Knowledge Risk: Most profound statement you've ever heard/come across #value #lessons-learned


 

Hi All,

A manager in strategy just asked me " what has been the most profound statement you've heard regarding the risk of not having good knowledge management? i.e. powerful statement on knowledge lost or productivity lost, with some metrics".

I need to think about this a bit as there are so many risks, so I thought i would also pose this ask to this group. 

If you had to state the single greatest risk to an organization for not have a good KM, what would that be for you (and if you have time the why).

Much appreciated,
Sandra 


 

One risk that immediately comes to my mind would be losing lessons learned and therefore reinventing the wheel. If you're in the military or Wildland Fire Service, for instance, this can result in people dying unnecessarily. 

For many other businesses, this can result in unnecessary fiscal losses due to avoidable downtime or repeating work that has already been done (pharma R&D for instance), among others. There are countless examples of how this works and why it's important - still. And still a challenge for many organizations to do it well. 

Whether or not failing to document and learn from past undertakings is the single greatest risk to an organization is dependent upon each organization. There may be other, more important KM-related pursuits that would rate higher than this in some types of industries or individual orgs. 
--
-Tom
--

Tom Short Consulting
TSC
+1 415 300 7457

All of my previous SIKM Posts


 

Loss of profitability !!!

Then loss of quality a d efficiency.

Kind regards

Alexandre Zivkovic 

Le 25 oct. 2022 à 23:10, Sandra Willis <Sandra.Willis@...> a écrit :

Hi All,

A manager in strategy just asked me " what has been the most profound statement you've heard regarding the risk of not having good knowledge management? i.e. powerful statement on knowledge lost or productivity lost, with some metrics".

I need to think about this a bit as there are so many risks, so I thought i would also pose this ask to this group. 

If you had to state the single greatest risk to an organization for not have a good KM, what would that be for you (and if you have time the why).

Much appreciated,
Sandra 


 

Hi, Sandra
What a great question - risk! 

KM is information management and collaboration.  Those are essential to most industries’ employee retention prospects. 

SIKM’ers have said this, but it bears repeating. High turnover costs are a big risk when an employee lacks resources, templates, job-aids (read: information), and when an employee’s work fails to innovate with/integrate into the work of others (read: collaboration).  (Waste is and wait are damaging to the psyche.)

Kate

Katrina Pugh, Ph.D.
President | AlignConsulting | Collaboration, Analytics and Strategy
Faculty | Columbia University | Information and Knowledge Strategy Master of Science Program
Mobile: 617-967-3910

On Oct 26, 2022, at 6:20 AM, Alexandre Zivkovic <alexandre.zivkovic@...> wrote:

Loss of profitability !!!

Then loss of quality a d efficiency.

Kind regards

Alexandre Zivkovic 

Le 25 oct. 2022 à 23:10, Sandra Willis <Sandra.Willis@...> a écrit :

Hi All,

A manager in strategy just asked me " what has been the most profound statement you've heard regarding the risk of not having good knowledge management? i.e. powerful statement on knowledge lost or productivity lost, with some metrics".

I need to think about this a bit as there are so many risks, so I thought i would also pose this ask to this group. 

If you had to state the single greatest risk to an organization for not have a good KM, what would that be for you (and if you have time the why).

Much appreciated,
Sandra 


 

Hi Sandra.

I would agree with the previous points but would also suggest that it severely impacts the organisation’s ability to win new business or to retain existing business if they are unable to capture and share knowledge credentials which contribute to positive client ‘win’ stories. This keeps the company ahead of the competition so it needs to be continually updated so it is relevant and valuable at the time of harvesting and ultimately sharing.

Hope this is useful,

Paul 

On Wed, 26 Oct 2022 at 11:52, Katrina Pugh <katrinabpugh@...> wrote:
Hi, Sandra
What a great question - risk! 

KM is information management and collaboration.  Those are essential to most industries’ employee retention prospects. 

SIKM’ers have said this, but it bears repeating. High turnover costs are a big risk when an employee lacks resources, templates, job-aids (read: information), and when an employee’s work fails to innovate with/integrate into the work of others (read: collaboration).  (Waste is and wait are damaging to the psyche.)

Kate

Katrina Pugh, Ph.D.
President | AlignConsulting | Collaboration, Analytics and Strategy
Faculty | Columbia University | Information and Knowledge Strategy Master of Science Program
Mobile: 617-967-3910

On Oct 26, 2022, at 6:20 AM, Alexandre Zivkovic <alexandre.zivkovic@...> wrote:

Loss of profitability !!!

Then loss of quality a d efficiency.

Kind regards

Alexandre Zivkovic 

Le 25 oct. 2022 à 23:10, Sandra Willis <Sandra.Willis@...> a écrit :

Hi All,

A manager in strategy just asked me " what has been the most profound statement you've heard regarding the risk of not having good knowledge management? i.e. powerful statement on knowledge lost or productivity lost, with some metrics".

I need to think about this a bit as there are so many risks, so I thought i would also pose this ask to this group. 

If you had to state the single greatest risk to an organization for not have a good KM, what would that be for you (and if you have time the why).

Much appreciated,
Sandra 


 

Hi Sandra,

Thanks for the question!  In case this helps, the bullet statement that stuck with my organization was that, « If we don’t start now, we’ll be left behind, start becoming irrelevant until we become completely forgotten. »

Good luck!

Best,
Ninez (Piezas-Jerbi)
former KM starter of the WTO
nineznow.com



On 26 Oct 2022, at 12:52, Katrina Pugh <katrinabpugh@...> wrote:

Hi, Sandra
What a great question - risk! 

KM is information management and collaboration.  Those are essential to most industries’ employee retention prospects. 

SIKM’ers have said this, but it bears repeating. High turnover costs are a big risk when an employee lacks resources, templates, job-aids (read: information), and when an employee’s work fails to innovate with/integrate into the work of others (read: collaboration).  (Waste is and wait are damaging to the psyche.)

Kate

Katrina Pugh, Ph.D.
President | AlignConsulting | Collaboration, Analytics and Strategy
Faculty | Columbia University | Information and Knowledge Strategy Master of Science Program
Mobile: 617-967-3910

On Oct 26, 2022, at 6:20 AM, Alexandre Zivkovic <alexandre.zivkovic@...> wrote:

Loss of profitability !!!

Then loss of quality a d efficiency.

Kind regards

Alexandre Zivkovic 

Le 25 oct. 2022 à 23:10, Sandra Willis <Sandra.Willis@...> a écrit :

Hi All,

A manager in strategy just asked me " what has been the most profound statement you've heard regarding the risk of not having good knowledge management? i.e. powerful statement on knowledge lost or productivity lost, with some metrics".

I need to think about this a bit as there are so many risks, so I thought i would also pose this ask to this group. 

If you had to state the single greatest risk to an organization for not have a good KM, what would that be for you (and if you have time the why).

Much appreciated,
Sandra 


 

The use of knowledge underpins everything an organisation does. So there there is any enterprise risk, there is a knowledge component to that risk. There are many types of risk, e.g. financial risk, operational risk, market risk, misconduct risk, legal, regulatory and reputational risk.

If you peel back the cover on any of these, you can see how knowledge can play a role in that risk. For example, market risk can be exacerbated or mitigated depending on your market intelligence and sensemaking capabilities. So I’d suggest starting with your enterprise risk register if you have one (internal audit or enterprise risk management would be the place), and for the high profile risks, look at where knowledge (and KM) may play a role in mitigating that risk. This is the counterweight to typical KM strategies, that look primarily at opportunities - but it is an important one, and it might end up getting better senior understanding than some of our pitches which can be very operationally focused.

P

Patrick Lambe
Partner
Straits Knowledge

phone:  +65 98528511

web:  www.straitsknowledge.com
resources:  www.greenchameleon.com
knowledge mapping:  www.aithinsoftware.com


On 26 Oct 2022, at 4:55 PM, Ninez Piezas-Jerbi <npjerbi@...> wrote:

Hi Sandra,

Thanks for the question!  In case this helps, the bullet statement that stuck with my organization was that, « If we don’t start now, we’ll be left behind, start becoming irrelevant until we become completely forgotten. »

Good luck!

Best,
Ninez (Piezas-Jerbi)
former KM starter of the WTO



On 26 Oct 2022, at 12:52, Katrina Pugh <katrinabpugh@...> wrote:

Hi, Sandra
What a great question - risk! 

KM is information management and collaboration.  Those are essential to most industries’ employee retention prospects. 

SIKM’ers have said this, but it bears repeating. High turnover costs are a big risk when an employee lacks resources, templates, job-aids (read: information), and when an employee’s work fails to innovate with/integrate into the work of others (read: collaboration).  (Waste is and wait are damaging to the psyche.)

Kate

Katrina Pugh, Ph.D.
President | AlignConsulting | Collaboration, Analytics and Strategy
Faculty | Columbia University | Information and Knowledge Strategy Master of Science Program
Mobile: 617-967-3910

On Oct 26, 2022, at 6:20 AM, Alexandre Zivkovic <alexandre.zivkovic@...> wrote:

Loss of profitability !!!

Then loss of quality a d efficiency.

Kind regards

Alexandre Zivkovic 

Le 25 oct. 2022 à 23:10, Sandra Willis <Sandra.Willis@...> a écrit :

Hi All,

A manager in strategy just asked me " what has been the most profound statement you've heard regarding the risk of not having good knowledge management? i.e. powerful statement on knowledge lost or productivity lost, with some metrics".

I need to think about this a bit as there are so many risks, so I thought i would also pose this ask to this group.  

If you had to state the single greatest risk to an organization for not have a good KM, what would that be for you (and if you have time the why).

Much appreciated,
Sandra 


 
Edited

Thanks to Sandra for posting and to all who have replied.

Major risks of not doing knowledge management well, or at all, include:
  • Expending redundant effort
  • Repeating the same mistakes over and over
  • Keeping important information from reaching the very people who need it
  • Making poor decisions
  • Failing to innovate
  • Losing organizational knowledge as people resign and retire
These can result in many negative consequences, including:
  • Product recalls
  • Injuries or deaths
  • Harm to the environment
  • Lawsuits
  • Unprofitable products and services
  • Low employee morale
  • Lost customers
  • Damage to the brand
  • Inability to attract or retain talent
  • Failure to achieve the organization's mission
  • Diminished productivity, revenue, growth, profit margin, market share, and shareholder value
  • Becoming a takeover target or going out of business


 

In summary: loss of reputation.
best,
Rezwan
Knowledge City Dhaka
Bangladesh.

On Wed, Oct 26, 2022 at 6:55 PM Stan Garfield <stangarfield@...> wrote:
Thanks to Sandra for posting and to all who have replied.

Major risks of not doing knowledge management well, or at all, include:
  • Expending redundant effort
  • Repeating the same mistakes over and over
  • Keeping important information from reaching the very people who need it
  • Making poor decisions
  • Failing to innovate
These can result in many negative consequences, including:
  • Product recalls
  • Injuries or deaths
  • Harm to the environment
  • Lawsuits
  • Unprofitable products and services
  • Low employee morale
  • Lost customers
  • Damage to the brand
  • Inability to attract or retain talent
  • Failure to achieve the organization's mission
  • Diminished productivity, revenue, growth, profit margin, market share, and shareholder value
  • Becoming a takeover target or going out of business


 
Edited

@Stan wrote:
Major risks of not doing knowledge management well, or at all, include:

  • Expending redundant effort
  • Repeating the same mistakes over and over
  • Keeping important information from reaching the very people who need it
  • Making poor decisions
  • Failing to innovate

💯

There's a whole book in your response, Stan, with each of the first set of five bullets being a chapter heading.
If someone wants to organize it and own getting it published, I'll contribute. 
--
-Tom
--

Tom Short Consulting
TSC
+1 415 300 7457

All of my previous SIKM Posts


 

Hi Sandra, 

I'll respond as follows:

"In a Knowledge-based economy, 90% of revenues of the top 500 S&P companies are from intangible assets in other words knowledge-based services, The risk of not having good knowledge management is not getting your salary or any salary as the company won't be profitable"

Source: Link 

Thank you
Rachad 


 

I’ll contribute too. I have a few real case examples for it.

 

Best,

 

Jean-Claude F. Monney

 

Managing Partner – Digital Workplace and KM Advisor

 

+1 512 426-4037

 

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From: main@SIKM.groups.io <main@SIKM.groups.io> on behalf of Tom Short via groups.io <tshortconsulting@...>
Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2022 at 7:18 AM
To: main@SIKM.groups.io <main@SIKM.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [SIKM] Knowledge Risk: Most profound statement you've ever heard/come across #value #lessons-learned

💯

There's a whole book in your response, Stan, with each of the first set of five bullets being a chapter heading.
If someone wants to organize it and own getting it published, I'll contribute. 
--
-Tom
--

Tom Short Consulting
TSC
+1 415 300 7457

All of my previous SIKM Posts


 

There is also this recent book by Professor Lee Rongbin and his colleagues in Hong Kong, which takes an enterprise risk perspective and then looks at the KM implications - rather expensive but a good grounding, and proposes a self assessment tool.

https://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-Risk-Its-Mitigation-Practices/dp/1789739209/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1666795389&sr=8-1

P

Patrick Lambe
Partner
Straits Knowledge

phone:  +65 98528511

web:  www.straitsknowledge.com
resources:  www.greenchameleon.com
knowledge mapping:  www.aithinsoftware.com


On 26 Oct 2022, at 8:08 PM, Jean-Claude F. Monney <Jean-Claude@...> wrote:

I’ll contribute too. I have a few real case examples for it.
 
Best,
 
Jean-Claude F. Monney
 
Managing Partner – Digital Workplace and KM Advisor
 
+1 512 426-4037
 
<image001.jpg>
 

From: main@SIKM.groups.io <main@SIKM.groups.io> on behalf of Tom Short via groups.io <tshortconsulting@...>
Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2022 at 7:18 AM
To: main@SIKM.groups.io <main@SIKM.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [SIKM] Knowledge Risk: Most profound statement you've ever heard/come across #value #lessons-learned

💯

There's a whole book in your response, Stan, with each of the first set of five bullets being a chapter heading. 
If someone wants to organize it and own getting it published, I'll contribute. 
-- 
-Tom
-- 

Tom Short Consulting
TSC
+1 415 300 7457

All of my previous SIKM Posts



 

With Stan’s blessing, I’d be happy to help organize and shepherd something through publication. It’s out of scope for the book series I edit, Critical Information Organization in LIS (https://litwinbooks.com/series-on-critical-information-organization-in-lis/), but I think we could locate another publisher or self-publish. 

“If you build it they will come”

Happy Wednesday!
Kelsey George

On Oct 26, 2022, at 7:39 AM, Jean-Claude F. Monney <Jean-Claude@...> wrote:



I’ll contribute too. I have a few real case examples for it.

 

Best,

 

Jean-Claude F. Monney

 

Managing Partner – Digital Workplace and KM Advisor

 

+1 512 426-4037

 

image001.jpg

 

image002.jpg

From: main@SIKM.groups.io <main@SIKM.groups.io> on behalf of Tom Short via groups.io <tshortconsulting@...>
Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2022 at 7:18 AM
To: main@SIKM.groups.io <main@SIKM.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [SIKM] Knowledge Risk: Most profound statement you've ever heard/come across #value #lessons-learned

💯

There's a whole book in your response, Stan, with each of the first set of five bullets being a chapter heading.
If someone wants to organize it and own getting it published, I'll contribute. 
--
-Tom
--

Tom Short Consulting
TSC
+1 415 300 7457

All of my previous SIKM Posts


 

TLDR:  It’s a good question, Sandra — one that I fielded so often (in some form) that I wrote a book — The Value of Knowledge. So my primary recommendation is to encourage your client start by reading my book! 

Your manager is asking, in a polite way, “What is the value of KM?  How does it benefit us?”  I highly recommend that all KMers have answers ready for this question — which sometimes has existential implications (e.g., at budget time, especially when a recession looms.)  And of course, it’s different in each organization — so the necessarily generic answers you receive here need some tailoring to be relevant to your client.

 

Risk is an important construct for any organization that assigns resources in anticipation of an unknowable future — that is, all organizations!  Managing risk in its many forms — financial, reputational, physical, geopolitical, etc. — is so core that many organizations have a dedicated “enterprise risk management” function — and sometimes even a board-level position and/or committee for this.

 

Note that the question “What does KM do for us” is different from the question “What does knowledge do for us.”  Much (if not most) knowledge in organizations resides outside KM — engineering knowledge in the engineering team, IT knowledge in the IT team, sales knowledge in the sales team, and so on.  So “How does a separate ‘knowledge function’ add even greater value?” is a valid question in my view.

 

I’ll second Patrick in agreeing that the shortest route to the answer is to (1) determine what existing risks or threats your client faces, then (2) demonstrate how KM helps (or could help) mitigate each of those risks.  Turn your client’s question upside-down, in other words.  This is a high-payoff exercise, especially if you haven’t already done it.

 

Note that traded companies in the US (and perhaps elsewhere) do not keep their business risks a big secret — in fact, they publish them regularly as part of their annual 10-K financial report.  You can read section PepsiCo’s 1A {“Risk Factors”) to find out what risks your organization says it’s most concerned about — and there are proxies for private companies and nonprofits.  How is KM helping in responding to each of these risks?

 

Conversely, avoid proposing KM benefits that the organization does not really care about.  Find out what they most care about — and drive your KM efforts toward that.  And what they care about changes constantly.  As evidence for that, the Conference Board annually surveys CEOs about what they are most concerned about.  The 2022 survey shows that, in each geography surveyed (US, Europe, China, and Japan), the top CEO concern is currently the same -- to “attract and retain talent.”  Taking my own advice, I recently presented some research showing how better knowledge practices could mitigate the risk of “knowledge drain” resulting from the loss of people due to retirement and other reasons.  I tell you that to illustrate the value-oriented approach I’m describing – it works.

 

Most executives will not readily understand knowledge risk in a vacuum — but can be led to understand it when it’s framed in the context of business risk — which they live with and manage every day.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tim

 

TIM WOOD POWELL | President, The Knowledge Agency® | Author, The Value of Knowledge |

New York City, USA  |  TEL +1.212.243.1200 | 

SITE KnowledgeAgency.com | BLOG TimWoodPowell.com |

 

 

From: <main@SIKM.groups.io> on behalf of Sandra Willis <Sandra.Willis@...>
Reply-To: "main@SIKM.groups.io" <main@SIKM.groups.io>
Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at 5:10 PM
To: "main@SIKM.groups.io" <main@SIKM.groups.io>
Subject: [SIKM] Knowledge Risk: Most profound statement you've ever heard/come across #lessons-learned

 

Hi All,

A manager in strategy just asked me " what has been the most profound statement you've heard regarding the risk of not having good knowledge management? i.e. powerful statement on knowledge lost or productivity lost, with some metrics".

I need to think about this a bit as there are so many risks, so I thought i would also pose this ask to this group. 

If you had to state the single greatest risk to an organization for not have a good KM, what would that be for you (and if you have time the why).

Much appreciated,
Sandra 


 

Hi Tim - why did you leave your gold nugget to the end? ;)

Most executives will not readily understand knowledge risk in a vacuum — but can be led to understand it when it’s framed in the context of business risk — which they live with and manage every day.


P

Patrick Lambe
Partner
Straits Knowledge

phone:  +65 98528511

web:  www.straitsknowledge.com
resources:  www.greenchameleon.com
knowledge mapping:  www.aithinsoftware.com


On 26 Oct 2022, at 9:23 PM, Tim Powell <tim.powell@...> wrote:

TLDR:  It’s a good question, Sandra — one that I fielded so often (in some form) that I wrote a book — The Value of Knowledge. So my primary recommendation is to encourage your client start by reading my book!  
Your manager is asking, in a polite way, “What is the value of KM?  How does it benefit us?”  I highly recommend that all KMers have answers ready for this question — which sometimes has existential implications (e.g., at budget time, especially when a recession looms.)  And of course, it’s different in each organization — so the necessarily generic answers you receive here need some tailoring to be relevant to your client.
 
Risk is an important construct for any organization that assigns resources in anticipation of an unknowable future — that is, all organizations!  Managing risk in its many forms — financial, reputational, physical, geopolitical, etc. — is so core that many organizations have a dedicated “enterprise risk management” function — and sometimes even a board-level position and/or committee for this.
 
Note that the question “What does KM do for us” is different from the question “What does knowledge do for us.”  Much (if not most) knowledge in organizations resides outside KM — engineering knowledge in the engineering team, IT knowledge in the IT team, sales knowledge in the sales team, and so on.  So “How does a separate ‘knowledge function’ add even greater value?” is a valid question in my view.
 
I’ll second Patrick in agreeing that the shortest route to the answer is to (1) determine what existing risks or threats your client faces, then (2) demonstrate how KM helps (or could help) mitigate each of those risks.  Turn your client’s question upside-down, in other words.  This is a high-payoff exercise, especially if you haven’t already done it.
 
Note that traded companies in the US (and perhaps elsewhere) do not keep their business risks a big secret — in fact, they publish them regularly as part of their annual 10-K financial report.  You can read section PepsiCo’s 1A {“Risk Factors”) to find out what risks your organization says it’s most concerned about — and there are proxies for private companies and nonprofits.  How is KM helping in responding to each of these risks?
 
Conversely, avoid proposing KM benefits that the organization does not really care about.  Find out what they most care about — and drive your KM efforts toward that.  And what they care about changes constantly.  As evidence for that, the Conference Board annually surveys CEOs about what they are most concerned about.  The 2022 survey shows that, in each geography surveyed (US, Europe, China, and Japan), the top CEO concern is currently the same -- to “attract and retain talent.”  Taking my own advice, I recently presented some research showing how better knowledge practices could mitigate the risk of “knowledge drain” resulting from the loss of people due to retirement and other reasons.  I tell you that to illustrate the value-oriented approach I’m describing – it works.
 
Most executives will not readily understand knowledge risk in a vacuum — but can be led to understand it when it’s framed in the context of business risk — which they live with and manage every day.
 
Kind regards,
 
Tim
 
TIM WOOD POWELL | President, The Knowledge Agency® | Author, The Value of Knowledge |
New York City, USA  |  TEL +1.212.243.1200 | 
 
 
From: <main@SIKM.groups.io> on behalf of Sandra Willis <Sandra.Willis@...>
Reply-To: "main@SIKM.groups.io" <main@SIKM.groups.io>
Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at 5:10 PM
To: "main@SIKM.groups.io" <main@SIKM.groups.io>
Subject: [SIKM] Knowledge Risk: Most profound statement you've ever heard/come across #lessons-learned
 
Hi All,

A manager in strategy just asked me " what has been the most profound statement you've heard regarding the risk of not having good knowledge management? i.e. powerful statement on knowledge lost or productivity lost, with some metrics".

I need to think about this a bit as there are so many risks, so I thought i would also pose this ask to this group.  

If you had to state the single greatest risk to an organization for not have a good KM, what would that be for you (and if you have time the why).

Much appreciated,
Sandra  



 

Hi Patrick,

 

I’m not the least bit embarrassed to tell you that it’s an old trick I learned from the 20th century practice of direct mail marketing – you put the most important stuff last.  As I recall, it’s because people generally remember only the beginning and the end – of pretty much anything. 

 

tp

 

TIM WOOD POWELL | President, The Knowledge Agency® | Author, The Value of Knowledge |

New York City, USA  |  TEL +1.212.243.1200 | 

SITE KnowledgeAgency.com | BLOG TimWoodPowell.com |

 

 

From: <main@SIKM.groups.io> on behalf of Patrick Lambe <plambe@...>
Reply-To: "main@SIKM.groups.io" <main@SIKM.groups.io>
Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2022 at 11:59 AM
To: "main@SIKM.groups.io" <main@SIKM.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [SIKM] Knowledge Risk: Most profound statement you've ever heard/come across #lessons-learned

 

Hi Tim - why did you leave your gold nugget to the end? ;)

 

Most executives will not readily understand knowledge risk in a vacuum — but can be led to understand it when it’s framed in the context of business risk — which they live with and manage every day.

 

 

P



Patrick Lambe
Partner
Straits Knowledge

phone: 

+65 98528511

web: 

www.straitsknowledge.com
resources: 

www.greenchameleon.com
knowledge mapping: 

www.aithinsoftware.com

 

On 26 Oct 2022, at 9:23 PM, Tim Powell <tim.powell@...> wrote:

 

TLDR:  It’s a good question, Sandra — one that I fielded so often (in some form) that I wrote a book — The Value of Knowledge. So my primary recommendation is to encourage your client start by reading my book!  

Your manager is asking, in a polite way, “What is the value of KM?  How does it benefit us?”  I highly recommend that all KMers have answers ready for this question — which sometimes has existential implications (e.g., at budget time, especially when a recession looms.)  And of course, it’s different in each organization — so the necessarily generic answers you receive here need some tailoring to be relevant to your client.

 

Risk is an important construct for any organization that assigns resources in anticipation of an unknowable future — that is, all organizations!  Managing risk in its many forms — financial, reputational, physical, geopolitical, etc. — is so core that many organizations have a dedicated “enterprise risk management” function — and sometimes even a board-level position and/or committee for this.

 

Note that the question “What does KM do for us” is different from the question “What does knowledge do for us.”  Much (if not most) knowledge in organizations resides outside KM — engineering knowledge in the engineering team, IT knowledge in the IT team, sales knowledge in the sales team, and so on.  So “How does a separate ‘knowledge function’ add even greater value?” is a valid question in my view.

 

I’ll second Patrick in agreeing that the shortest route to the answer is to (1) determine what existing risks or threats your client faces, then (2) demonstrate how KM helps (or could help) mitigate each of those risks.  Turn your client’s question upside-down, in other words.  This is a high-payoff exercise, especially if you haven’t already done it.

 

Note that traded companies in the US (and perhaps elsewhere) do not keep their business risks a big secret — in fact, they publish them regularly as part of their annual 10-K financial report.  You can read section PepsiCo’s 1A {“Risk Factors”) to find out what risks your organization says it’s most concerned about — and there are proxies for private companies and nonprofits.  How is KM helping in responding to each of these risks?

 

Conversely, avoid proposing KM benefits that the organization does not really care about.  Find out what they most care about — and drive your KM efforts toward that.  And what they care about changes constantly.  As evidence for that, the Conference Board annually surveys CEOs about what they are most concerned about.  The 2022 survey shows that, in each geography surveyed (US, Europe, China, and Japan), the top CEO concern is currently the same -- to “attract and retain talent.”  Taking my own advice, I recently presented some research showing how better knowledge practices could mitigate the risk of “knowledge drain” resulting from the loss of people due to retirement and other reasons.  I tell you that to illustrate the value-oriented approach I’m describing – it works.

 

Most executives will not readily understand knowledge risk in a vacuum — but can be led to understand it when it’s framed in the context of business risk — which they live with and manage every day.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tim

 

TIM WOOD POWELL | President, The Knowledge Agency® | Author, The Value of Knowledge |

New York City, USA  |  TEL +1.212.243.1200 | 

 

 

From: <main@SIKM.groups.io> on behalf of Sandra Willis <Sandra.Willis@...>
Reply-To: "main@SIKM.groups.io" <main@SIKM.groups.io>
Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at 5:10 PM
To: "main@SIKM.groups.io" <main@SIKM.groups.io>
Subject: [SIKM] Knowledge Risk: Most profound statement you've ever heard/come across #lessons-learned

 

Hi All,

A manager in strategy just asked me " what has been the most profound statement you've heard regarding the risk of not having good knowledge management? i.e. powerful statement on knowledge lost or productivity lost, with some metrics".

I need to think about this a bit as there are so many risks, so I thought i would also pose this ask to this group.  

If you had to state the single greatest risk to an organization for not have a good KM, what would that be for you (and if you have time the why).

Much appreciated,
Sandra  

 


 

I'm glad Patrick highlighted Tim's "gold nugget" because I completely agree.  Sometimes when I would get questions from management about the cost of a potential KM project, I would turn it around and ask them what the cost of not knowing is.  That often worked even if a specific dollar amount wasn't discussed, because one of the things many managers (especially those who function mostly as information gatekeepers) fear the most is being hauled in front of their superiors and chastised for not knowing something.


 

Yes, good.  I also try to see that Opportunity cost!

ons 26 okt. 2022 kl. 19:08 skrev Dennis Pearce <denpearce@...>:

I'm glad Patrick highlighted Tim's "gold nugget" because I completely agree.  Sometimes when I would get questions from management about the cost of a potential KM project, I would turn it around and ask them what the cost of not knowing is.  That often worked even if a specific dollar amount wasn't discussed, because one of the things many managers (especially those who function mostly as information gatekeepers) fear the most is being hauled in front of their superiors and chastised for not knowing something.


 

The conversation for me is around investment in km towards performance optimization via resilience, competitiveness, sustainability, compliance to laws and regulations.Further efficancy in findability, knowledge transfer, onboarding and offboarding of critical knowledge and the creation of new knowledge.
Positively
Glenroy

On Wed, Oct 26, 2022, 1:10 PM Leif Edvinsson <leifedvinsson@...> wrote:
Yes, good.  I also try to see that Opportunity cost!

ons 26 okt. 2022 kl. 19:08 skrev Dennis Pearce <denpearce@...>:
I'm glad Patrick highlighted Tim's "gold nugget" because I completely agree.  Sometimes when I would get questions from management about the cost of a potential KM project, I would turn it around and ask them what the cost of not knowing is.  That often worked even if a specific dollar amount wasn't discussed, because one of the things many managers (especially those who function mostly as information gatekeepers) fear the most is being hauled in front of their superiors and chastised for not knowing something.