Becoming "One Organisation" – KM’s role in integration of approaches

KM can help learn from different local approaches to operational activity, using a process such as Knowledge Exchange, and to come out with a global “current best approach” on which any future local variants can be based. The company experts and practitioners get together, compare approaches, share knowledge of how things are done in the different regions and why, and build a “best of the best”. This then becomes the new standard way of working for the organisation, and the new baseline for continual improvement.

Immediately there is a step up in productivity and consistency. This is particularly important for global service companies, as their global clients now get a consistent standard of service worldwide.
This standardisation of approach is a Knowledge Management strategy, in that it results in pooling global knowledge into a “company best practice”.

However as a long term approach, this “one way of working” faces several problems;

• Best practice never stays Best for long. The “global way of working” is going to need to evolve over time if the company is to stay competitive. There needs to be a feedback and improvement mechanism, such as a lessons learned cycle.

• This is a “central push” model for KM, where knowledge (the “standard way”) is pushed out from the centre to the regions. However the regions are where The Way is applied, and unless knowledge comes back, and is shared between the regions, then that operational experience is lost. There needs to be an experience gathering approach, such as Knowledge Exchange.

• All too often, the “global way of working” tells people what to do, but not how to do it, nor how to do it in the most effective way given the different operating contexts around the world. It provides the Standards and Rules, but not the tips and hints. The Tips and Hints come from the operators on the front line, and need to be shared with other operators. There needs to be a Community of Practice, allowing effective local application of the global ways.