Results tagged “community call” from KM Edge: Where the best in Knowledge Management come together

The thrill of being headhunted to a senior role in a successful, knowledge-intensive corporation on the basis of expertise is only balanced by the downside of finding yourself trapped in a cycle of ritualized meetings, unable to influence the strategic direction of the organization that paid the recruiter so well to recruit you.

In such a situation, several options become available:

1. Lie back and enjoy the management cycle of activity (like pedaling a static exercise bike with minimal resistance).
2.  Get upset about the fact that you have become a corporate adornment who can't influence strategy, become cynical, and constructively dismiss yourself.
3. Try to understand the situation and do something about it.

 Next Thursday, I will be facilitating APQC's knowledge management community call, where I will talk about why it's so hard for subject matter experts and thought leaders to put their knowledge to work inside "sticky" organizations. If this is a topic that interests you, please post your comments and feedback here, and join me on the upcoming call.

Victor Newman is a visiting professor of knowledge and innovation management at the Business School, The University of Greenwich. He will be the guest facilitator at APQC's June knowledge management community call, which will take place on Thursday, June 17, at 10:30 a.m. Central time. Click here to register for this free call.

I want to remind everyone that APQC's April 2010 knowledge management community call is coming up this week. The call will feature guest presenter Linda Hummel, knowledge management leader at GE Energy, and her colleague Dave Cerrone.

Since GE Energy's KM program was created in the second quarter of 2008 to support the company's sales and marketing team, the KM team has focused on the program's four pillars: people, process, content, and technology. Hummel and Cerrone will describe:

• how the foundation for the KM program was established with an emphasis on Google enterprise search,
  
• how GE Energy is taking people search to a new level with an expert locator system,
• how the KM team is measuring its success, and
• what processes are used to maintain content freshness and fill gaps.

This call will take place this Thursday, April 15, at 10:30 a.m. Central. You can register for the call at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/469076536.

This one-hour call will take place next Thursday, March 25, at 10:30 a.m. Central time. You can register for the call at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/204945736.

To read more about Stan, visit his Web site at http://sites.google.com/site/stangarfield.

Do you want to find out why going against the cultural grain of your organization can keep you from excellence in KM? At APQC's February knowledge management community call, eNthusaProve Chief Innovation Officer Paul Armstrong will discuss why certain KM methods are so successful in some organizations, but falter in others.  The presentation will also provide insight to help KM strategists consider corporate culture when planning KM initiatives.

This one-hour call will take place next Thursday, February 18, at 2:00 p.m. Central time. You can register for the call at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/206828161.

Most of you are familiar with Jim Lee as APQC's KM senior adviser and a frequent (and often entertaining) contributor to this blog. At our January knowledge management community call, Jim will be highlighting some mentoring insights from APQC's best practices research, answering questions about the areas that benefit from mentoring and the issues surrounding mentoring programs.

To hear Jim's take on mentoring and to share your own experiences and questions, please join us this Thursday, January 28, at 10:30 a.m. Central time. You can register for the call at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/591993305.

Have you ever wondered what it takes for an organization to be recognized as a knowledge leader? APQC's December knowledge management community call will focus on the winners of the 2009 North American Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) study, conducted by Teleos in association with The KNOW Network. Rory Chase, managing director of Teleos, will be our special guest presenter to discuss the history of the award and announce the 2009 North American winners. Some of this year's winners will also be on hand to share attributes that have contributed to their success.

The call will take place this Thursday, December 3, at 10:30 a.m. Central time. To register, visit https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/639742720.

Please join us for our next knowledge management community call, at which APQC Senior Program Manager Marisa Brown will discuss  how leading companies are using stories and images to communicate with senior leadership about innovation.

Examples will be drawn from APQC's 2008 research study "New Product and Service Innovation: Improving Front-End Effectiveness" featuring Shell International Exploration & Production's GameChanger program and J&J's Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc.

The one-hour call will take place this Thursday, October 22, at 10:30 a.m. Central time. Click here to register.

Please join us for APQC's next knowledge management community call featuring guest facilitator Malcolm Dowden, environmental and property law consultant for LexisNexis. During the one-hour call, Dowden will discuss how legal teams are evolving to meet environmental changes and the knowledge management tools they need to provide effective service to their clients.

The call will take place this Thursday, September 24, at 10:30 a.m. central time. Attendance is free and open to everyone. Click here to register.

Last month, APQC surveyed its KM audience about ways to sustain and enhance communities of practice. The response was great, and now we'd like to share some of the results with you.

During this month's knowledge management community call, APQC Senior Project Manager Darcy Lemons (who is also a contributor to this blog) will share highlights from our recent survey, talk about what the results mean in light of APQC's past research, and discuss future research in this area. The call will take place this Thursday, August 20, at 10:30 a.m. Central.

Attendance is free and open to everyone. To register, visit www1.gotomeeting.com/register/567469512.

Market intelligence is a commodity critical to corporate strategy planning. During APQC's June knowledge management community call, guest facilitator Dian Chu, a market intelligence specialist with Marathon Oil Corporation, will examine the framework of market intelligence and knowledge management used to achieve a competitive edge and why all companies should have such a framework. She'll also discuss the market intelligence and knowledge management cycle, critical success factors for effective KM, and the KM and market intelligence structure at Marathon.

The call will take place this Thursday, June 18, at 10:30 a.m. central time. Click here to register.

The first wave of baby boomers is beginning to retire, leaving a leadership void that many organizations are not prepared for. In addition, the next large demographic groups ready to assume leadership positions (particularly Generation Y, or the Millennials) are vastly different from their predecessors. It is vital that companies prepare future leaders with this changing generational paradigm in mind.

If these issues are something your organization is concerned about, join us this Thursday, April 16, at 10:30 a.m. central time for APQC's next knowledge management community call. During the one-hour call, guest facilitator Wendy Johnson will discuss the characteristics of Generation Y, strategies to help current leaders communicate with this unique group, and the best ways to prepare younger workers for their transition to the leadership ranks. Wendy is the CEO of Center for Courageous Enterprise, a nonprofit organization that provides leadership development coaching and consulting for individuals and organizations.

During APQC's next knowledge management community call, we will be doing something a bit different and offering an in-depth look at a KM process tool: the Critical Capabilities Retention (CCR) system at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR). CRR is an internally built tool tied to the human resources database that is used to capture, share, and leverage knowledge. This knowledge management process tool augments existing management and HR processes by providing systematic methods to map, evaluate, and manage people skills; identify current critical skill gap risks; and capture risk mitigation plans.

Join us this Thursday, March 19, at 10:30 a.m. central time to learn more about Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's CRR system. The one-hour call will feature guest facilitator Lindsey Bond, PWR's deputy chief knowledge officer.

Savvy companies have been engaged in the management of knowledge for 20 years. More recently, communities of practice have become the platform for knowledge sharing. Many have been successful, but others have not generated the kind of enthusiasm needed.

Meanwhile, people are rushing to social networks in droves, pouring out their hearts and souls among friends and strangers, proving that people are eager to share. What can we learn from the network craze? And how can we tap this energy to do a better job of enabling knowledge work?

These issues will be the focus of APQC's next knowledge management community call, hosted by Jerry Ash, publisher of Smart People Magazine. The one-hour call will occur this Thursday, February 19, at 10:30 a.m. central time. Click here to register.

Over the years, APQC has produced many knowledge management models and frameworks to help organizations develop their programs and meet their KM goals. Our most recent is APQC's Stages of Knowledge Management Maturity, which creates a shared vision of the KM journey in terms of activities, capabilities, and the financial and operational impact you should expect to see at each stage. Join APQC Executive Director Cindy Hubert--who is also a contributor to this blog--at our next KM community conference call to learn more about the stages of KM maturity and offer feedback. The one-hour call will occur this Thursday, January 29, at 10:30 a.m. central time. Click here to register.

A year ago, the quest for innovation was on top of many CEOs' agendas. Now, efficiency has replaced innovation as the corporate rallying cry. In November, participants in APQC's knowledge management community call endorsed a focus on results, making 2009 "the year of KM payoff" (you can read more highlights from the call in my last blog post.)

But let's not forget innovation. I think we can leverage knowledge management to make us more efficient now while, at the same time, setting the stage for innovation when the economy rebounds. KM is all about reuse, with a focus on lessons learned, transfer of best practices, and avoiding costly mistakes.  Does good KM today also set the stage for future innovation?

Here are a few slides on the relationship between knowledge management and innovation. I'd love to get our readers' thoughts on this as well.

Click here to join this APQC KM community conference call.

For more details about the MAKE awards, visit www.knowledgebusiness.com.

How are your knowledge management efforts affected by the current economic crisis? Are budgets being cut or refocused? What is the impact on your KM strategy and objectives for 2009? Join special guest facilitator APQC President Carla O'Dell for our next KM community conference call tomorrow, November 20, at 10:30 a.m. (central) to discuss how KM fares during tough economic times. The conversation will focus on how KM practitioners are dealing with belt-tightening and how they show value and protect their KM investments. Attendees should be prepared to answer anonymous polling questions.