Knowledge engagement

It’s obvious to me that KM and engagement are related – but I’ve learned that this is not so obvious to others. I guess it depends on what you think they are all about…

To some KM is about intranets and Yammer and so on. To others it has nothing to do with IT at all and is all about communities of practice sharing knowledge. Well, yes, we do use those tools – both those kinds of tools, in fact.

But what KM is really about in my view is learning from experience; innovation; sharing knowledge and applying best practice.

Likewise, engagement (or perhaps involvement) has different flavours. For some (too many) it’s about signing the staff up to sing the company song and input ‘discretionary effort’ (i.e. work more hours for free). I’m being a bit snide in my description, I know, but this kind of ‘engagement’ does exist even though it’s usually dressed up to look more appealing.

So the notion of ‘KM Engagement’ makes absolute sense to me, since people feel great affiliation to and identity with their profession and experience; and experience flow when they are enjoying performing and learning.

To me this is part of intrinsic engagement – which I much prefer to any other kind. And its where peak KM lives.

No, what I prefer is what I call the ‘real engagement’, which is a shared identity (at work, at least) between the staff and the company – a shared mission – which leads to fuller involvement.

So I’ve painted a picture here which starts to illustrate how the more overtly ‘KM’ aspects of working life relate to engagement. You see, knowledge is private and personal. It’s in your head. It’s your experiences and what you take from them – what they mean to you. It’s your views and ideas – your analysis. In a cynical workplace people may naturally want to protect their knowledge and keep it to themselves. But if we can engage and involve people more, then their natural urge to share, learn and grow will come to the fore. So it’s about a personal development in parallel with an organisational development.

The picture expresses what this development might look like from the outside – from disengaged to engaged, left to right: