Knowledge Management - Change Management: can you make better decisions faster?
Updated: Nov 17, 2021
Knowledge Management - Change Management: what can you do to help leaders make better decisions faster?
When it comes to change or transformation projects, it's what we don't know that pops up to surprise us. Lurking out of sight,
what you don't know patiently waits.
When it arrives, it brings uncertainty, anxiety and fear. People freeze, fight or take flight. Judgement becomes impaired. Knowledge flows slow and, which lowers the quality and speed of decision-making.
And all the while, what you didn't know was known to someone.
For decades, Knowledge Management has sought to deliver the right knowledge to the person who needs it when they need it most. For context, change or transformation projects are dynamic environments. It naturally follows that knowledge flows need to match the dynamics of the change or transformation domain.
Change or transformation projects live or die on trust and influence. A good decision accelerates change, poor decisions decelerate change. Good decisions require adequate data, information and knowledge.
Is the data, information and knowledge available to your change or transformation teams adequate: it is complete, which means it has sufficient depth and security for leaders to make a decision that is safe?
Back to
unknowns and their impact on decisions.
Decisions informed by inadequate data, information and knowledge undermines confidence and trust. Leaders find their influence eroded because their decisions lack depth and security. In simple terms, unknowns introduce stressors that sap energy and increase the decision load.
The challenge then is to match the environment. To do this, you need dynamic knowledge flows that enable change or transformation teams to make better decisions faster.
A knowlege flow,
it's more than a SharePoint site, a taxonomy, a search algorithm, or an app. It is all of these things. It is none of these things. Knowledge is a human condition. People create, destroy, speed and slow knowledge flows.
Knowledge is a heady blend of what we can see - artefacts we create - and what we can't see - the mysteries of what resides in another person's head. Our challenge as leaders and Knowledge Managers is to unlock the mystery - shine a light on what we don't know, and by exposing it, learn from it.
So, what can Knowledge Management do to improve decision-making quality and speed in change or transformation projects? Start with a framework that seeks out unknowns to improve the depth, security and completeness of decisions.
The Clarity Radar: A framework for seeking out and learning from unknowns
Clarity Radar Context: we work in environments filled with knowns and unknowns relevant to our needs in a given time and place. What we don't know is an opportunity to learn.
Through interactions with others, you find:
There is data, information and knowledge that is known to you and known to them. It is known to us. It is known to them.
There is data, information and knowledge that is unknown to you and known to them. You know that there are things you do not know. The question is, what do you do. I work with teams to capture and use that relevant data, information and knowledge to improve the quality and speed of their decisions.
There is data, information and knowledge that is unknown to you but known to others. The challenge is that you are unaware that this gap exists. In this space, I work with teams to probe for unknowns using powerful questioning techniques that expose gaps that enable you to take action.
There is data, information and knowledge that is unknown to you and unknown to others. Here, I work with teams to consider concepts such as diversity, requisite variety and expert blindspots.
The Clarity RadarĀ© is an example of how I help teams seek out unknowns to speed knowledge flows and make better decisions faster. What tools are you using with your teams?