Nancy Dixon’s Conversations Matters Blog

I have known Nancy Dixon for some time and have always respected her work in knowledge management and organizational learning. So I am very pleased that she has started a blog. Nancy is well known for her many books, including Common Knowledge and heads her consulting firm, Common Knowledge Associates. Her blog, Conversation Matters, continues this work with very comprehensive thought pieces.

Some recent examples of posts include, Five Actions Organizations Can Take to Increase Knowledge Sharing. She lists these as: 1. Help people build relationships with each other 2. Build knowledge sharing processes into the workflow 3. Design physical space that encourages conversation 4. Deliver an actionable leadership message about knowledge sharing 5. Develop and then practice conversation skills

Nancy then goes on to provide a number of examples for each action. I have seen all of these in action, especially two, three, and four. My introduction to knowledge management began with building knowledge sharing processes into the workflow for a major insurance company in the early 90s. I still think that this process orientation is a essential component to any successful knowledge management system.

I once heard the former head of a major London university describe how they finally got two critical departments to start collaborating after several unsuccessful mandated approaches. They simply created an attractive space for coffee between the departments. Nokia and other Scandinavian firms are noted for this. Leadership needs to both led by example and provide ways for others to follow. The key element of all five of Nancy’s factors is that they are action oriented.

The preceding post was on The Incentive Question or Why People Share Knowledge. This is always a critical one in any knowledge management effort. Nancy goes into detail on several factors: people are willing to share their knowledge, peer recognition, and relationships. She brings in research, as well as experience. I would like to add another. There is an incentive for knowledge sharing if it is tied into their work process and supports this process. That was one of Nancy's five points for knowledge sharing in the post described above. This is also one of the benefits of some of the new workflow based enterprise 2.0 tools. You can have the means for knowledge sharing build into the process of performing work at the point where it is most meaningful and at the point where it does not require extra work.

I recommend taking a look at her blog. There is much more like this. As a disclaimer, I advised Nancy in starting her new Typepad blog. However, this post is independent of that effort and is written after it was completed. As I said at the beginning, I have respected Nancy’s work for some time so I would be writing this in any circumstances. She has long been one of the thought leaders in knowledge management. It is nice to have her blogging now.

Comments

[Pim]

Great reads, tnx for sharing.