Mapping knowledge

Using a questionnaire has proved, in my experience, to be the least effective way to map and understand knowledge gaps, surface issues , to identify worthwhile new practices or opportunities

Knowledge is a complex subject, most people confuse information & knowledge and need exposure & training to understand and appreciate the distinction

A questionnaire will return what the respondent want you to 'see' rather than their assumptions, true experiences, actual issues and deep desires

There are always problems with 'your' interpretation and scoring no matter how carefully the survey wording is crafted and how mant times it is tested

To appreciate knowledge gaps, you need to understand the personal networks and work context - This is impossible to get via a survey - it requires immersion

Answers are clouded by personal and group assumptions / worldviews which are mostly tacit and unarticulated

Awareness of knowledge gaps comes best through conversation and engagement in practice - This awareness is emergent, never complete and strongly dependent on prior experiences and exposures

Surveys tend to overstimate the problem and the returns are very difficult to aggregate for the resons given

May I suggest some alternatives?

Convene an openspace gathering so participants can expore and reflect on their issues and gaps

Conduct an ethnographic, action research project observing and asking questions insitu to obtain situated recall and to document exceptions

Observe rather than ask - people forget, they remember selectively and with constant bias

Knowledge gaps come in many forms, the most prevalent is a lack of a forum (community) to surface distinctions, share insights, support learning and having trusting colleagues to make you aware

Conducting a knowledge mapping exercise is likely to give a more holistic picture and a far better ROI.

[Denham Grey's Knowledge-at-Work Weblog]

I couldn't agree more with Denham. This is where i feel most KM solutions fail - in really understanding what users of the system really need and desire. Often, users themselves maynot even be conscious or aware of their needs - then how can cold questionnaires begin to capture them. Openspace sessions and ethnographic studies and observations can be critical precedents in designing KM systems and solutions.

10:59:59 PM    comment []  trackback []

3 interesting links from Lilia, Jim McGee and Spike Hall on KM solutions encouraging flow rather than control :  

What do I want Knowledge Management to be for me? [Olaf Brugman:Knowledge Bridge] - (don't miss Chris Macrae's comment there too).

What I want Knowledge Management to be is to make a meaningful difference in someone's life.

To me, this means:
- I need to find the 'someone',
- along the lines of communality of interests, competences and circumstances,
- without wasting my time.

So what do I expect from KM solutions on the internet such as, teamsites, CoPs, blogs, professional networks, web directories:

1. To offer me a "Issue and Interest Finder" navigation to:
. interests (why),
. issues (what), and
. places (where) that
. I relate to.

2. To offer me a "Resource and People Finder" to:
. relevant people and experts
. relevant projects
. relevant competences
. relevant previous experiences
. relevant methods and tools

3. A Workplace:
. to meet
. to exchange/learn/teach
. to coordinate and work together
. to build community, competence, memory, work products

[Mathemagenic]

Go with the weblog flow.

Andrew Grumet. Andrew Grumet: "Free your mind, and your weblog will follow."  [Scripting News]

All the evidence I'm familiar with says peak performance depends on "flow." So why is so much of the practice of management day to day about control? Some more from Andrew:

To really get into weblogs as a writer, try to keep moving to stay with the flow. The old advice to a budding jazz musicians applies: "If you make a mistake and hit a bad note, don't stop! Hit it again and keep going". Too much worrying will make a burden of posting, making work of what should be fun.

The promise of weblogs in the organization is that they help us get more accustomed to flow. The threat the pose is the same thing; they work against those who are more comfortable with control than with performance.

[McGee's Musings]

Important Learning Must Occur in Groups.

Summary: Denham Grey has made important observations about learning within work-groups. I liberally quote some of his observations and then note parallels with the work on Naturalistic (now 4th Generation) Evaluation and Research. Somethings simply are only learned together.

I find important parallels between his recent Personal Learning entry re what REALLY brings about learning in the workplace and a qualitative and research paradigm developed and disseminated by Egon Guba and Yvonna Lincoln over the last 15-20 years.

The following is extracted from his recent Personal Learning entry.

Toward Principles

The importance of cohorts

You may obtain information from the 'sage on the stage' a book or CBT, but you learn on the playing field, where your identity is forged, opinions are validated, values mediated, beliefs formed and assumptions are tested. Social mediation is key, and this is where cohorts help you make meaning and gain understanding. We own a social brain and apprenticeship is the natural way to learn. We need cohorts and community to build a shared repertoire of key concepts, evolve tools, craft language, gather stories and highight sensitivities. This is where learning products reside.

Sharing meaning

Shared meaning is the difference between personal knowing and acquired understanding or social knowledge. This is the power behind language and communication. Points to the essential role of sharing critque, alignment & reflection in learning. Meaning is established through patterning, emotions play a key role. To make meaning explicit and ensure alignment, it is essential to test assumptions.

Crafting distinctions

Mike McMaster? helped me first appreciate this key knowledge practice. Creating new knowledge comes from bringing forth new worlds, from agreeing and naming subtle signs, symptoms, patterns and perceptions that enable alternative courses of action. Mostly this happens as a natural byproduct of conversations within groups and is recognized by the issues, the values, the beliefs and in the language of a community of practice. Often encoded in the 'slang' and group talk that sets the community apart. Distinctions are closely related to ontologies and to making meaning. They contribute a large measure to identity.

Deep learning, identity and dialog

Knowing is an act of participation, knowledge is more a living process that acquisition of an object, it is closely tied to who we are and emerges in dialog or through copy and practice. Lasting knowledge is knowing more than definitions, concepts and relationships, it is feeling what is right in a particular situation, requires personal engagement, passion and a community to emerge. Learning and knowledge require an ecology to thrive and evolve.

Generative learning

New insights arise at the boundaries between communities, connections and reflections, are key to synthesis and access to new ideas. The learning potential of an organization lies in maintaining a tension and a balance between core practices and active boundary processes. Identity and meaningfullness are the wellspring of creativity, sharing is a natural by-product of belonging. Learning is more about community than content

Creative abrasion, high challenge and safety

Dorothy Leonard struck a chord talking of creative abrasion. To change your mindset you need to raise the energy levels, increase the attenion and focus. This is difficult to achieve in a placid conversation. Exposure to alternative assumptions and frames, some advocacy, deep dialog, strong engagement and a pure clash of ideas help to unsettle, and resettle meaning. Prior beliefs are difficult to change using classroom instruction and teaching as telling. Taken too far, increasing stress levels will reduce the learning opportunity, there is a fine balance to be maintained.

Boundary hopping and busting prototypes

The sweet spot for learning is at the boundaries of individual and community. Here you are less sure and secure , core ridigities are lower, you are flooded with new thought forms, alternative analogies and metaphors. Making connections is key and often follows trusted relationship 

 [Connectivity: Spike Hall's RU Weblog]

More from Denham here ....  its good to see him in the blogosphere !

10:16:19 PM    comment []  trackback []

The one-click call button's at the right panel of my blog.  While you're there (the right panel i mean), you might want to sign my guestmap too :):):).

9:20:00 AM    comment []  trackback []