Gurteen Knowledge

Introduction to the January 2010 Knowledge Letter    (top | next | prev)

I know its almost the end of January but a very happy New Year to you all!

My website is now over ten years old and has grown to a huge KM resource of over 7,000 pages. Maybe just a little too large. So one of my resolutions this year is to review the whole site; remove outdated material and fix all the little bits that have got broken over time. I have already cleared a lot of junk!

One of the first things I am doing is updating the Annu al KM Conferences section and the KM Network Directory section. I need your help. Please check out both sections and let me know anything I have missed or got wrong. Thanks!

2010 Annual Letter from Bill Gates    (top | next | prev)

Bill Gates 2010 Annual Letter is now live at the?Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation website.

In this year?s letter Bill talk's about the importance of innovation for solving some of the world?s biggest problems and how he and Melinda see innovation as the factor that will make the difference between having a bleak future and a bright one. The letter explains how they decide which ideas to fund and talk about the benefits, time frame, and risks of each one.

If Bill and Melinda only achieve a fraction of their vision they will make a real difference in the world.

Also take a look at Bill's new website Gates Notes if you want to track what he is up to. He has also just started a twitter account and already has over 300,000 followers.

Makes my 4000 followers seem tiny in comparison LOL

If traditional incentives can have a negative impact, what's the workaround?    (top | next | prev)

In this interview at KM India, I was asked for my views on "Incentivizing Knowledge Management". Well I explained the reasons for not doing it but did not suggest an alternative approach which was picked up in one of the comments by "firetangent". Here is my response.

So if traditional incentives can have a negative impact, what's the workaround?

First stop using them; they don't work and do great harm.

The problem with traditional incentives, rewards and talk of motivating people, engaging and empowering them etc. is that this approaches the situation from a mindset of "doing things to people". It says "they are lazy people; we know best and we will find ways of manipulating them to do what we would like them to do".

People see through this; they resist; they become cynical and it actually makes matters worse!

Here is my answer "Stop doing things to people and start to work with them!" Rather than "Hello I am here to help you!" (Oh yea!) Take the attitude "Hello, lets talk and see how we can better work together."

Its that simple!

But there is secondary issue here. Asking "how do we incentivise people" - makes the big assumption that they need to be incentivised. Yes, they may not be doing what you would like them to be doing but how do you know that the reason is lack of motivation. You don't. If there are problems then you will only find them out by sitting down and talking with them!

Blogging for knowledge workers: incubating ideas    (top | next | prev)

I have long admired Lilia Efimova's work on blogging. If you are interested in what it means to blog within an organisation then I suggest you read this recent article by her on Blogging for knowledge workers: incubating ideas.

Here is a little taster:

Blogging is primarily known as an instrument for personal publishing, reaching a broad and often unknown audience without pushing content on them. While blogging is personal, most of its advantages are the result being part of an ecosystem, where weblogs are connected not only by links, but also by relations between bloggers. Those relations do not appear automatically: it takes time and effort before one can enjoy social effects of blogging. To sustain blogging before those effects appear it is important to find a personally meaningful way to use a weblog.

Credit: Blogging for knowledge workers: incubating ideas - Lilia Efimova

This is something that many non-bloggers still do not understand - a blog is much more than a personal publishing tool!

If you would like to elarn more then take a look at her PhD dissertation Passion at work: blogging practices of knowledge workers.

The Gurteen Knowledge Cafe Webinar (top | next | prev)

If you have not had the chance to participate in one of my Knowledge Cafes and have wondered what they are all about then I will be giving a 1 hour webina r about them for the Ark Group on 9th February at 16:00 GMT where you will have a low cost opportunity to learn a little about them.

There is a discount fro my community members.

Alfie Kohn, children, rewards, motivation and KM (top | next | prev)

I have a huge respect for Alfie Kohn and have been blogging about him since 2002! But I have only just thought to look on YouTube for some video clips of him speaking. Well, I got lucky and found several clips from which I have created a YouT ube playlist of clips from some of his talks.

Alfie demonstrates time and time again how our thinking is screwed up when it comes to the education and raising of children. This is bad enough. But the same habits and practices get carried over into the work place. We still try to punish and reward employees to "make them" to do what we want - even when there is no evidence that it works and plenty of research to show that it does not!

Daniel Pink has also been talking on the surprising science of motivation at TED.

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Gurteen Knowledge-Letter: Issue 115 - January 2010