KNOWLEDGE FACTOR
KM Six Pack #4
THE K FACTOR
Company: Not managing but enabling knowledge
This is the fourth in a series of six articles introducing newly engaged employees and
managers to the basics of knowledge-based enterprise.
By Jerry Ash
Before cultural change in a
knowledge-based organization
can occur on the shop floor,
the right corporate culture has
to be in place in the executive
suite, creating an environment
where people are comfortable
developing new work
practices.
Restrictive procedures and
guidelines from the top down
leave little place, if any, for
human emotions, inspiration,
know-how and individual or
collaborative adventure in the
employee culture.
Managing today requires
knowing what people face in
their jobs and finding ways
to reconcile issues and enable
creative thinking.
Leading and following
in the KM community is
a collaborative up-down
exercise. There are several
keys to establishing a
knowledge-friendly corporate
culture. The most important
are:
■ Seeing the organization
less as a machine operated
by people, and more as
an organic and biological
organism composed of
people, expanding and
even mutating with
innovative ideas or faster
response times than that of
competitors.
■ Seeing the business
based on individual and
collaborative commerce
instead of corporate
commerce, which will
30 SMART PEOPLE
change the old concept of
the firm.
■ Seeing the role of
managers as one of
communicating, mentoring
and enabling, rather than
managing.
Organizations in the
Industrial Age took big people
and put them in little boxes,
then gave them a half-written
script – the job description
– and expected them to play a
role.
The minute they started
to be themselves, their scripts
were stuffed in their faces.
Often the most common
misconceptions remain that
employees have limited
or narrow capabilities, are
untrustworthy or even
disloyal – and thus, the need
for rigid rules.
And yet, no one’s goal in
life is to do a mediocre job at
a company he or she hates. In
fact, most want to do a terrific
job on meaningful projects at
a company they care about
and with people they like.
The organization that
genuinely recognizes
the necessity of KM and
builds an environment that
welcomes initiative and
collaboration will find that a
positive change in employee
culture – top to bottom – will
quickly follow and corporate
achievements will soar.
In the best KM model,
managers are valued not
because they are in control or
know more than their staffs,
but because they can quickly
communicate the things they
do know and get staff to do
the same with each other.
Where the company
is willing to change its
organizational chart from
vertical lines to overlapping
circles, hierarchy will take
on a wondrously different
complexion.
Modern-day leaders will
build environments of trust
and mutual respect where
creative contribution is the
norm.
Such norms in corporate
culture have, in recent years,
changed the way staffs work,
share, learn, and respond to
clients’ needs.
These are self-motivated
workers who know their
knowledge is important to the
performance of the company
and to themselves.
They are energized and
committed to increasing
innovation, performance
and productivity. They are
testimony to the impact that
changes in corporate culture
and management practice can
have on the knowledge-driven
organization.
See Six Pack #1 through 3 in
the May through August issues
[www.smartpeoplemagazine.
com]. In the October issue: Not
hoarding but managing one’s
personal knowledge.