People-focused knowledge management

Four Key Knowledge Management Thrusts
Experience shows that the introduction and sustained practice of
coherent knowledge management which supports the success of the
enterprise require the continued pursuit of four objectives:
To develop and pursue a shared vision for the knowledge man-
agement practice that is explicit and systematic — that is, con-
nects to and integrates with the enterprise strategy and direction
and is embedded in each person’s daily work.
To understand the enterprise’s overall strategy and direction and
each function’s service paradigm and the associated knowledge
required — that is, for each point in the organization, under-
stand the expertise and facilitators required to deliver the service
paradigm.
To create and conduct effective knowledge transfer methods —
that is, deliver to the workplace the desired balance between
deep and conceptual knowledge versus concrete “surface”
knowledge.
To provide incentives, infrastructure, and other supporting
capabilities, including reorganization of work — that is, facili-
tate intelligent behavior in both individuals and the enterprise
resulting from sound and effective knowledge management
activities with positive support by all personnel.
The Power of Role Models, Examples, and Practices
As discussed in Chapter 4, mental reference models have a signif-
icant and dominant influence on people’s instinctive and natural 
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situation-handling. This carries over into the effects that mental
models have on a person’s daily behavior at work, at home, and in
society generally. Mental models that govern our behavior are to a
large extent based on the behavior of influential people around us
whom we consider important or interesting in one way or another
— our role models.
Our role models teach us and influence our behavior in many dif-
ferent ways. From the enterprise and societal view, good role models
can show us how to be effective and work with the enterprise’s intents
and society’s interests at heart. Bad role models can teach us to be
selfish and deceptive and to handle situations that are only in our
own self-interest.
Within the enterprise, the observed behavior — the individual
actions — of managers serve as examples for accepted ways to deal
with many aspects of the organization’s affairs and operations. Man-
agers set examples as to how to deal with ethics and truth and legal
issues; customers; suppliers; fellow employees; finances and budgets;
innovatation and acceptance of risk; situation-handling; short-term
versus long-term issues; and a host of other aspects.
Within the enterprise, people’s tendency to imitate their role
models becomes a very significant issue. Leaders, whether managers
or from the rank-and-file, permanently affect the behavior of others
by their example. From a NGKM point of view, behavior-related
mental models are taught through processes that can be shaped and
monitored. Hence, we can be teamed with individuals whose actions
and behaviors we might copy and imitate.
Making Everybody Understand
A major function of managing knowledge is to facilitate processes
that will give people throughout an operation a common under-
standing. Shared understanding promotes shared goals and increases
the ability to coordinate and collaborate to deliver joint work results.
NGKM carries this objective further by proven approaches to build
shared understanding across the enterprise (also see Dixon 2000).