tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-206883422024-02-20T12:10:32.774-08:00KM ConsultingRon Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.comBlogger182125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-26255436424888244632020-08-26T07:29:00.003-07:002020-08-26T07:29:32.060-07:00<p> So I am back again to blogging </p>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-17187153581257455552014-03-10T03:13:00.000-07:002014-03-10T03:13:47.477-07:00'Life by Powerpoint'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Life by PowerPoint</b></div>
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How often do we all hear the same phrase 'Death by PowerPoint?'</div>
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The thought brings a yawn to most of us. We have all had to bear this problem from certain speakers at conferences, seminars and workshops, or, of course, meeting presentations.</div>
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Well, today, I wish to turn that thinking upside down, and describe to you how, actually, I have been enlightened into the new 'Life by PowerPoint'</div>
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It started just over a year ago, when I changed computers from an MSDOS laptop to a MacBook Pro. Actually, the new computer has nothing to do with my enlightenment in the use of PowerPoint, although I think that the change of computers did trigger new and better work habits, as I started to understand PowerPoint in a completely new way.</div>
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For me, PowerPoint is now a fantastic knowledge tool. Let me tell you why.</div>
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As a management consultant, working with large international clients, I have to make many presentations in workshops etc. I am also a conference speaker. So preparing conference speeches and preparing seminars, workshops and master classes, is a key part of my work.</div>
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Typically, the requests can be last minute. And normally they are! Just last week, I was on a plane to Istanbul with just a few hours on the flight to prepare a client workshop for the next day. The workshop had a group of about 20 people who wanted to learn some new methods to embed effective knowledge management methods, tools and techniques into their daily work. Their culture, situation, and work challenges were quite unique. And, therefore, I wanted to develop a unique presentation.</div>
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So, on the flight, I started to formulate my thoughts and ideas into a few slides, which, at that stage, were simple bullet points. In other words, I started to put some 'order and structure' to my thoughts. </div>
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I was then also able to better plan the workshop.</div>
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Of course, as a presenter and teacher, I do know, very well indeed, the power of visualising and presenting new concepts, ideas and work plans etc in frameworks, diagrams, pictures, metaphor, video, humour etc as a far richer and more easily digestible ways to transfer new learning's and ideas. But, on this occasion, I simply did not have the time at all to develop this. I had three hours on the flight only.</div>
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Actually, for this client, I arrived at my destination airport very early last Saturday, at 1am, and checked in to my hotel and bed by 3am. I was up again, continuing the preparation of my workshop, at 7am for a further hour before breakfast. I was then at the clients office early on Saturday morning to start work (Saturday is a work day in the Middle East). </div>
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My first key point is this. I simply did not have the time that would be needed to develop a series of bullet pointed slides in to richer and far more acceptable presentations.</div>
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But, during a hasty breakfast, I was able to look at these bulleted slides and, from the order and structure, I added to the 'Notes' section for the speaker (at the bottom of the screen) in bold capital letters, the 'key messages' that I wanted to convey through delivering these points, and, furthermore, the 'transitions' that I wanted to make, to take me smoothly and more eloquently into the next slide. So the presentation slides became much more of a natural flow. </div>
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I then ran the workshop successfully, and the participants received copies of these slides. They were then able, also, to make their own notes and comments themselves, to expand the richness of the slides in their own unique way, and in deeper context.</div>
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This raises my second point. Some speakers think that they are better than those who use slides if they can 'perform' without slides. For a keynote speech of up to an hour maximum, I can certainly accept this more readily. But for a teaching session of several hours, I think it's arrogance and probably speaker ego to care more about your performance on stage without powerpoint, verses the value and need to give your students something they can use to remember and document the session with their notes added. (However, I do, to a degree, accept speakers who will offer audio and video copies of their session instead of slides, but this still does not allow the participant to embed their own notes to develop a richer context for them)</div>
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After the workshop, on Saturday, the client requested that I start to put this new knowledge, presented at the workshop, into practice in their KM pilot teams on Sunday morning. So, on Saturday evening I was able to develop a few of these bullet point slides in to even more meaningful diagrams and more forceful key messages. On Sunday morning, whilst travelling by car to the KM pilot groups, I was also able to improve the slides further, by incorporating the feedback gained from the participants on Saturday. </div>
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I think you can now guess were I am going with this? By Wednesday, I had introduced meaningful pictures in to the presentation, to add the power of metaphor, for future training sessions. </div>
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Throughout, I took HD video, with a simple camera on a tripod, (all I had to do is press the on/off button), and, when time permits, I will edit the video as a record of the event. The client was simply delighted to know that they will receive a video copy for their workshop participants to refer to, even if it is pretty basic editing.</div>
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Time permitting, I will take a few snippets of that video that especially recorded the atmosphere of the day, and some key messages, and embed them in to the same power point slides, for possible future workshops.</div>
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So my key point to you, in this blogpost, is that PowerPoint can be an incredibly powerful knowledge tool, that enables and assists the knowledge worker/consultant to develop his/her thoughts, ideas and insights in to richer knowledge flows, for more effective knowledge transfer, in a natural way, and in a way that is similar to the way the brain organises and develops thoughts and interconnected thoughts (through transitions and linkages) into richer patterns with more complexity.</div>
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So, next time you experience a teacher using bulleted power points, don't immediately make the 'death by PowerPoint' assumption, but keep an open mind to what follows, and how it follows.</div>
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If the presenter is good, you will know soon enough, and probably better realise that these thoughts are being still being developed, and powerpoint is being used as a new knowledge development tool. </div>
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If the presenter is bad, or if the presenter is using the same bulleted points again and again, especially at conferences, yawn!</div>
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So I intend to use PowerPoint as a knowledge development tool, through the phases of: </div>
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<li>thought structuring and ordering </li>
<li>adding more focus and flow </li>
<li>developing richness, through visual means, and metaphor. </li>
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For me, I support 'Life by PowerPoint'. Do you have similar experiences?</div>
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Ron Young</div>
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More details at:</div>
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<a href="http://www.knowledge-associates.com/">www.knowledge-associates.com</a></div>
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Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-26948096824892034962014-02-06T13:01:00.003-08:002014-02-06T13:01:50.166-08:00Habits are massive and very difficult to break, even for KM consultants!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have been a management consultant for over 30 years now, and I have specialised in knowledge management and innovation since 1995.<br />
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Like all consultants, I was trained to use a journal. To not only capture notes from meetings and interviews with clients etc, but also to capture my new learning's, insights, and ideas. So, as a young and impressionable consultant, keen to be a success, I naturally I followed leading consultants and their image by using, at least, quality 'black and red' type journals and a nice high quality pen. The image made me feel good and more confident.<br />
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The journal is a great tool, don't get me wrong, but many years ago, in fact ever since I was specialising in knowledge management, I realised that it is so much better to capture electronically rather than to capture on paper. I quickly learned that if you just capture on paper, as one task, you then have to then capture those new learning's and ideas again in an electronic document and/or system to then be able to easily share them and develop them, collectively and systematically, into new and better knowledge and innovative products and services. Also, it can be so time consuming to try and find things in a series of monthly paper journals quickly. And you cannot carry all your journals around with you.<br />
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Then the laptop computer arrived. Aha. No excuse now. At least I thought so, until a few clients, not all, found the laptop to be a sort of barrier between us, or, in a very subtle way, objected to the irritating clicking. So I battled on.<br />
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The next step was in 2005, when the blog arrived. I took to the blog like a duck to water. I was so excited with the blog as my electronic journal, and still am today. I even created a professional blog, a personal blog, a travel blog, a personal development blog etc etc.<br />
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The problem is, I started to notice how my subconscious was already starting to battle with the new and better discipline of blogging. It wanted to continue to write with a pen in a journal.<br />
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Not unreasonable, I thought, as I had been in the habit of writing a journal for a good 20 years. Also, as the blog is a web based tool, I didn't always have access to the internet at that time. So I battled on. I recall a recent quote 'how long does it take to change?' Answer given: 'As long as it takes for the present generation to die off!'<br />
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Then smart phones arrived and, to be fair to myself, I did capture quite a few learnings and ideas with my iPhone, and still do, using the 'notes' app. But if I tried to capture them in client meetings that way, clients would give me a strange look, as if I was busy with other things, and not focusing fully on them.<br />
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Then the tablet arrived. Eureka! Now I had the perfect answer. The tablet is not seen to be obtrusive by most clients. On the contrary, the tablet is cool and spells out loud 'well organised' 'information at my fingertips' 'powerful'. And also, for the first time, I could write very comfortably indeed in aircraft when my clients sent me economy on long hauls. And the iPad and the iPhone make me feel very good too. In the old days we had the elite 'jet set' now we have the elite 'Apple set' and I truly love the atmosphere of the Cambridge Apple Centre UK as it is truly buzzing with exciting people! I go there quite regularly, and I am always uplifted.<br />
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Have I cracked it? Have I thrown away my paper journal?<br />
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My subconscious is now having an even bigger battle each day. It is now declaring war on the iphone, the ipad and my Macbook Pro, all together. I purchased the MacBook Pro 15 months ago, eventually, after a tremendous subconscious battle defending MSDOS got lost one weekend when I was introduced to some excellent French wine. Also, the Mac is very cool and more silent, and so much better designed than the louder, more bulky clicking laptops that were around at the time. Things are different now.<br />
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Just this week, I had a breakthrough. My habit has eventually changed to writing in the ipad first, rather than second or third to the paper journal. I have made a remarkable quantum leap in turning my new learning's and ideas into valuable knowledge so much faster. At last, I can join the generation that were brought up on tablets and smart phones only. I feel lighter already. A huge weight has lifted from my troubled shoulders. My subconscious is liberated. I want to scream with joy!<br />
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But guess what. I went downtown for a coffee today and the wifi was down. I wanted to capture some very important thoughts and ideas that I had, while having a haircut, that will help a client solve a major problem. But in the coffee shop, my iPhone was too small and my iPad doesn't have 3/4G yet. I had to get my lonely journal out of my black rucksack (cool too) and write some notes and drawings with my nice Waterman pen. (I remember the days of a leather briefcase!).<br />
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Sitting next to me were an elderly couple. The lady remarked "how nice to see someone write these days". I initially thought she was still suffering from old fashioned ideas too, and needed to get out and see the world.<br />
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It turned out, in the conversation that followed, that she and her husband had just returned from 16 years in silicon valley, mainly around Palo Alto, and before that 10 years running a multi-national organisation in Australia and New Zealand. She remarked that she had just returned from attending a funeral in silicon valley and, even at the graveside, one person was buying/selling shares with his stockbroker on his iPhone. She said life goes on 24/7 in the valley, regardless.<br />
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So what do I now think? Of course, you may have the obvious answer, but it took me a long time and a long subconscious struggle to realise that all these tools, physical and electronic, elegant and effectively cool, have a special and a right time and place, and our challenge is to know when best to use these tools, and then take on the subconscious, fully, to change the habit of years.<br />
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I think I will strive to use my electronic iPad more than I do, as a primary mobile tool, to be more effective in knowledge management, and resist the strong temptation to write in a nice journal with a nice pen, unless I am inspired, from time to time, to this more creative art form of journalling for my family to read, some day. After all, come on, I am a management consultant!<br />
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What do you think?<br />
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Ron Young<br />
CKO<br />
Knowledge Associates<br />
Cambridge, UK<br />
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Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-11475625537687810102014-01-30T04:57:00.000-08:002014-03-08T09:59:41.504-08:00KM and flying the boeing 737<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Boeing 737-800 flight simulator</b></div>
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On Saturday I will be flying for 2 hours, the Boeing 737-800 flight simulator again, together with an airline captain, at Cambridge Airport, UK.<br />
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I have been an enthusiastic pilot for over 20 years, and this is great fun and a great passion for me, but what has this got to do with knowledge management?<br />
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Well checklists, based on the best possible knowledge and experiences, and especially lessons learned from flight incidents, are well known and have been practiced by the aviation industry for many years indeed.<br />
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Furthermore, the flight deck, especially on landing, is one of the best places to witness a team 'working together as one' with complete trust, respect and competence. This is a great example of effective communications, cooperation, collaboration, rapid learning, knowledge transfer, and information and knowledge management.<br />
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But I am flying the 737 for another reason. For the past two years, we have been working on a 'business simulator' that teaches, accelerates, and tests many of our knowledge working skills. On saturday, we are blending established team challenges and skills with new skills required of the knowledge worker into a knowledge team challenge, based on a flying challenge that requires high performance teamwork.<br />
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The team will have a 2 hour briefing from the captain to fly the 737 from Manchester to London Heathrow. They will be given as much information as they can absorb in 2 hrs. Then they fly. And because it is as real as it can get, in the latest professional flight simulator used to train airline pilots, it throws you out of your comfort zone in minutes!<br />
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If you are interested in following this work, contact me and I will keep you in the loop. If you have any ideas or experiences to suggest that might help us build the 737 simulator challenge to high performance knowledge team working, please please let me know.<br />
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I promise to blog post our experience gained on Saturday.<br />
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Ron Young<br />
CKO<br />
Knowledge Associates Cambridge<br />
<a href="http://www.knowledge-associates.com/">www.knowledge-associates.com</a></div>
Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-44518342145681669122013-11-23T02:01:00.002-08:002013-11-23T02:01:56.051-08:00Co-Creation and Accelerated Value Methodology<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
For many years, at Knowledge Associates Cambridge, I have been practicing with our clients 'Accelerated Value Methodology' (AVM). In essence, it organises my consulting work with clients into short 'value frames' of maybe 4 weeks duration maximum. At the beginning and at the end of of each value frame we conduct a 'value assessment'. This focuses the client and ourselves on the business value that we are delivering. It has proven to be a most successful approach and a key component of our client engagement methodology.<br />
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In recent years, at Knowledge Associates Cambridge, we have focused more on innovation management, and the link between effective knowledge management and innovation. We have been working hard with 'mainstreaming innovation' across the organisation, or if you prefer, 'innovation for everyone'.<br />
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This last year, we have focused far more on 'Co-Creation'. In particular, the creation of new value with our customers. In essence, the customer becomes a key part of the process of developing products and services together. This has only become possible in recent years due to the dramatically improved communications, collaboration and knowledge management methods, tools and techniques that have become available. We can now work in radically new ways.<br />
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But this blog post has been inspired by my realisation, this morning, that finding new and better ways to interact with the customer, and get the customer totally involved in the value creative process, is not new. For Knowledge Associates Cambridge, it started in the 1990's with Accelerated Value Methodology and today, leading in to 2014, it has been much further developed into the discipline of Stakeholder Co-Creation, and especially, Customer Co-Creation.<br />
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Ron Young<br />
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Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-82064764521445412582012-02-24T01:38:00.004-08:002012-02-24T01:58:51.995-08:00My personal KM learning's, ideas and insights from SingaporeThis is the longest period, in one trip, I have stayed in Singapore. Almost three weeks.<br /><br />Naturally, Singapore weather is always great, around +31C, but especially so when you have had to come from a cold snowy Europe, as I did a few weeks ago at -14C.<br /><br />So I spent virtually all of the three weeks working at the National Institute of Education, Singapore (NIE) and I have recently blogged about them and their special interest in both 'Learning Organizations', and becoming more 'Knowledge Driven'. <br /><br />I also ran another masterclass for Ark Conferences on 'Understanding and Realising the Four Dimensions of Knowledge Management'<br /><br />However, this blog is to capture my personal new learning's ideas and insights this past three weeks, from running these courses, as a basis for further KM and Innovation course improvement, in Singapore.<br /><br />1. Again, during this trip, I realized just how strongly people are 'wired for pictures and stories'. We, all around the world, do much prefer smaller, digestible, rich stories to engage fully and keep our attention, and to satisfy our curiosity and desire for learning. I intend to use more and more short, powerful ten minute videos and also teach in short ten/fifteen minute segments, for each learning topic, wherever possible.<br /><br />2. This will help me to further develop my web based, online, learning management system, and enable practitioners, consultants and students to create their own personalized learning curriculum and topics.<br /><br />3. Following on from this chunking of short learning topics, I also realized even moreso this trip, that it's too powerful, in fact too overpowering, to teach both Learning Organization concepts together with Knowledge Management concepts. <br /><br />Although learning and knowledge are 'both sides of the same coin' LO and KM are both incredibly deep and potent disciplines. Each one deserves it's own proper attention and focus and I think it's too much to introduce two powerful disciplines, with quite different strategies, emphases, methodologies, tools and techniques within, say, the same two day programme. I think I risk students becoming confused, or at best, unsure of what to best practically apply first? So I will now teach these disciplines quite separately, and instead, offer a simple and brief discussion and demonstration of how these two disciplines complement one another and how they form a symbiotic relationship.<br /><br />4. The teaching must be innovative, with rapid two way and engaging interaction, otherwise we risk the 'lecturer' trying to compete with the smart phone, iPad, netbook etc. Why would anyone now want to listen to a one way lecture, unless it is unique, when you can obtain the best of breed in the world video lectures on your iPad?<br /><br />5. Local case studies and examples are always very interesting to the audience. In Singapore this time, I was asked by several groups to present the Singapore Armed Forces knowledge driven case study about the 'learning Army and the thinking soldier'.<br /><br />6. In the Asian culture, generally, where many people are reluctant, and even of their own admission, can be shy, I get far more constructive discussion and work done in small workgroups, who then share and discuss across the teams.<br /><br />7. Asian people, generally, really enjoy fun exercises much more than my European counterparts.<br /><br />8. The idea of 80/20 time, that is to say giving people 10-20% of their work time to better reflect, contemplate, consolidate and capture new learning's, ideas and insights, as opposed to, in some cases, 100%+ performance driven and measured, is still quite alien and rare, but people really like the concept.<br /><br />9. Several of my Singaporian friends tell me that they were brought up through the education system to 'shut up and listen' and also, that it is certainly disrespectful to question a teacher, and absolutely not in public. This is quite different, of course, to my American and Australian friends who tell me that it's often difficult for the teacher to speak, due to the constant challenging and discussion from the audience.<br /><br />10. I teach a model which is a 'virtuous spiral of value' from a foundation of 'trust' to more 'open and two way communications', to increased cooperation and 'collaboration', to 'accelerated learning' and 'knowledge creation and innovation'. the model is very well received in Singapore but, I think, generally considered ambitious in the current culture.<br /><br />11. I am a very late, and new convert, to creating iPods. But this trip, I recorded everything on a Sony voice recorder and very easily created mp3 files. I now intend to record all my teaching sessions in raw mp3 libraries.I should have started this library a long time ago.<br /><br />12. Generally, around the world, I am still so surprised that many people are not able to easily assimilate the idea that we need to capture new learning's and ideas and then turn them into better knowledge? <br /><br />People readily accept and fully understand the sharing of good/best practices, but not as easily the creation of new knowledge through collective and systematic methods and techniques to turn new learning's into knowledge?<br /><br />13. Too many people around the world talk about 'knowledge needs analysis'. This is vitally important, of course, but it is incomplete. How can we expect people to tell us what they really want if they still don't yet know what is possible with the new breakthrough innovative ways of creating new knowledge? Did people say they wanted the iPhone and iPad in their needs analysis, or was it the result of Apples's vision?<br /><br />What I believe we need is both good knowledge needs analysis and innovative insight from leading practitioners/consultants.<br /><br />14. A good Singaporean friend/colleague reminded me again, on this trip, that we need to let people come to their own understanding through the slower process of self discovery. Sometimes we have to patiently wait until people realize some key fundamentals, at their own pace.<br /><br />15. Even moreso, from this trip, I realize that as KM practitioners, we need to 'teach people to fish' for themselves, through providing and teaching internal KM teams proven KM methods tools an techniques, and coach and support them, rather than just telling them and ' giving them fish', as one way KM consultants.<br /><br />Last, but not least, I always (seem to) write better with my iPad, and a glass or two of good Chardonnay wine, and especially, as I am writing now, on an Singapore Airlines Airbus 380 back to London :-)<br /><br />Ron Young<br /><br />More at:<br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-21211224992057492082012-02-18T18:57:00.000-08:002012-02-18T19:13:11.521-08:00Knowledge Management Field GuideI was very glad to meet again, my friend of many years, KM practitioner and Principal Consultant with the <a href="http://www.cscollege.gov.sg/page.asp?id=1">Singapore Civil Service College</a> (CSC) Gopinathan R. at the Centre for Organisation Development.<br /><br />We had coffee and hot chocolate at Starbucks in Orchard Road, Singapore.<br /><br />CSC has just published the 'Knowledge Management Field Guide' and Gopi is the author.<br /><br />For the past 10 years, Centre for Organisation Development (Centre for OD), has been educating public agencies on the practice of Knowledge Management (KM) through its workshops, and has been advising agencies how their KM efforts can be shaped. CSC decided, as a result, that it is timely to develop a field guide which will serve as a starting point for KM practitioners.<br /><br />The field guide will provide a point of view on how KM can be practised effectively in the Singapore Public Service, drawing on the body of knowledge and experience the Centre for OD has gathered through work samples in the public agencies as well as good practices of the larger KM community in Singapore and globally.<br /><br />I was very glad to be involved in KM training development and delivery, in the early years at CSC, and I am so pleased to see the developments over the years.<br /><br />For more details, Gopinathan R can be contacted at Gopinathan_r@cscollege.gov.sg<br /><br />Ron Young<br /><br />more at <a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-70630236189427118382011-10-09T00:38:00.001-07:002011-10-09T03:45:07.957-07:00Education is the next key sector for major disruption through effective knowledge management<p> </p> <p>It’s Sunday lunchtime and I am sitting by the Singapore river having a coffee.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-loWMpKy8h_w/TpF5DNS3wmI/AAAAAAAAA9U/qYHq58Fwie8/s1600-h/IMG_5376%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="IMG_5376" border="0" alt="IMG_5376" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-tKILzdOV07c/TpF5DyWLR-I/AAAAAAAAA9Y/5Up-MASicUM/IMG_5376_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="184" height="244" /></a></p> <p>I have my netbook connected to SingTel and I am thinking about my work this next week. This is with teams of people who are wanting to explore knowledge management to see how it might help their work in supporting teachers, and how to create and share even better knowledge, practices and methods for better teaching. They are the teachers training college, the National Institute of Education, NIE Singapore, and they support a community of over 30,000 teachers in 650 Singapore schools.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-NQzdIkU0jiI/TpF5E8bym-I/AAAAAAAAA9c/apgNXWcjAII/s1600-h/IMG_5337%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="IMG_5337" border="0" alt="IMG_5337" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-_bxuE-KBr5U/TpF5FXwcZ6I/AAAAAAAAA9g/jfQSSiYeec4/IMG_5337_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="184" height="244" /></a><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-sN5JINcmdRY/TpF5GlO5nbI/AAAAAAAAA9k/_OqKyAaEJr8/s1600-h/IMG_5338%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="IMG_5338" border="0" alt="IMG_5338" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-BoaJCMWeT04/TpF5HJKnbbI/AAAAAAAAA9o/PCIFNFE3T54/IMG_5338_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="184" height="244" /></a><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-fQLhSZh3SbY/TpF5IfgfX4I/AAAAAAAAA9s/sszbUtcD1SI/s1600-h/IMG_5344%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="IMG_5344" border="0" alt="IMG_5344" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-NwKBDhm5jgo/TpF5I7A91BI/AAAAAAAAA9w/vw6Y2pys334/IMG_5344_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="184" height="244" /></a></p> <p>The question I have been asked by NIE to discuss thoroughly is ‘Why should they consider the latest developments in knowledge management in their work? What effects, if any, could the most effective knowledge management strategies, methods and tools have on even better teacher support, quality, productivity and even more innovative education? They are an innovative organisation with a mission and passion for excellence. </p> <p>In considering the ‘why’ for any industry sector, it’s good to consider first any radical innovations that are already taking place.</p> <p>So I will first point out to the group the work of the ‘University of the People’ the first tuition free global online university, more details <a href="http://www.uopeople.org/">here</a>  </p> <p>Then I will present to the group an overview of the <a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm">MIT free online</a> courseware, with over 2000 titles freely available on the web today.</p> <p>I will then tell the story of a lecturer who I met at the ‘KM Asia conference’ three years ago, from Singapore University, who told me that students now come to lectures with iPads and wireless PC’s and smart phones, of course, and if they are not happy with the lecture they can instantly google the subject, find, for example, a world class professor from Harvard who has a free video lecture on the same subject, and circulate that to the class virally, whilst the lecturer continues unaware.</p> <p>We will also discuss how students and conference delegates often tweet key messages and key new learning’s, ideas and insights to people around the world, as it happens, because their followers also like to learn from what the audience think and feel, and not just what the presenter/lecturer says.  </p> <p>I thinks these four examples show disruptive innovation in a radically changing education environment, where the people can now choose and engage with the best in the world and, increasingly, free or very low cost.</p> <p>Of course, online education and the more traditional physical, social, university campus and school learning experiences are both extremely powerful ways to learn, share, experience, develop and grow.</p> <p>But I suggest to you that we are learning from the disruptive innovation in creating, distributing and delivering entertainment, like music, video and films, to major disruptive innovation in the education sector. And it is happening now. And I suggest that what I have just described above, is the ‘warm up’ act, with much more radical innovation to follow. </p> <p>I suggest that effective knowledge management is a disruptive force, supported by new scalable tools and technologies that will contribute greatly to new and better ways to educate, across the world.</p> <p>Let’s see what people at NIE think about these developments next week.</p> <p> What do you think about education as the next key sector for major disruption through effective knowledge management? Is it happening in your country?  </p> <p>Ron Young</p> <p>More at: </p> <p><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a></p>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-10625117623456067762011-10-07T02:26:00.000-07:002011-10-07T04:04:01.545-07:00How Steve Jobs inspired me to start working with his vision of knowledge management in 1987<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjckj06Z1nmN6blZeRYO_Fj2IbBujBOZb-7hzpBeFPSqNmMnT4Cb3EJEWX4BjDvA8t9tuaE4O7F3K4Jtx-6hkJwSLUFiypMhdl-qDlLHkIkFLMCDqD2IZGJHZ77P2v2tn4dj4DsWg/s1600/steve+jobs.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 63px; height: 80px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjckj06Z1nmN6blZeRYO_Fj2IbBujBOZb-7hzpBeFPSqNmMnT4Cb3EJEWX4BjDvA8t9tuaE4O7F3K4Jtx-6hkJwSLUFiypMhdl-qDlLHkIkFLMCDqD2IZGJHZ77P2v2tn4dj4DsWg/s320/steve+jobs.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660693248705527074" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><B>Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011</B><br /><br />It was Steve Jobs who greatly inspired me in 1987/8 to start working with his vision in the practice of knowledge management. <br /><br />Five years later, based on his vision, I founded Knowledge Associates in Cambridge UK. Today, I travel the world constantly teaching organizations ways that Steve Jobs could see in the late 1980's for people to work with information, learning and knowledge in radically new ways globally.<br /><br />My business involvement with Apple, and Steve Jobs inspiration actually started in 1982 when my software company at the time, Systematics International Microsystems Ltd, was inspired to develop for Apple 'Apple Accounting' on the remarkable and radical Macintosh.<br /><br />But in 1987, under Steve Jobs inspiration, Apple produced a video vision for the future called 'The Apple Knowledge Navigator' and, even at that time, he saw the prototype of what we now call the iPad. Twenty years later, that part of his vision became a reality.<br /><br />But for me, he really inspired me the most through his further vision in this remarkable video, to link all the Universities together across the world, with key people communicating, collaborating, learning, sharing and applying knowledge together. <br /><br />He had a vision for individuals, teams, organizations and communities to be able to practice knowledge management globally through the use of remarkable new mobile information and communication tools.<br /><br />Ever since then I have been trying, with difficulty, to turn that part of his vision into reality.<br /><br />What is remarkable for me, is that although KM practitioners had developed some exciting new KM theories, strategies and processes over the years, we never really had the simple to use, and powerful tools needed to support the theory. Then came Web 2.0 social tools in 2004 and, eventually, the iPhone and, especially, the iPad appeared to support knowledge workers in radically new, intuitive, and powerful ways. <br /><br />So our challenge now is to show organizations how they can use these mobile and web based tools in the way Steve Jobs predicted.<br /><br />I am currently working and writing this blog post from Singapore and I first heard the breaking news of Steve Jobs death in the morning coffee break yesterday, for the course I am running for the National Institute of Education at the Nanyang University Campus. <br /><br />We were actually working at that time on the module that discusses the best practical tools to help individuals and teams practice personal and team knowledge management. We were discussing the use of the iPhone and iPad to tweet, blog, work with wiki's, work in social networks, web telephony and video.<br /><br />I then felt compelled to play to the group the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGYFEI6uLy0">'Apple Knowledge Navigator 1987' </a>video on youtube. I am so glad this video is still available on the web today.<br /><br />I would urge you to watch this 24 year old video and reflect on the accomplishments of Apple since.<br /><br />Steve Jobs was a genius visionary and such an inspirational leader, within Apple, and to so many successful companies in silicon valley, and to so many people around the world.<br /><br />Ron Young<br /><br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com </a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-77466811124485345592011-08-17T05:39:00.000-07:002011-08-17T07:50:26.131-07:00Day 1 & 2 of Practical KM Competencies programme at NPC India, New Delhi<strong>Practical KM Competencies 16th - 20th August 2011, New Delhi, India</strong>
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<br />I have now completed Days 1 and 2 of a 5 day programme 'KM Competencies' organised by the <a href=" http://www.npcindia.org/ ">National Productivity Council of India</a>(NPC), with headquarters in New Delhi, and also sponsored by the <a href="http://www.apo-tokyo.org">Asian Productivity Organization</a>, with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.
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<br />The 5 day programme is available from NPC <a href="http://www.npcindia.org/KM_Competency_Workshop.pdf">here</a>.
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<br />The reason we launched a practical programme is because we know that people will never appreciate and realise the full power and benefit of KM in their daily lives by simply listening to KM teachers expressing concepts and theories.
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<br />Its rather like the vast majority of people who drive cars today. They are only really interested in getting from A to B. They are not interested in how the car or engine works, unless they are enthusiasts and engineers.
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<br />However, in the early days of introducing automobiles, they were unreliable and so they needed engineers who understood how they worked to drive them. I often think that this is where KM is today for many. They are not getting the results reliably from many teachers of theory only, but just from the few that have actually succeeded with KM practically themselves.
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<br />Furthermore, until people experience KM for themselves, they will never know what it really is. Its rather like flying. Imagine that I am trying to explain to you what it is like to fly in an aeroplane. I can talk about it all week long, but until you actually fly yourself, you will never be able to experience it.
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<br />Then you get the 'aha! so does that mean that I can now do ..... in my daily work?'
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<br />In Days 1 & 2, of the 5 day programme, everybody started to use the tools and think about them in the workplace in more meaningful ways. We focused on personal knowledge management and started to work with alerts and blogs.
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<br />So, first thing tomorrow morning, we will all review and share our new learning's and insights in a totally new way on the web together, and in the workshop.
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<br />Then we will work with tweets and personal social networks and wiki's.
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<br />But, primarily, tomorrow we will focus on team knowledge management, and we will use team wiki's and collaborative work spaces, and team blogs and generally work through the effective collaborative team process.
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<br />I look forward to writing about Day 3.
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<br />Ron Young
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<br />More at:
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<br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com </a>
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<br /> Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-66885068804546814872011-08-14T07:03:00.000-07:002011-08-14T07:36:38.887-07:0010.30pm Sunday evening in Singapore Airlines lounge working on KM 2012Its 10.30pm in the Singapore Airlines Lounge in Singapore, waiting for the 2.15am flight to New Delhi, India.
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<br />At least the cafe latte is good, and the tuna sandwich is pretty ok too.
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<br />So what am I doing?
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<br />I am updating all my KM materials and producing a new version which will be ready for publication for January 2012.It encompasses all my new learnings and insights that I get through my KM consulting engagements, workshops and conference speaking around the world.
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<br />The great thing about doing this update, which I do religiously every year, is that this very process always triggers new creative and innovative thoughts. In fact, I get so excited by these new revelations that I sometimes forget the original purpose.
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<br />This makes me realise, once again, that the creative process of knowledge creation is often a function of time, to reflect, analyse, consolidate, synthesize, and update new thoughts and ideas with established thoughts and concepts.
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<br />Imagine how much more creative individuals and organisations could become, if only they gave more time and value to learning, reflecting, creating and applying knowledge?
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<br />I was told that Google demand that their employees spend 20% of their work time to learning, reflecting, creating and innovating. I am told that 3M were pioneers in doing this 80/20 time week.
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<br />I wonder how many of the really valuable, and maybe even radical,innovations come from this 20% usage of time for more effective knowledge working?
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<br />When will management understand and properly value knowledge creation against performance?
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<br />Meanwhile, another cafe latte? a glass of wine? 4 hours to go. I need some 80/20 time.
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<br />Ron Young
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<br />More at:
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<br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a> Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-76905769513230697622011-08-12T21:14:00.000-07:002011-08-12T21:48:35.281-07:00Saturday morning in sunny SingaporeIt's saturday morning in sunny Singapore and, I guess, that's my favourite time here.
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<br />Why?
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<br />Well, for many people around the world, it's normally because we have all been working hard during the week and its a time to relax. But, in Singapore, even more so because Singaporeans work very hard, very fast, and quite often, very long hours over the weekend too.
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<br />For me, my work finished about 10pm on friday night, after a skype videoconference with Kevin and Donovan in their Singapore office, and Douglas in Washington who was enjoying the friday morning, twelve hours behind Singapore.
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<br />This saturday morning I sat outside my hotel for breakfast, at Clarke's Quay down by the Singapore river. Just like every morning this week, but this time it was very different. Instead of gulping my breakfast and coffee,and reading notes in a very detached sort of way, about my meetings that day, I was able to sit and listen to the birds chirping away. Across the street, I noticed a guy was watering the plants around the building, smiling, and saying hello to people passing by.He was probably there every morning, but I hadn't noticed before.
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<br />What I really loved this morning, was that the beautiful green and lush plants under the palms were full of glistening white water jewels. Pearls of white that looked so fresh for a new day. They were especially magnified by the Singapore sun and bright light.
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<br />For me, only on a saturday morning, I had time to just browse through the Singapore Strait Times, and even just read articles I would simply not have the time to do during the week.
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<br />And the coffee even tasted so much better today.
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<br />Before I knew it, in a flash of timelessness, it was 11.30am and several beads of sweat were making themselves known on my forehead. It was time to go in to the hotel to cool down.
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<br />My first thought, back in the bustling lobby was 'how nice it would be if we could enjoy the beauty of our surroundings every morning'. Then I thought, 'but then we wouldn't have special saturday mornings'.
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<br />Happy saturday to all, everywhere.
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<br />Ron
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<br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-11556585985182478642011-07-27T09:06:00.000-07:002011-07-27T09:12:11.425-07:00KM Tools and Techniques book launched in Iran in Arabic<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxXHDsAHvHfAiBPTuEwmB2xLxA93ED7Rukp-dvJUftwmzCdiYjcV8IzUVNPlPE7UeMiw3ibbCeqgTqgBfht5iGyTef9Zf-B8lD8LZcVXHF9owRSVOsNVTVnra0ByLiqSjSy73cZw/s1600/IKM+Iran+book.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxXHDsAHvHfAiBPTuEwmB2xLxA93ED7Rukp-dvJUftwmzCdiYjcV8IzUVNPlPE7UeMiw3ibbCeqgTqgBfht5iGyTef9Zf-B8lD8LZcVXHF9owRSVOsNVTVnra0ByLiqSjSy73cZw/s320/IKM+Iran+book.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634064535039420786" /></a><br /><br /><br />I have just spent 7 days teaching Knowledge Management for the Public Sector in Tehran, Iran.<br /><br />So I was delighted to be presented there with our latest book published by APO Tokyo entitled 'KM Tools and Techniques' translated in Arabic, for initial launch in Iran<br /><br />How exciting is that :-)<br /><br />Ron Young<br /><br />more at:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-36630173753168804002011-07-17T03:03:00.000-07:002011-07-17T03:13:25.692-07:00KM Australia and Virgin Atlantic humourI am flying Virgin Atlantic London to Sydney to speak at KM Australia this coming week and run a workshop 'Understanding the four dimensions of Knowledge Management'<br /><br />Just before landing at Hong Kong, Matt, in charge of the cabin crew announced, "Aircrew take your stations, this is your last chance to have a seated landing" :-)<br /><br />Even better, on arrival and whilst taxying to the stand "We need a few volunteer passengers to stay behind and clean the toilets. If you wish to do this please make yourself known by standing up before the seat belt sign is switched off" :-)<br /><br />Finally, "As you are mad enough to hurtle through space in a metal tube at incredible speeds, if you wish to do so again, please use Virgin" :-)<br /><br />Thanks Matt for your humour :-)<br /><br />Ron<br /><br />more at <a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-27234265272157362372011-06-26T23:27:00.000-07:002011-06-27T01:40:54.093-07:00From the 'management of knowledge' to effective 'knowledge management and innovation'I have been a KM consultant and practitioner since 1993. That's a long time, but I am happy to say that I have helped many clients in different industries, and quite different cultures, all around the world, implement successful and sustainable KM initiatives.<br /><br />Yet, just last week, I was speaking at the KM UK 2011 conference in London. It was attended by a broad selection of experienced practitioners, consultants and people new to KM. At that conference I attended a Knowledge Cafe, run by David Gurteen, and he posed the question for discussion 'It can be argued that KM has failed to live up to its expectations over the past 15 years and has not delivered the business value promised. Why is this?<br /><br />As a proud and passionate KM professional, I never like to hear of KM as a failure at any time, especially when it can deliver such extraordinary results to an organization, but I am, at the same time, acutely aware of much 'overselling' of KM as a technology, or KM as a silver bullet, and I do greatly respect the concerns of my fellow practitioners and peers like David Gurteen.<br /><br />I guess that the biggest mistake that I make is in assuming that we all have the same understanding of KM, as novices and even amongst experienced practitioners and consultants who may choose to specialize rather than generalize.<br /><br />And I often make the great mistake of assuming that everybody knows what KM is! I forget that, each year, many people are totally new to KM and very keen to learn.<br /><br />The No 1, most popular section of my website <a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com </a>is, by far, people searching from all over the world for an understandable definition of 'knowledge managemen'. This is followed, in popularity, by the section 'What is KM?'. So I should know better. <br /><br />I gave a quick answer at the Knowledge Cafe that a key problem is the language that we use. Everybody understands and nobody argues about the importance of better managing our knowledge, but as soon as we say 'knowledge management' people tend to say, 'is it a system or software? can you do KM to us? etc. <br /><br />A simple reordering of the words 'management' and 'knowledge', can change the perception and understanding entirely.<br /><br />I often get the same confusion from seminar delegates with the words information and knowledge. People still often argue about differences between 'learning organizations' and 'knowledge based and knowledge driven organizations'. And, increasingly today, I get lots of questions asked in my workshops about new knowledge and innovation.<br /><br />I left the London KMUK 2011 conference somewhat frustrated, as I think there is so much great work that has been done,and so much work yet to be done to bring about effective knowledge driven organizations with increasingly productive knowlede working.<br /><br />I flew from London to Singapore, to spend a week with clients who are so keen to improve the way they manage their learning and knowledge. <br /><br />I always start a new client engagement with assessing and developing their common understanding of KM or whatever they prefer to call it, and the words they prefer to use. I use a simple tool to demystify the jargon and start talking about KM in words we all understand.<br /><br />I offer the essence of it here. This should work for you, if you are experiencing difficulties and misunderstandings. But you may agree or disagree with this. Please let me know your thoughts. <br /><br />I strongly believe that a key problem for KM is the way we use our language.<br /><br />So I call this tool 'From the management of knowledge to effective knowledge management and innovation'. <br /><br />1. We communicate 'information' to one another. We do this verbally and through the use of a variety of information and communication tools and technologies (ICT). We inform others and we become better informed. <br /><br />2. 'Learning' is the process of turning information into knowledge. The information we receive may be 'intellectual' such as listening or reading, or it may be 'experiential' such as 'learning whilst working/acting. We learn through our senses by filtering, analysing and synthesizing the new learning's with our existing knowledge.<br /><br />3. 'Knowledge' resides within us. It is a human phenomena. We can call this knowledge within us our 'tacit' knowledge, and when we externalise it through communicating to others, it may be called our knowledge that is made explicit.<br /><br />4. Our 'explicit knowledge' is information to others, unless they already know. It becomes part of their synthesized knowledge when they have performed the learning process.<br /><br />5. Information can be communicated in seconds. Knowledge takes time through learning.<br /><br />6. Collaboration (co-labouring) is working together as a team towards achieving a common mission, goal or objective. We can learn to effectively collaborate.<br /><br />7. Managing knowledge effectively, which is about identifying critical knowledge areas that will make a 'big difference', capturing and synthesizing new learning's and ideas, retaining knowledge, transferring or sharing knowledge, and applying knowledge to make the best decisions, requires the best communications, collaboration, learning and knowledge strategies, processes, methods tools and techniques. <br /><br />This may be called 'knowledge management'<br /><br />8. We must manage our knowledge at the personal, team, organizational and inter-organizational levels, to bring about 'effective knowledge management'. For each of the four levels, we must learn how to effectively communicate, collaborate, learn, share and apply our knowledge. We must learn 'why, what, who, how, where and when' for each of the four levels. For many organizations, this may be called 'extraordinary knowledge management'.<br /><br />9. The 'Four Dimensions of Knowledge Management' is a framework to bring about extraordinary knowledge management. This can be used to help organizations to 'mainstream knowledge management'.<br /><br />10. A natural outcome from effective knowledge management is innovation. Mainstreaming knowledge management will bring about 'mainstreamed innovation'.<br /><br />After presenting the 10 commands in a KM workshop, delegates are then given the opportunity to discuss the use of these words, and my suggested definitions. <br /><br />So far, many have said that it has helped them considerably to demystify KM and to realise, teach, and bring, about a common understanding of the term Knowledge Management, or another more suitable term for them, based on these principles.<br /><br />I have no doubt that effective knowledge management will bring about extraordinary results for organizations, and I look forward to the prospect of a Knowledge Cafe in the future that will discuss extraordinary knowledge management and innovation.<br /><br />Ron Young<br /><br />More at:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-81651921348275072011-06-19T01:47:00.000-07:002011-06-19T02:38:36.160-07:00The Era of the Global IndividualI have written about the 'Global Individual' several times before, but it keeps coming back to me in stronger waves. <br /><br />In all my work,to help organizations better capture, create, share and apply knowledge to achieve business objectives, I continually see the rapidly increasing empowerment of the individual as the most potent force to bring about the paradigm shift from separate knowledge entities and individuals, to collective knowledge entities in teams, organizations and communities.<br /><br />Mobile technologies like smart phones, iPads, camcorders and audio recorders are, of course, extensions to our eyes, ears and voices. When connected to the global internet and the world wide web of browsers, contextual search engines, hyperlinked documents, and information resources, it extends our capacities beyond our wildest imagination. Social networking tools that enable us to build web profiles, like facebook, Web 2.0 communication and collaboration tools like tweets, blogs and wiki's enable us to have swirling and swarming global conversations and build new knowledge together.<br /><br /><br />We have evolved from separated tribal individuals with very little, and very slow, knowledge transfer beyond our immediate village communities, just several hundred years ago, to highly connected global individuals with very fast knowledge transfer,potentially to anybody on the planet.<br /><br />The implications of being a global individual are just starting to emerge. This is simply massive empowerment.<br /><br />None of us know the full implications of this, other than it will be simply huge change, and hopefully it will be a positive disruption across our established ways of living and working.<br /><br />Most importantly for me to consider is that the global individual will be empowered and working with global networks, communities, organizations and teams with new global tools to capture, create, share and apply global knowledge. <br /><br />And along with this comes the need for 'total transparency'. This may delight you or horrify you.<br /><br />For example, I know people who are trying to keep their business persona separate from their private persona to family and friends. I actually think this is understandable, but futile. To me, it is simply inevitable that we will soon all become totally transparent global individuals. <br /><br />In return, we will all gain much richer and much deeper insights of one another. Another major step towards better understanding one another.<br /> <br />What do you think about this? Does this delight or horrify you?<br /><br />Ron Young<br /><br />More at:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-88789039576205174192011-06-11T07:16:00.000-07:002011-06-11T08:00:34.880-07:00Gaia and global knowledge ecologiesLast November 2010, I presented a paper at KM Asia in Singapore which presented some of my thoughts on Quantum Physics and KM. <br /><br />We really do urgently need a new theory of knowledge and knowledge economics, to better develop and grow as individuals, teams, and organizations, in this global knowledge society, and that paper was my attempt to start a discussion around the global knowledge entity.<br /><br />I used the metaphors of 'A Sky of Information'(actually that's a truth) and 'An Ocean of Knowledge'.<br /><br />I really do see and better understand information and knowledge flow in these terms.<br />I have developed my thinking quite a bit since November 2010 and I hope to produce another paper, perhaps even a new knowledge hypothesis soon.<br /><br />Well this week I decided to re-read one of my favourite older books from 1979 'Gaia - a new look at life on Earth' by Jim Lovelock. At the time, Jim was an independant scientist who has co-operated with NASA in their space programme, and since 1974 has been a Fellow of the Royal Society.<br /><br />Of his book, Gaia, others say that Gaia is an intimate account of a journey through time and space in search of evidence with which to support a new and radically different model of Earth. Bringing knowledge from astronomy to zoology in support of his hypothesis, Jim Lovelock explores the idea that the life of Earth functions as a single organism which actually defines and maintains conditions necessary for its survival.<br /><br />Actually, since Gaia was first published in 1979, many of Lovelock's predictions have come true and his theory has become one of the most hotly debated topics in scientific circles. <br /><br />Today, global climate change is top of the agenda and Lovelock has some profound views on the implications for Planet Earth and humanity.<br /><br />You will probably realise, by now, that I was glued to my chair when re-reading his views on the self-regulating information and knowledge transfer functions of the sky and the oceans. My metaphor suddenly took on a much deeper meaning for me.<br /><br />I have always preferred to talk about knowledge ecologies and even in my first book in 1995, Upside Down Management, McGraw Hill Europe, I talked much more comfortably about getting the most out of knowledge workers in organizations when we remove structured limitations and recognise that people are highly complex organisms.<br /><br />So I am thinking and looking deeper into similarities between the behaviours of deep ecological systems on Planet Earth and global knowledge ecologies.<br /><br />Going back to Quantum Physics, I am still most interested in the Quantum Physicists view of an underlying force, deeper and beyond the laws of energy and matter, that is often called the Quantum vacuum or Zero Point, and informs all forms of life.<br /><br />Again this is rather like a 'sky of information' and an 'ocean of knowledge', and intuition tells me that we all can, and unconsciously do, access some of this knowledge.<br /><br />So I think some answers for a new knowledge theory may be found in combining new thoughts about the invisible world of quanta with new thoughts about the visible world and deep ecology.<br /><br />But my brain is starting to hurt. It's saturday and our local SW France village is celebrating a weekend of bands, music and wine.I need the break :-)<br /><br />Let me know if you have any thoughts about any of this, or your views on a new knowledge theory, as I will be back in deep thinking mode soon.<br /><br />Ron Young<br /><br />More at:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-59648117351573445842011-06-02T02:29:00.000-07:002011-06-02T03:39:06.216-07:00Celebrating Team DifferencesToday, I was reminded of the work that I did in the late 1990's with Lotus Developments. It was called 'Celebrating Team Differences'<br /><br />When we work in teams, we naturally find differences. Some differences are appreciated, but on many occassions, people can initially tend towards conflict as a result of the differences. <br /><br />As many of us have to also work in virtual teams, that can be rapidly thrown together overnight, without any opportunity to get to know one another, and even ever meet one another physically, the problem of team differences and team conflict can become magnified.<br /><br />Yet, if properly understood, team differences can be a great asset and, properly developed, can even cause us to celebrate these differences, and greatly increase our team performance and productivity.<br /><br />One of the key contributors to difference, and I mean just one, is that we all use our brains differently. Some people are naturally more logical in their approach to work and life, and some people are naturally more creative in their approach to work and life. We tend to label them 'left brainers' and 'right brainers'.It is not that we have different brain hemispheres, as all healthy people have both left and right hemispheres, but it means that we all tend to predominantly use either the left or the right hemisphere more, to different degrees.<br /><br />Some say this is as a result of:<br /><br />Our genetics, and since birth,our religious upbringing,our culture and values,our national society,our schooling,our life and work opportunities, the culture of organizations we work for, and so the list goes on.<br /><br />So we tend to end up in situations and job occupations that are, say, predominantely logical, like for example, accounting, legal profession, or predominantely creative, like for example, designers and creative advertising, musicians, acting and film.<br /><br />So this means that some people in a new project team may resonate more towards a more logical and planned approach to work, systems and tools, and some people in a team may resonate more towards a more intuitive and spontaneous approach to work, systems and tools.<br /><br />Left brainers, generally speaking, are far more time conscious and more punctual to attend meetings, say, than right brainers. I over simplify to make a point.<br /><br />Within this same spectrum, we have people who, as extreme left brainers are excellent as 'finishers' in a team project (dotting the i's and crossing the t's) and extreme right brainers as excellent creators of new radical ideas and innovators in the team. Some of us are naturally more extrovert and enjoy communicating with many others, and some of us are naturally more introvert and enjoy more our own company. And we all fit in somewhere along this spectrum.<br /><br />So when we form a work team, and when we do not understand these differences, we can easily lead to conflict. <br /><br />Let me give some examples of team conflict, in ways that we work together:<br /><br />Some prefer/demand explicit logical and structured ways to work and others hate this and prefer unstructured spontaneous working<br />Some get upset because others are consistently late or do not keep to their alloted times<br />Some visit the collaborative team work spaces every hour and get frustrated because others visit once a week.<br /><br />And so on.<br /><br />The answer is to start a project team with a mindset that recognises and celebrates these common and natural differences. To then discuss with the team, physically if possible, otherwise virtually, an informal 'team contract' that all the team will buy-in to, that agrees the degree of structured and unstructured approach to the project, and then the best team working tools to support this,<br /><br />Furthermore, at least, the team contract also includes the agreed minimum time that all members must visit the collaborative team space (say once an hour, day, week, month etc) depending on the nature of the project.<br /><br />Furthermore, team members are encouraged to create on their profiles, their strengths and weaknesses, and any strong likes and dislikes, concerning their preferred approach to work.<br /><br />The result, over time, is that team members will not enter into a stage of conflict of differences, but enjoy a celebration of differences.<br /><br />In team development, we have learned well the four stages of effective team development as'forming, storming, norming and performing'.<br /><br />Celebrating our differences is just one important way to reduce the 'storming' stage. I suggest that this does not happen enough naturally, so the project team leader needs to facilitate this process at the project start.<br /><br />More on virtual team effectiveness to follow shortly.<br /><br />More on effective knowledge working at<br /><br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com </a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-58511811859875032622011-05-30T23:49:00.000-07:002011-05-30T23:56:04.636-07:00Unstructured Web 2.0 tools and structured systemsFor some time now, I have been using and evaluating different 'Enterprise 2.0' systems.<br /><br />This has led me to believe that Enterprise 2.0 has, potentially, some very powerful possibilities that go beyond Web 2.0, provided we approach it and think differently to standard web 2.0 usage.<br /><br />In Web 2.0 we have separate tools, provided by separate providers. We can choose, and mix and match our tools to tweet, to blog, to create wiki's, to search, to be alerted, to collaborate in virtual teams, to conduct social bookmarking, social networking etc.<br /><br />Because we tend to start with one tool, maybe blogging, we focus on the simple use of this until we gain confidence and understand its full potential. One by one, we may add these tools, initially, for simple reasons. But often, we only want to use one tool for one specific job.<br /><br />The result is that we have people today on the Web who specialise, for example, as star bloggers with an enormous following and reputation as good writers, or thought leaders, or critics or whatever. <br /><br />We have celebrities whose tweets are followed by fans. <br /><br />People tweet from their phones to organize a revolution. <br /><br />People use wikipedia as their online encyclopedia. <br /><br />We use the social network facebook to keep connected to friends and their activities.<br /><br />By and large, in our private lives, we use Web 2.0 tools to perform separate functions that help us communicate, learn and share in those areas that interest us.<br /><br />They are hugely successful because they are each, very simple to get started, very intuitive, free at entry point, and enable us to participate globally, and to gain recognition to potentially huge audiences.<br /><br />But now, through Enterprise initiatives, and pressures from private users of Web 2.0 tools, people are developing ways to use the same tools in the workplace, because as knowledge workers, we also need to find ways to better communicate, collaborate, learn and share knowledge and experiences, to help us become more productive, at least.<br /><br />We start off by using the tools, one by one, in the workplace, for different activities. Frankly, if this improves our communications and ability to work better, in any way, that's simply great.<br /><br />Eventually, however, some of us reach a stage that makes us think about how we could better use these separate tools by combining them, systematically, to create knowledge flows, perhaps to support our own work processes and knowledge deliverables?<br /><br />But here, I suggest, we have to think differently from a simple to use and intuitive approach. <br /><br />Here, we need BOTH unstructured AND structured information, we need to think both in intuitive and logical ways, we need both discovery and serendipity, and logical search and scanning, we need both creativity and innovation and knowledge management.<br /><br />To me, its like the way our brains best function. Not totally logical (left hemisphere) and not totally creative (right hemisphere) but BOTH / AND. Interestingly, the Oxford Dictionary definition of genius is 'utilizing both the left brain and right brain faculties to the full'<br /><br />So I suggest that successful Enterprise 2.0, if you are happy with that term, is beyond Web 2.0, and should allow BOTH free intuitive, informal, simple, unstructured, participation from which natural wisdom may emerge from the diverse crowds, on the one hand, AND logical, formal, structured process and review from experts and peer groups, working together towards organizational excellence. An organizational 'whole brain' approach.<br /><br />What do you think? <br /><br />Does this delight you or horrify you? <br /><br />Could we start capturing ideas and blog learnings and insights spontaneously, yet within a framework towards structured knowledge flows towards Good Practices, for example?<br /><br />In this case, the structure is achieved by chanelling the knowledge flow and knowledge objects towards managed wiki's, as well as self-managed wiki's, as appropriate. <br /><br />Or should we restrict ourselves to the more unstructured usage only, as a key benefit to our work, and consider it as just one of the powerful tools to be used with other more structured tools in our organizations, to achieve specific objectives?<br /><br />What's your take on this?<br /><br />Ron Young<br /><br />More at:<br /><a href=" http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-84516301541196727072011-05-18T04:35:00.000-07:002011-05-18T05:09:47.915-07:00My first successful experience of global knowledge sharingIt was actually in the early 1970's that I had my first successful experience of global knowledge sharing.<br /><br />It happened by accident and through a great tragedy.<br /><br />A very good friend and business colleague of mine was, like me, a passionate private pilot. But very sadly, he crashed and died with his wife and friends on board, in the misty hills and mountains of Snowdonia in Wales.<br /><br />As the only computer programmer around that could understand his COBOL program, at the time, his employees asked me to keep running this main business application, to keep the company running.<br /><br />This is how it worked.<br /><br />Quite simply, all the major manufacturers of agricultural tractors, worldwide, all knew each other well. (Ford, Massey Ferguson, International Harvester, John Deere etc.) The agricultural industry was very old and mature indeed. As a result, most people had, at one time or another, worked also in several of the competitor companies.<br /><br />The problem was that the tractor component manufacturers and the tractor manufacturers themselves were always either greatly overproducing or greatly underproducing to try to meet market demands.<br /><br />So the manufacturers agreed to share, each month, their total shipments to their dealers and other production and distribution information and knowledge.<br /><br />This was achieved by submitting their information, in strict confidence, to an independant computer bureau that would then produce the total picture without revealing the identity of the individual contributions. That was what I did each month.<br /><br />It was perfect. It really helped tractor manufacturers and component manufacturers with their production. It saved lots of money. It increased efficiency and effectiveness.<br /><br />This global information and knowledge sharing was so successful that within a few years only, we were running lots of global exchanges for all types of agricultural and construction machinery and equipment.<br /><br />This really was a first successful experience of global knowledge sharing.<br /><br />There was so much to be gained by collaborating and not just competing.<br /><br />Eventually, the manufacturers gained enough confidence and trust in the exchange system that they even then started to reveal their identities to one another, and not just anonymous totals.<br /><br />Unfortunately, this successful evolution of global information and knowledge sharing had to end.<br /><br />The European Commission decided that there was nothing at all wrong with the global exchanges of information and knowledge, but it had been brought to their attention that the annual meetings we held, with all manufacturers present, could be a potential breeding ground for collusion on prices and market shares etc.<br /><br />It got so bad that every manufacturer even had to fully report the next day if they even accidentally met a competitor anywhere at, say, a trade fair or any event.<br /><br />Eventually, the manufacturers had to greatly reduce this activity into remote, anonymous, monthly submissions of broad information only. This was in order to comply with European Commission, Treaty of Rome Article 85, on unfair competition.<br /><br />But that was a long time ago. And I imagine it was one of the first, if not the pioneering, global exchanges of information and knowledge which had, initially, huge business benefits and success.<br /><br />Ultimately, it could not be sustained because of issues of 'ethics and trust'<br /><br />What can we learn from this today in our 21st Century knowledge driven corporates, organizations and institutions?<br /><br />Ron Young<br /><br />More at:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-29610059944214614962011-04-30T07:20:00.000-07:002011-04-30T07:25:22.513-07:00Knowledge Asset Management: two minute videoIn December 2010, I was invited to speak at KM India, held in Bangalore.<br /><br />During the conference, I was video interviewed.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WawgHwFt7BM">Here</a> is the first, a two minute introduction to Knowledge Asset Management, that distinguishes between flows of knowledge and explicit knowledge objects.<br /><br />Ron Young<br /><br />More at:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-90868457304835234562011-04-12T03:41:00.001-07:002011-04-12T03:41:56.908-07:00Mass global collaboration at its very best<p> </p> <p>This morning I was blown away. In fact, I was in tears of joy.</p> <p>I picked up from a tweet, from Don Tapscott author of MacroWikinomics, a link to a YouTube video.</p> <p>I curiously followed it. </p> <p>As a knowledge management practitioner since 1995, and particularly since the era of Web 2.0, I have been very interested in examples of mass collaboration that have emerged on the web. Popular examples are, of course, Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia of Life, Genome project etc.</p> <p>Mass collaborations, in such volumes, and such degrees of diversity, all coming together, can often distil truth, or get very close indeed.</p> <p>They can break the boundaries of human knowledge to something much bigger, totally disruptive and uncontrollable, like a sort of knowledge tsunami.</p> <p>Well today I saw for the first time a video from a TED talk from Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong. Each person sang alone to a score and conductor from around the world, and the individual video uploads were edited into one production.</p> <p>The result is simply wonderful, and truly so much greater than the sum of the parts! A magnificent global mass collaboration.</p> <p>Take a look at this 14 minute video of the talk and final music video’s.</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NENlXsW4pM">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NENlXsW4pM</a></p> <p>What truth does this distil for you?</p> <p>Ron Young</p> <p>More info at:</p> <p><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a></p> Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-65221274228148083552011-04-11T02:55:00.000-07:002011-04-11T03:00:40.731-07:00Job: Knowledge Management Expert, The Netherlands, SABICA few years ago, I worked with helping SABIC in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, develop Knowledge Management competencies, and introduce KM initiatives into their research teams.<br /><br />SABIC are expanding globally rapidly, expanding their KM activities, and now seek a Knowledge Management expert, based in the Netherlands.<br /><br />Full details for the job application <a href="http://gs19.globalsuccessor.com/fe/tpl_sabic04.asp?newms=jj&id=72839&newlang=1">here</a><br /><br />Ron Young<br /><br />More info about KM at:<br /><br /><a href="www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-29083295362474729102011-04-01T01:56:00.001-07:002011-04-01T01:56:43.255-07:00Will Jeju, S.Korea, be the next Singapore as a Knowledge Hub?<p>I am sitting in the airport lounge at Jeju airport, South Korea, waiting for a flight to Seoul, and then onwards to London.</p> <p>After just three days on the island, I ask, will Jeju be the next Singapore, as a Knowledge Hub?</p> <p>Why do I say this?</p> <p>Jeju is an island on the southern tip of South Korea. If you look on a map you will see that it is a short flight to Seoul, to Beijing, to Shanghai and to Tokyo, all major capital cities of S.Korea, China and Japan, with very high populations.</p> <p>Very significantly, in 2002, the Korean Government designated Jeju as the Free International City by recognising its value, and designated Jeju as the Special Self-Governing Province in 2006, the only exceptions being national defence, diplomacy and administration of justice.</p> <p>There is indiscriminate(no tax) reduction in domestic and foreign capital.</p> <p>Today, Jeju, like Singapore many years ago, has a relatively low population. Around 600,000 people live there. At the moment, about 10 million people visit Jeju each year as tourists.  It is currently the main business. This is because Jeju is a staggeringly beautiful natural island, with a great climate, and a wonderful and majestic Mt Halla soaring high to embrace the entire island. Locals rightfully boast that water flowing from it, anywhere on the island, makes people feel good just by simply drinking it with hands.</p> <p>The Hallasan Nature Reserve is spectacular, and the ancient volcanoes and Lava Tubes are beyond words. It is no surprise that it is a declared UNESCO World natural heritage area. </p> <p>But that is now. What about the future?</p> <p>Well the vision is for a ‘Free International City centering on mankind, environment and knowledge’. The first phase will be completed this year, 2011. </p> <p>Secondly, South Korea are the most advanced in the world today with internet connectivity and infrastructure investment.</p> <p>Thirdly, the world class International Conference Centre is within 2 hrs flight from Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo. The international airport infrastructure is world class.</p> <p>Most importantly, Jeju International City has six core projects:</p> <p>1. High-Tech Science and Technology Complex</p> <p>2. English Education City</p> <p>3. Healthcare Town</p> <p>4. Seogwipo Tourism Port</p> <p>5. Resort-Type Residential Complex</p> <p>6. Myths – History Theme Park</p> <p>After 3 days on the island, what is my prediction?</p> <p>I strongly suspect, at least, that Jeju could become the Knowledge Hub of North East Asia, as Singapore has become the Knowledge Hub of South East Asia.</p> <p>And finally, of utmost importance for success and growth, is the natural hospitality of the people.</p> <p>Our host, Mr Jun-Ho Kim, Director,International Cooperation Department, Korea Productivity Center, totally surprised us all with a ‘cultural tour’ after meetings. We were introduced to female divers offering fresh seafood with a  Korean drink I can only describe as very very good cold saki. I am sure the Koreans consider it better. We were introduced to very local eating. We were sped around the coastline in a jet boat. We attended a Korean circus, we had lunch on a floating seafood hotel, we climbed the peaks, and saw the famous setting sun.</p> <p>If Jun-Ho Kim is a typical example of hospitality, the rest of the world had better watch out. But I suspect he is extraordinary, by any standards, even though the local people were, indeed, most friendly and kind.</p> <p>If I get some spare cash I know where I will be investing it!</p> <p>I think Jeju, S.Korea, is a place to watch carefully in the growing global knowledge and experience economy.</p> <p>Good luck Jeju.</p> <p>Ron Young</p> <p>(PS I will be adding my photographs as soon as I get back to Europe.)</p> <p>More information at:</p> <p><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a></p> Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20688342.post-57226730093465297742011-03-31T02:34:00.000-07:002011-03-31T02:50:16.299-07:00From Government to Collaborative GovernanceA great new learning for me this week in South Korea is the notion of transformation that is taking place in the Public sector, from 'Government to Collaborative Governance'.<br /><br />Working with Dr Shin Kim, Director, Office of International Cooperation and Public Relations, The Korea Institute of Public Administration, he explained:<br /><br />'In South Korea,we are well advanced and familiar with all the major Knowledge Management theories, concepts, frameworks etc and what we are seeking is more practicality in our KM initiatives. South Korea has made substantial investments in IT and technology infrastructure, but doesn't yet have the application and practical implementation of effective knowledge management.<br /><br />The Government realised that it has a new paradigm, from governing, from 'government' to realising that it cannot possibly be truly effective unless it fully collaborates with stakeholders in a new paradigm around collaborating ', hence the development of 'Collaborative Governance'.<br /><br />I do like the notion of collaborative governance of knowledge in the Public sector.<br /><br />Ron Young<br /><br />more information at:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.knowledge-management-online.com">www.knowledge-management-online.com</a>Ron Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05129981781557503051noreply@blogger.com0