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The slides of a talk/knowledge cafe I ran for NetIKX in London on 21st November 2007. On "How do you make people share their knowledge?".
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David Gurteen
How do we make people How do we make people share their knowledge!share their knowledge!
David GurteenGurteen Knowledge
Learning, Sharing and Collaboration The Keys to success in the Knowledge based Organization
NetIKX21st November 2007
David Gurteen
How do we make them share their How do we make them share their knowledge?knowledge?
David Gurteen
The Question!The Question!
• Assumes US and THEM• Assumes THEY need to be MADE to share• Assumes we know better
• A better way to phrase the question
How do we better work together?
Sally, I’d like to talk with you about how
we could better work together.
Sally, I’d like to talk to you about how you could improve
your knowledge sharing.
How do we make them share?
David Gurteen
Work with People – don’t do things to Work with People – don’t do things to them!them!
Many of the familiar principles of Quality management amount to an
elaboration of this simple truth:
an innovative, healthy organization requires that we work with people
rather than do things to them.
Alfie Kohn
David Gurteen
How do we better work together?How do we better work together?
How do we better work together?
How do you make them
share?
Many of the familiar principles of Quality management amount to an elaboration of this
simple truth: an innovative, healthy organization requires that we work with people rather than do
things to them.
Alfie Kohn
David Gurteen
Knowledge Sharing
David Gurteen
Knowledge SharingKnowledge Sharing
• We do not ‘share knowledge’ in the literal meaning of sharing
• Not like sharing a cake– Synergistic 2 + 2 = 5
• More about:– Personal Networking– Helping each other– Working together– Collaborating
David Gurteen
Knowledge SharingKnowledge Sharing
• Sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. That is only valid for information sharing.
• Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes.
Peter Senge
David Gurteen
Personal Reasons for SharingPersonal Reasons for Sharing
• To help other people & to help ourselves• Other people
– To get things done– To build relationships so they in turn help us
• Ourselves– To get things done– Learning to be gained– Knowledge is perishable– Someone else will make our knowledge productive first
David Gurteen
Barriers to Knowledge SharingBarriers to Knowledge Sharing
1. A silo mentality
2. Knowledge is power
3. Lack of knowledge sharing processes
4. No time allowed
5. No knowledge sharing by executives
6. Managers do not walk the talk
7. Poor IT systems
8. Lack of encouragement
9. Bureaucracy
10. Resistance to change by managersKarl-Eric Sveiby
David Gurteen
Is Sharing Natural?Is Sharing Natural?
• Some say – sharing is human & comes
naturally
• Other say– knowledge is power and sharing
is not natural
David Gurteen
Knowledge SharingKnowledge Sharing
Share your Knowledge
• credit to somebody else• passed over for promotion
• depression• alcoholism
• marital breakdown• destitution• die a bum
Is this really true?
Reasons for Sharing• ego
• money reward• guilt
David Gurteen
Do we share?Do we share?
• We ALL help each other to a greater or lesser degree• Within our department• Within our project work• With friends and trusted colleagues• Within our network
David Gurteen
Why do we share?Why do we share?
• We share because– it is in our interest– we have something to gain
• We do not give our knowledge away• We implicitly TRADE things
– tangible and intangible
• The major barriers to sharing– lack of TIME!– lack of obvious benefit i.e. there is no trade
David Gurteen
Trading KnowledgeTrading Knowledge
• we need to do our job• we are afraid of the
consequences if we don’t• we like them• we want to look good• we want them to like us• we enjoy it • we are looking for promotion
• we are looking for a new job• we want them to be indebted
to us• we want to build a potentially
useful relationship• they pay us or give us some
other tangible reward
We help people when they approach us for a varietyof reasons - tangible & intangible (often implicit):
David Gurteen
The trick to sharing moreThe trick to sharing more
• If we approach someone– help make clear the benefits
• If we are being approached– look for the benefits
• Especially the learning benefits
David Gurteen
Benefit & TimeBenefit & Time
TimeAvailability
Benefit
high
low
high low
no brainer
Opportunity for learning/relationship
building
explore/escalate
suggest an alternative
David Gurteen
SummarySummary
• Knowledge Sharing is not the same as Information Sharing
• Knowledge Sharing is about ‘trading intangibles’!– we need to look for the benefits
• Learning is one of the the major benefits
David Gurteen
Should organizations reward knowledge sharing?
David Gurteen
For Best Results Forget the Bonus!
Here is what Alfie Kohn has to say about rewards
To the best of my knowledge, no controlled scientific study has ever found a long-term
enhancement of the quality of work as a result of any reward
system
http://www.alfiekohn.org
David Gurteen
Rewards PunishRewards Punish
• Threats & coercion destroy motivation and so do rewards
• Rewards are manipulative• “Do this and you will get that” is not much different to
“Do this else here is what will happen to you”• When people do not get the reward they hoped for
they feel punished• The more desirable the reward the more
demoralizing it is to miss out
David Gurteen
Rewards rupture relationsRewards rupture relations
• Excellence depends on teamwork• Rewards (especially if scarce) destroy
cooperation• Incentive driven employees will not ask for
help from their manager when they need it• They will conceal problems from their
manager to appear infinitely competent
David Gurteen
Rewards ignore reasonsRewards ignore reasons
• To solve problems people must understand the causes
• They ignore the complexities of the problems• Each situation calls for a different response• Rewards tend to blindly promote a single
solution
David Gurteen
Rewards deter risk-takingRewards deter risk-taking
• People are less likely to take risks; to explore possibilities; to play hunches
• The No. 1 casualty of rewards is creativity
David Gurteen
Rewards undermine interestRewards undermine interest
• Loving what you do is a more powerful motivator than any goody including money
• Rewards are controlling!• If people focus on getting a reward they tend
to feel their work is no longer freely chosen and directed by them
• If they have to bribe me to do it - it must be something I don’t want to do!
David Gurteen
So what’s the solution?So what’s the solution?
How do we make people share?
How do we make people do anything?
David Gurteen
Alfie KohnAlfie Kohn
• Pay people well• Pay people fairly• Then do everything possible to take money
(rewards) off people’s minds
Incentives, bonuses, pay-for-performance-plans and other reward
systems violate this last principle by their very nature!
David Gurteen
Bob BuckmanBob Buckman
Our approach to KM is far more than stick or carrot.
We say, "Knowledge Sharing is your job. Do it!"
As a reward you may keep your job.
David Gurteen
How Children FailHow Children Fail
Children do not need to be made to learn to be better, told what to do or shown how.
If they are given access to enough of the world, they will see clearly enough what
things are truly important to themselves and to others, and they will make for themselves a
better path into that world then anyone else could make for them
John Holt
David Gurteen
ChangeChange
The only way to change is to change your understanding.
Anthony de Mello, Jesuit Priest
David Gurteen
Changing People’s BehaviorChanging People’s Behavior
• We cannot change other people's behavior - only they can do that!
• Threats, rewards and praise do not work
• We don't need to be told what to do. We just need to understand the world better and then
we will see what needs to be done for ourselves
• So how do we better understand the world?
David Gurteen
How do we understand better?How do we understand better?
Through being involved and through open conversation!
David Gurteen
Business is a Conversation
David Gurteen
Business is a conversationBusiness is a conversation
Business is a conversation because the defining work of business is
conversation - literally.
And 'knowledge workers' are simply those people whose job consists of having interesting conversations.
David WeinbergerThe Cluetrain Manifesto
David Gurteen
Conversation is a meeting of mindsConversation is a meeting of minds
Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits.
When minds meet, they don't just exchange facts: they transform them,
reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in
new trains of thought.
Conversation doesn't just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards.
Theodore ZeldinConversation
David Gurteen
KM is about understandingKM is about understanding
For all our knowledge, we have no idea what we're talking about.
We don't understand what's going on in our business, our market, and our world.
KM shouldn’t be about helping us to know more. It should be about helping us to
understand.
So, how do we understand things? It's through stories that we understand how the
world works.
David Weinberger, The Cluetrain Manifesto
David Gurteen
ConversationConversation
“A mechanistic and unproductive exchange
between people seeking to defend their own views against
one another”
“A frank exchange of ideas or views on a specific issue in an
effort to attain mutual understanding”
Debateor
dialogue?
David Gurteen
DialogueDialogue
• When we engage each other in dialogue– we enter into a conversation with a view to learn from each
other– rather than impose our views on the other.
The kind of conversation I’m interested in is one in which you start with a willingness
to emerge a slightly different person.
Theodore Zeldin, Historian
David Gurteen
Principles of DialoguePrinciples of Dialogue
• Suspend assumptions, do not judge• Observe & listen to one another• Welcome differences & explore them• Allow taboo subjects to be raised safely• Listen to your inner voice• Slow the discussion• Search for the underlying meaning
David Gurteen
The Role of ConversationThe Role of Conversation
• It is through conversation that we– communicate, co-ordinate & collaborate– surface our tacit knowledge– share our tacit knowledge– learn & gain insights & new perspectives– our blind-spots & assumptions are revealed
• Conversation is central to all that we do • It is key to understanding the world!
David Gurteen
ConversationConversation
Suppose we were able to share meanings freely without a
compulsive urge to impose our view or conform to those of others and
without distortion and self-deception.
Would this not constitute a real revolution in culture.
David Bohm, Physicist
David Gurteen
SummarySummary
How do we better work together?
How do you make people
share?
Better understanding through open conversation
Rewards and Praise
David Gurteen
Questions?
David Gurteen
Knowledge CafeKnowledge Cafe
David Gurteen
Knowledge SharingKnowledge Sharing
How do we make people share their knowledge?
David Gurteen
www.gurteen.com
David GurteenGurteen KnowledgeTel: +44 1252 812 878Email: [email protected]