People-focused knowledge management

particulars needed to be central in the dialogues that Helen,
Harry, and others would have with prospective partners 
when formulating and agreeing on the nature and content of the
partnerships.
In order to build the requisite understanding, Paul decided to
work closely with Helen and Harry and a few people from their
staff by meeting every day for two weeks in hour-long discus-
sion and work meetings. They worked through the premises for
the strategic partnerships, the potentials for benefits for the part-
ners and for Stihlo, and what might be obtained in terms of
insights, products, and other results. The motivation was for
Helen and the others to internalize the concepts and expecta-
tions and build strong mental models to the degree that the con-
cepts and priorities would “be on the tip of their tongue” and
they could steer partner explorations extemporaneously and cre-
atively. That was indeed achieved, and the partnerships that were
established produced both invaluable results and strong allies.
Comments: Stihlo’s management needed to ascertain that the
decisions and ideas to create strategic partnerships were to be
implemented creatively and to the fullest possible potential.
The knowledge-related aspects in this case centered on the trans-
fer of ideas, concepts, priorities, and expectations behind the deci-
sion to create new partnerships. Another aspect, not made explicit in
the illustration, was the need to transfer enough understanding to the
partners to make them valuable and motivated supporters of Stihlo’s
strategy.
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