Sustaining Knowledge Management: What HR Can Do

In an earlier post I had written about Knowledge Management and how it is relevant today and can't be ignored in the context of today's business.  Read Here.

In this post I will try to explore how HR can play a role in facilitating knowledge management.  While the context may be more specific to services industries it can be extended to any other industry.

As companies have diversified and spread their operations across geographical and state boundaries and as technology has provide ample ways to stay connected and share work seamlessly, it is very common to find teams working across multiple locations requires remote teams to come together and deliver solutions and it is here that knowledge management processes play a key role in the collaborative effort.   In such an environment the willingness of team members (employees in general)  the aspect of give and take needs to be forthcoming.   The willingness is addressed by driving the culture of sharing and caring.  Explained below, are seven areas of influence whereby  the HR function can play an important role in enabling learning and sharing knowledge through a collaborative effort.

Creating a Culture for Knowledge Sharing

Espoused Value of Learning & Sharing: HR Should Influence That

As highlighted earlier, culture plays a significant part in ensuring sustenance of the knowledge management effort.   The effort to create a culture of learning and sharing starts right from the directional strategy of the company. The organization should design and deploy experiential and cognitive learning programs are deployed throughout the year to sharpen the understanding of the core values of the organization understand how learning and sharing as a value is manifest in resultant behaviors and to  percolate the values into day to day working.  Through these programs employees can be made ready to deal with situations when there is a defocus or a deviation from the very values you want to promote and instill among your teams.  The knowledge management efforts get a key boost through the value of  Learning & Sharing.   Apart from a pivotal role of being custodians of the processes to ensure value adherence  HR can play a key role in embedding the knowledge sharing culture by reinforcing this in induction and hiring process.  

Create a Knowledge Sharing Platform

HR can influence knowledge sharing through appropriate reward and recognition programs that Communities of Expertise (CoE’s) can aspire for and thereby bring together people working on related areas of functional and technical expertise.  These can be areas for e.g. Engine Optimization and tuning in an automobile company,  or infection prevention post surgery in a hospital ICU, or process throughput design in a process plant. 

Apart from sharing explicit and tacit knowledge the CoE’s also help in creation of knowledge assets and artifacts like case studies,  white papers, Points of view etc.  Some companies have even gone to the extent of aggregating these expertise platforms and created learning universities or knowledge universities that drive creation and sustenance of knowledge within the organizations.  

HR needs to implement a structure to sustain these knowledge platforms by designing appropriate governance structures and putting right kind of metrics in place to drive effective implementation and roll out.  These kind of processes and structures are not easy to copy and duplicate.  It is culture specific and driven by the fact that the substance is more important than the form that these systems take. 

Capability Building

In a diversified multilocation organization dispersed organization learning will be effective only if it reaches the audience irrespective of time, space and distances.   HR Technology enablement  focus should ensure the deployment of learning through e-Learning modules accessible seamlessly across the globe.  Technology today can ensure right access to learning modules, libraries and other learning platforms that are accessible across the globe and available real time to employees.  

Compliance and Intellectual Property

Another important role for HR is by being an integral part of addressing any issues on violations of  knowledge copy rights and intellectual property. Any transgression or violations are addressed and necessary action is taken by the company's Ethics Redressal Committee of which HR is usually a key governance stakeholder.   The HR team should ensure  that principles of natural justice are followed during any such scrutiny in alignment with the corporate guidelines on value and ethics.

Staffing & Resourcing Intelligence

One of the key areas by which HR can influence knowledge management is by ensuring  visibility on availability of right competencies across businesses and ensure staffing on a real time basis.   HR can also play a pivotal role in creating this internal system that provides various resourcing and staffing managers and business leaders with information on the availability of right resources and capabilities that are required for the delivery of customers’ business requirements.

Facilitator & User

While HR plays a role in enabling knowledge sharing, the HR function is also a significant user of  the knowledge management framework and infrastructure.  All HR communication to the associates on various organizational policies, processes,  procedures,  change initiatives etc, are communicated through multiple collaboration mechanisms such as Email,  Bulletin Boards on the intranet, web chat tools,  the Knowledge Management portal etc.  There is a significant use of collaborative tools such as Pod Cast and Webcast Sessions for sharing and communicating information on real time basis with participants across the globe and these are extensively used by the HR teams.   By being an early adopter and consistent user of the KM tools HR has the onus to lead by example in driving the culture of  knowledge sharing.

Conclusion

As highlighted in previous sections HR does play a key role in driving an organization’s knowledge management efforts. HR can set an example by being both a proponent and user of the knowledge management processes.   HR can play an active part as a custodian of key processes that facilitate knowledge sharing as well as facilitate the creation of a culture for knowledge management.   Operationally organizations face a challenge of lack of time or less  band width of managers.  It is here that a robust communication effort and creating awareness by sharing and highlighting success stories, case studies, informal sharing etc., are vital.  HR can also influence the adoption of knowledge processes by including relevant component in the performance appraisal thereby driving adoption and usage in the early stages of adoption.  Thereafter it is the constant reinforcement of practices, recognizing and rewarding adoption of knowledge management processes that would play a key facilitation role.   In the coming years with more and more emphasis on knowledge and management of knowledge for competitive advantage HR will play a vital role in enabling a key and vital strategic lever. 

Narrow The Intent-Content Gap !!!

When Content does not Match up to Intent,  you are likely to  lose credibility.  The writing on the wall is loud and clear.  If we fail to live up to the talk as HR professionals then we are seen as folks "throwing the cannon balls" at the party.

Have you experienced that people speak about some new concept they heard of,  bring in a whole lot of jargon and then quickly adapt and adopt what was working somewhere and which they claimed could be a cure all, a solution for tomorrow and then .... Bingo !!! it all fizzles out as quickly as it got created.

If this rings a bell then it is probably a case of intent-content gap at work.  What you wanted did not happen and what you expected did not turn out to be.  Here are four reasons why this happens.

a) The concept did not fit into your context:  Understanding the context is key to successful implementation.  What works for A situation does not apply to Situation B.   Try remembering the last time you tried a least common denominator approach to employee engagement.   Wont' work -  it has to be segmented if it has to work,  Not everything that motivates an employee in second year of his job career can motivate the one with a decade or more.

b) Concept not thought through:  If you tried an approach that resembles tunneling your way through the mountain then at best you can see the other side.  If you want to see the top you need to climb the mountain.  Ask few of your HR teams what a normalization process intends to achieve and see how much they can explain.... or even simpler ask what the philosophy for performance management is and if you have a common response you are doing well otherwise the concept is not clearly understood.

c) Rome was not built in a day:  Big Bang roll out without a prototype or a working model is a sure way to rework, or in all likelihood failed implementation.  Ever remember a day when your folks at work decided that you need a new process or system from the scratch, from the ground up to replace the current one.

d) You put the squirrel to do what the turtle was supposed to be doing.  Climbing trees is best done by the squirrel and swimming across the current in the river by the turtle. If you ever tried switching roles in the name of meeting goals of  job rotation then you will be in for a surprise. (Read More About This Here)

4P Framework for Career Choice Making

This is the time of the year when students studying in the final year of their graduate or post graduate degree courses would be making career choices on what they would be doing post college...To take up a job after graduation,  to pursue higher education, to follow their dreams, to take up something unconventional. However today the young generation at this critical point in their career are faced with abundance of choices.  When choices are many decision making becomes difficult, rather stressful and several interference's come into play. 

 These include Peer pressure,  popular choices of the day (remember the engineering and medicine craze of the 1980's and 1990's) , family pressures all play a part of being among the various interference's.   In such situations how does one bring back focus on their career choices.  A simple way is to ensure you are clued in to 4P's.  A simple yet powerful way to ensure that you are in synch with reality and make a more informed choice.   A brief discussion on the 4 P framework for effective career choice making is elaborated here.  

The first P is Purpose.  Sounds simple but you first need to have a clear purpose if you don't want to get swayed by the happenings around you else,  the slightest winds of disruption around you will distract you.   Most young college graduates think their purpose is clear but not more than 10% of them have actually written down their purpose.   Where do you want to go?  What do you want to do?  Writing down your purpose increases the chances manifold that you will achieve it or move in the direction to achieve it.   Writing down your purpose brings focus into your mind.   This is something you should take a few solitary moments to pen down.   Discuss it, if you need, with a close confidant - a friend, a family member.   State what you want to achieve and by when.  Write it down in a place where you can read it as often as once a day.  The mind has a beautiful way of rewiring itself when you are focused on your objective or purpose. (Read my Blog on Attention & Focus).  One thing that most students who are graduating worry about is what others will think of their choice.  It does not matter.  Your choice is something that is very important for you and if you don't make your choice to do what you want then you will only be living other's choices.  Your's or Others?  The Choice Is Your's.

Once you have your Purpose, you need to drive it to action.  This leads us to the second P which is Plan.   Plan helps give wings to your dreams.    You have to make deliberate attempts to make things happen and only a plan can take you there.   You need to understand your strengths, your values and how they align with your purpose.   Do you have what it takes to give wings to your dreams?  If not - Go Get It !!  It is never too late when you are making a choice for your life's dream.  A career is not a short term venture but something that where you can end up spending 3 to 4 decades of your life in a field of your choosing.   This can be the company you start your career with, the industry in which you want to work or even the field of profession you want to choose.    A plan needs to have milestones.  Break your journey to the destination into manageable bits.  For e.g. if you want to get into a career on animation and gaming it is not just enough to do a few courses.  Talk to a few experts who are already in the field of animation and design.  Spend a few hours talking to them, understanding what stumbling blocks they faced in their career and how did they overcome this.   Work on areas where you have assessed gaps vis a vis making entry into the career you are focusing on.   You also need to understand what would be the best place to start your career. Look for organizations that provide fertile learning ground and good training for early career starters.   Sometimes you need to trade this off with a few thousand rupees of salary that you may other wise get but with few training opportunities.   Finally just like you put purpose on paper you should try to do the same with your plan. 

The third P is very critical and most college graduates don't think about this till it is too late in the day.  Position...  It is like your brand promise.  What is that makes you different from others who are competing with you.  Chose something that is your strength.  Something which you can talk about as your USP.  Marry this P to the previous one if you want a job with a specific industry or have narrowed down to a particular choice of organization.   How will you position your key strengths during the selection process.   Things like Good communication skills,  hard worker and attention to detail are all given today.  You need to show how you are ahead of the learning curve,  what unique skill, capability or talent you have that is hard to come by.    This will help you stand out in a crowd.   You need to start working on this P early on in your college degree course.   Colleges where Training & Placement Departments drive this as a focus area to work on for their graduating classes will be ahead of the curve when it comes to fruitful placements of their graduating classes. 

Perseverance...the final piece of the 4P framework.  One needs to have a drive for perseverance in order to sustain  the focus or career interest area.   Perseverance helps to galvanize action,  overcome stumbling blocks, expand your horizon and achieve excellence.   When it is combined with performance it can create a transformation for individuals.  Remember the budding guitarist who strummed hours on end and became part of the rock band... or the avid writer at school who turned into a budding author or journalist.... or the accounting wizard who went on to become a seasoned Chartered Accountant.  All these examples can be found in real life.   What we are talking here is the never say die attitude that you carry with you and which will help aspirants sustain the quest for what they are looking in their careers. 

While it is important for individual students and graduates who are making career choices to consider these 4P's and strive towards using this simple framework to make a informed and aware choice, it is also in the interest of the educational institutes to set this focus as part of their mentoring the final year students.  Placement Counselors and Training Officers of colleges can subtly encourage students to think on these lines.  The earlier you make the start in college better are the chances that students don't get into last minute confusion and end up  enjoying the careers they strive for.

Merry X'Mas & Greetings for the Festive Season

Wishing Everyone for Christmas and  a  Wonderful New Year 2014.  May all the good things that we wish to happen see the light of the day.

BPS Industry: Need for a Mainstream Curriculum

Once called the sunrise industry of India (now it is already in range of 20 Billion USD revenues) and today well into  the second decade of existence.  The industry provides direct employment to about 1 Million People and is slated to almost double the employment by 2020 (To about 1.9 Million)

In spite of growing into a large industry by itself, BPS still does not have a mainstream curriculum at degree level both three year or four year level.

Now imaging what the field of medicine would have been without M.B.B.S (Bachelors level Degree in Medicine) degrees.   You would probably have a certificate course in pathology, or a bridge study of diagnosis, or diploma in pain management etc.   The Bachelors Degree in Medicine gave the industry a foundation.  Similarly we need a foundation level specialization for the BPS industry. 

There are sandwich courses,  short term certificates offered through distance as well as continuing education institutes and training centers.  However the specialization level curriculum is missing for those who get into the Business Process Services industry.

Now one may ask "What's the need to specialize after Higher Secondary or Pre Degree level in BPS.   When else will you want the employees getting into the industry to make a choice,  shouldn't  it be at the 12th class level like any other major stream of education.    That's when they make a good choice and commit themselves to studying something that they want to build a career in.  In this case it would be a career in managing business processes, running a business process or even setting up business processes.... which are some of the things that BPS industry works on. 

So the need today is for a mainstream specialization in BPS.  This will enable a whole new talent to enter the industry and we would have better quality of man power getting into the industry by choice.

The reality today is that by and large students are not aware of what the business process industry is.  The common myth is that it is a call center or a telemarketing firm.   This is far from true as BPS companies work across a spectrum of  capabilities ranging from business transactions, to optimizing supply chain costs, to  deciding price points to banking analytics to retail and pharma analytics, to clinical trials and pharma co-vigilance to name a few. 

So both the industry and the academia working together can solve the problem of lack of a specialization degree in BPS.   We don't need vocational courses but what we need is a mainstream degree level specialization to make the students understand everything about business process and provide them appreciation of how these work in different industries. 

You can also read the other related posts below.

BPS Industry : In a Sweet Spot

BPS Industry: Some Sectoral Challenges

Some Useful HR Links For All Ye HR Pros'

Here is a compilation of some of the interesting HR Reports and Insights That Professionals in the people management and related fields may want to browse through.  Have complied them based on both content and insights provided.

 Best Get Better: Critical HR Issues of 2012  from Institute for Corporate productivity

Future of HR : 8 Companies Insights 2013  Interesting one you can check out how these predictions worked out since the report came out.

HR 2020 Insights from Great Places to Work : Will HR Be a Facilitator or a Bottleneck.

Outsourcing, Downsizing and Remote Working:   3 Predictions for HR  (Bold?)

Future of Work 2020 PWC's report:  Some interesting perspectives on HR in next decade.

Trends Shaping the Future of HR:  Accenture Reports on HR Influencers, How HR Can bank on customization

Unstructured, Relaxed Environments will bring forth creativity:  Will the workplace of the future unleash that. Read this here.

Why Mobile Learning if the Future of  Workplace Learning:  Read this interesting one with trends and nos.

Humor: Selling to the CEO

Here's something to tickle your wits !!!

A very smart sales guy was put in charge of selling the new Learning Management System developed by SmartCo.   He was a street smart sales guy so his boss asked him to sell to the CEO's directly.  

One day he went to a CEO of a big organization.  His pitch went on for about fifteen minutes about this feature and that feature and this new functionality and newer module and so on.  He saw the CEO was not getting impressed as much as he expected. 

Finally he remembered his boss telling him about the "punch lines" that help you close the sale and so he started off

"Sir,  given all else,  If you chose our LMS,  apart from all the best expert technology, features and productivity gains and benefits you will have one fantastic benefit.... you can cut down your HR team size by 50%"

Suddenly it seemed the CEO's eyes went rolling up and he seemed very excited.

"Wow" remarked the CEO... "Are you sure of the last bit on the HR Team size".

SalesMan:   "Yes Sir"

..

 CEO:  "In that case I'll buy two LMS'es  ".

Questions HR Should Ask in Difficult Times

In times of boom and rapid change organizational strategists recommend that your key ingredient for successful business performance are your people and that the threat of losing them to competition looms large. Business writers and academics advise organizations to sharpen the focus on engaging your employees or face the risk of losing them [voluntary attrition..]

Attrition rates have come down considerable in the past year and a half  since the threat of another slow down has raised its ugly head but, even in cases where there has been lesser degree of drop in attrition, it is more involuntary in nature [recession driven lay-offs, downsizing].

How do you deal with your people in time of economic downturns. Jobs will be hard to come by, attrition will drop. Should you turn the other way on people management as you have a lesser risk in downturn of losing employees. What can HR do in this situation? What should be the HR point of view?

One view of the HR fraternity is "Recession is a much more easier time for HR". Recession can be good time but not for the reasons by which the organization can squeeze the employees-ask more for every dollar; push for greater productivity at any cost; come up with more stringent work norms; put the fear of the devil taking away their jobs in the mind of employees; employees will cooperate more and not raise voices.

This is a risky way of dealing with your employees during a down-turn. 

Hence the two things that are very important for a HR practitioner in these times is to understand how to align your business to the changing needs and how your people strategies should change based on this alignment.

A structured set of questions given below will help...

a) What is the implication of the current business context on my organizations strategy?
b) Given these implications how will it affect my employees?
c) What will the negative impact on employees and how should that be addressed?
e) What do I need to do so that when the sine curve changes direction and we are headed towards an upswing, employees who were with us through the down turn start loving the company so much that they can't think of leaving just for a few dollars more.
f) Leading from point e above the important question is "How do I retain my top talent after the down turn?" ; the risk is high that they will leave if you don't treat them well in the bad times.
g) What are the downside implications of tough actions taken during the down turn ; action such as lay off's ,  counselling out,  letting go of poor performers and whatever be the other such actions.... The emotional impact does linger on and good times bring more problems when people are disconnected with the organization.

Cooling off Window in Talent Management

Performance Management is a key process in the talent management repertoire.   If this key process is done well most of the other processes will fall in place and align beautifully.   One of the down stream processes that depends to a large extent on a robust performance management framework is the employee development process. One part of the learning needs comes from what was mirrored in the PMS outcomes; i.e. the areas for improvement and enhancement in the coming year based on the observed performance in context.

The problem most designers don't notice is that this key process is bound to fail if you couple it too tightly with the performance appraisal.   The best strategy would be to keep the two distinct and separated in time by what we can call as a "Cooling off Window"   The best would be to have the development discussion after a 3 to 4 month window down stream from the appraisal process itself.

That way you would avoid a lot of unwanted discussion around the gaps in the performance observed from feedback.  Normally you would notice that when it comes to the appraisal process most people get very defensive about areas of improvement and so it gets difficult to have any meaningful dialogue.  On one hand employee is defensive about improvement areas as it is tied down to appraisal scores and performance bands which ultimately determine compensation rise and other downside related to pay.  On the other the same points go into determining what areas could be improvement focus.

However this does not mean that you can short cut the performance appraisal and feedback. The rigor of the feedback mechanisms - timely, periodic (2 to 3 times in a window of  6 months) and context specific still holds good.

By keeping a cooling off window the two processes get done at different times.  The feedback at time of learning needs should also factor in context specific inputs given to the employees when working on their job and performing their roles.  This reinforces the inputs on improvement areas.    Combine this with multi rater feedback where the employee is given feedback on areas to improve and areas of strength and this becomes a design synergy.   

So next time you find that people are not forthcoming and development needs identified were not relevant to the context of the employee double check if you had the cooling off window or did you try to combine the performance appraisal with the development discussion.