| |
| |
|
Management Information |
|
|
|
Why Businesses Need to Start Nurturing Collective Wisdom
COLLECTIVE WISDOM CAN BE AN effective tool for solving the problem of knowledge deficit, or the underutilization of organizational knowledge. If you are a small, medium or large business, and you don't have a method in place for harnessing and managing your organization's collective knowledge, you may be losing opportunities for significant revenue enhancement. According to a study by the Delphi Group, less than 20 percent of knowledge available to an enterprise is actually used. Furthermore, IDC predicts that Fortune 500 companies are currently operating at a $19 billion knowledge deficit, increasing to $31.5 billion by year's end. Such studies that quantify the value of knowledge deficit should give businesses a reason for viewing strategy meetings and other forms of brainstorm sessions (where employees across the organization are encouraged to freely share their own ideas) in a very different light. Such meetings are powerful tools in nurturing collective wisdom that transcends the corporate memory. These meetings should cover areas that are largely determined by the specific needs (gaps) of the organization and may range from developing a corporate quality mission statement to establishing practical methods for empowering employees, creating a new concept for a product or service, and so on. The main idea is to tap into the collective knowledge of the organization as a whole (memory) and its members, inheriting the tacit knowledge that they carry with them. Unfortunately, most of the knowledge contained in an organization goes unused, and often gets lost through employee layoffs and resignations, even before it is acknowledged and captured, generating knowledge deficits (another form of gap!). According to TMP Worldwide, it takes 1.5 times an employee's annual salary to replace that employee. This is due to several factors, one of which is the loss of unrecorded information and data. Lost information may include internal business processes, external contacts/relationships, and proprietary data. Knowledge deficit refers not only to know-how, but to codified data as well. Knowledge deficit is caused when employees cannot access:
Therefore, as gaps are created and the organization attempts to fill them, employees should have at their disposal searching capabilities that enable them to search for codified data, as well as unrecorded tacit knowledge. Such a process fosters collective wisdom, which in turn fosters innovation, one of the prime goals in tapping into corporate instinct. Expertise management, as Information Market accurately contends, enables the creation of knowledge superconductivity. For instance, strategy meetings can enable employees with business problems to tap into the minds of those experts who can at the very least add to their knowledge, and may even be able to solve the business problem at hand. However, these meetings should be moderated and include a variety of themes and dynamics that encourage freethinking, commitment, loyalty, and willingness to create. Hence, these meetings play an important role in ensuring that any effort in developing new concepts, in innovation, is supported by the entire organization, top to bottom. These meetings can include topics such as:
As well as these strategic and planning meetings, there are also some less apparent but equally important communication issues which can be addressed during the quest for collective wisdom, including:
About The Author Marcus Goncalves, Founder & President, Marcus Goncalves Consulting Group, a MetroWest Boston-based knowledge, change and project management-oriented international consulting firm, is the developer of the innovative knowledge management methodology Knowledge TornadoTM. Marcus has served as a Senior EAI and IT strategies professional at global market research firm, ARC Advisory Group and lectures at Boston University's graduate CIS and MBA programs on subjects including Program and Project Management, and Information Systems Management, among others. Author of more than 28 books published on the subject, Marcus is a member of Who's Who among US Executives and in the Computer Industry, an award conferred by the Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundation. Marcus can be contacted at marcusg@marcusgoncalves.com; 508-435-3087.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Can What Someone Does Off-hours Affect Your Business? Q: How much do I have to worry about what people who are part of my far-flung "virtual" corporation do when they're not working directly for me? I can't share too many details because the situation is touchy, as you might expect, but basically I have someone working for me as a writer, contributing material for my blog, and I have been hearing that he's writing some pretty far out, offensive material on other sites. Do I need to worry about it?A: This is a difficult situation, no question, and one that comes up more and more as we've moved away from employee-as-chattel-for-life and towards plug-and- play cogs in all the machines of the modern economy. Knowledge Management - Creating a Sustainable Yellow Pages System How can I "know who knows" None of us can personally know more than around 250 people, yet we want our companies to be smart, learning organisations where it's easy to find the right person to talk to. This is why many organisations create "yellow pages" applications, which enable employees to find and contact other staff with particular expertise and skills. Success in Business Means Managing Negative Emotions You may have the MBA but if an internal critic constantly berates you, or you have feelings of self-doubt, low self-confidence, fears of rejection or other negative emotions your chances of success may be quite limited.More and more executives are beginning to realize that the next frontier in maximizing their chances for success is to start focusing on building personal internal skills that go beyond the business training that they have already received. Optimizing Your Cash Flow With Proper Accounts Receivable Management Businesses miss on growth opportunities and even close their doors every day, not because they aren't profitable enough, but because they are strangled by poor cash flow. The problem is that while their profit and loss statement shows success, their bank account cries poor. Effective Meetings Begin With a Real Agenda Everyone knows that an agenda is the key to an effective meeting. But an agenda that consists of a list of nouns, such as budget, software, and picnic, is useless. Taking on Six Sigma Programs - Guidelines for In-House and Outsourcing Decisions Based on a wild guess by a close associate of mine, there are well over 2,000 restaurants in the Manhattan area and its surrounding boroughs. Although I cannot validate the absolute accuracy of his count, I do trust it is in the ballpark, since he happens to be one of those guys who seem to know everything about everything in life (and more). Increasing Employee Retention Through Employee Engagement You've seen it happen many times. An organization that provides top wages and benefits loses a great employee to a competitor for no apparent reason. Work Environment Tidbits Color is a big factor effecting all indoor environments. Since most of us spend many hours each day at work, the coloring of the space has a big impact on us. Counseling Interviews for the Marginal Employee ACTIVE LISTENING: The most frequent cause of failure in therapeutic counseling interviews is the interviewer's tendency to talk too much. Numerous studies have shown that in counseling interviews the average manager will talk as much as 85 percent of the time. How To Get What You Really Want As a small business owner, entrepreneur or independent professional, it's important to make plans. It's also important to have the time to let things happen. Benefits of Virtual Assistance A virtual assistant is an individual who provides business services to other professionals. They're considered virtual because they perform their services from a remote location. 10 Fundamentals for Effective Meeting Here are ten fundamental concepts that characterize an effective meeting.Definition: A meeting is a business activity where select people gather to perform work that requires a team effort. People Are Our Most Important Asset! How many times have you heard or uttered this phrase in the last 5 years or so. As a "reformed accountant" this phrase makes me cringe more than any other business euphemism being espoused today. Eight Skills of Highly Successful Consultants With deference to Dr. Covey and his very popular Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (all habits that will make us better consultants!), here are eight skills that all of us as consultants can work on to improve. Turning a Negative Employee Into a Positive Asset Several years ago, I took over the supervision of a section in a Public Agency. I was a newbie in management, enthusiastic, and excited about the opportunity that lay before me. Allan Kempert Discovers That Truly All You Gotta Do Is Ask A year or so ago, I met Allan Kempert. Allan was the Quality Assurance Supervisor for a metal stamping company in Ontario, and just completed Norman Bodek's book, The Idea Generator, Quick and Easy Kaizen. 9 Strategies for Writing Accounts Payable Procedures The Cash to Cash Cycle Part Four of SeriesNext: Complete Cash to Cash CycleThe white flag is just a nose away?toward the Million dollar prize in cash savings for your business?So far, in Inventory and Accounts Receivable, we've found $250,000 each in cash savings. Then we found another 250K in Sales and Marketing. The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - The 5th C: Control Issues A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble.The 5th C: Control IssuesWhen control is in the picture it is a lose/lose proposition. Lead to Succeed: The Seven Essential Steps to Work Leader Success In my book "You're In Charge?What Now?" I use a mnemonic to describe the seven essential steps to work leader success. The mnemonic is "L. The Gift of Gratitude Gratitude might seem like a soft or even an obvious subject to you. Perhaps you would rather read about a leadership lesson or a marketing approach or even a motivational technique.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
