge Management [...]

  2. Johnny Harbieh on May 17th, 2009 8:05 pm

    Very good post. The concept is really simple, however; its implementation could be a daunting task. It takes everyone to really commit to it and drive towards that 4th right :-) I guess this is where your process can come in handy. Good luck. I will keep my eyes on this post for later updates.

    -Johnny

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