de Stricker

Info Pros: Star Performers

In the spirit of the holiday season, I trust my readers will indulge me in some allegorical thinking about our profession:

Treated by dear and incredibly generous friends to a Canadian Tenors concert in Toronto (www.canadiantenors.com), I had the opportunity to watch at close range the intricate workings of the orchestra supporting those four magnificent singers: The musicians worked the piano, strings, and percussion - what an amazing array of drums, cymbals, hanging xylophones, rainstick type instruments, and other sound producing objects I don't know how to name! - with obvious engagement and enjoyment to organize and sequence thousands of individual notes into a harmonious, powerful, and sometimes surprising result. The light manager provided a splendid visual complement to the music, and the copious amounts of water vapor released into the concert hall lent a touch of magic. Each song performed reached back through decades or centuries to revered composers and was given life in the moment by the latest technology - in a manner uniquely suited to the occasion and the audience.

Giving thought to the vast planning and coordination required to produce an experience so clearly enjoyed by the sold-out house, it struck me: Isn't that what info pros do, too? Don't we, well, "orchestrate" myriad individual preparatory and immediate actions in order to "produce" the experience our audiences receive? Don't we collaborate within our organizations and across the profession to gain the skills to, well, "play those instruments with such perfect timing"? Don't we rely on the work done in decades and centuries before us and on the latest technology to meet our clients' unique needs? Don't we plan and organize so that the "star performers" - our users - get to deliver outstanding results?

As for the tenors - they, too, seemed like info pros to me - bringing to bear their education and talent on producing value. We're talking world class operatic stars … who related to the audience with humility, warm humor, and personable ease. In just that way I so often see information professionals being utterly modest and unassuming about their work, no matter how outstanding it is: Don't they deliver spectacular performances in the way they hit just the right notes when they do research or produce strategic plans (etc etc)?

Indeed we info pros do not perform in misty, colored lights on a background of exquisite music to deliver value to our clients. But in my humble opinion, we are pretty close.

Thank you for indulging me. Peace and Good Will on Earth this Solstice.

Hearts & Minds & Ownership: Social Tools Raise Questions

At the 2010 London Online Information conference, it was once again my privilege to present along with my esteemed colleagues.  In the context of barriers to the use of social tools, Phil Bradley outlined 25 typical objections to their use in the workplace and entertainingly furnished the down-to-earth rejoinders; Bonnie Cheuk spoke convincingly of the need to zero in on the business purpose for any social tools initiative and to assist executives in tailoring the use of social tools for their specific communication needs.  I had chosen as my focus the matter of ownership:  Is there even such a thing when it comes to social tools - and if there is, how could it be used to protect and enhance corporate memory (CM) and knowledge sharing (KS)?

The question regarding ownership arises because social tools in many cases have become a de facto repository of significant aspects of corporate memory and a de facto means for knowledge sharing.  If no one "owns" such a mechanism for CM/KS, what is the fate of organizational learning, institutional knowledge, and intellectual capital?

As a result of their very nature, social tools play into the natural creativity of knowledge workers and their tendency to collaborate to rise to any occasion.  Thus, the social tools exacerbate the traditional tension between proactively investing in systems and infrastructure to capture CM and facilitate KS on the one hand … and "applying search muscle and heroism" retroactively on the other hand.  The number of offerings in the enterprise search market suggests it may be perceived to be too late, in any other than a startup organization, to take the proactive just-in-case approach:  The cost of intellectual content management is too difficult to justify in many environments.  Similarly, the complexity of devising a mechanism whereby knowledge workers may learn of their colleagues' activities at the right time defies upfront solutions and prescribed processes.

So how can we work the social tools - and the inherent human desire to communicate with peers - to the advantage of CM/KS?  What could managers do to encourage practices and behaviors that will benefit the collective memory and access to knowledge?  It is well known how actions that are rewarded get repeated; what rewards will strengthen the likelihood a knowledge worker will take the extra two minutes to contribute an insight into the communal heritage - given the typical time pressures they experience?  Is it feasible to design and institutionalize a certain set of practices (over and above, let's say, the document/records management systems imposed by the regulatory environment)?  How does one foster a culture in which everyone willingly does his or her part to use social tools appropriately to protect knowledge for the future?

In our presentations, Phil Bradley, Bonnie Cheuk, and I naturally could only touch on the highlights of the questions raised by social tools.  It was striking, though, how the sizable audience remained intently focused in a late-in-the-day session.  I took it as a sign how the challenges associated with CM and KS in today's organizations occupy the hearts and minds of information professionals. 

Getting Ready for Your First Job: So Much to Learn - Start Here

In the last few weeks I had the pleasure once again to spend a day with soon-to-be-newly-minted holders of the MLIS degree, discussing the skills required to succeed in the world we so often describe as "real".  As workplaces undergo considerable change in these times, it is more than ever essential for new graduates without previous full time work experience to be prepared for the norms and expectations characteristic of organizational cultures; for that reason I emphasize the "soft skills" topic during "Career Day" events.  Usually triggered by the question "should courses and grades be on one's resume?", our conversation focuses on the simple but - in the context of the work load in graduate school - stunning fact that supervisors and coworkers rarely care about academic achievements.  Instead, they care greatly about skills in adapting to the needs of the workplace, working on teams, dealing with clients, representing the employer professionally, and so on.

The thrust of the conversation was captured previously in a concise and illuminating article by Alvin Schrader, former Professor at the University of Alberta School of Library and Information Studies: "Hitchhiking Across Cultures from the Classroom to the Workplace" (Feliciter, Issue 2, 2008, p. 43 at http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Vol_54_No_2&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=5255).  Alvin zeroes in on the steep learning curve many graduates must climb when they move out of an environment centered on individual learning, outlines the stark contrasts between the academic and organizational environments, and makes practical recommendations for ways employers and graduates alike can facilitate the transition:  "The classroom is about intellect, while the workplace is about leadership."

Dear graduates, as you get ready for that life-changing first day on the job, do yourself a favor by paying close attention to the insights Alvin offers.  In addition, let me suggest: 

• Read up on the industry or sector in question:  What developments are having an impact on the work of organizations like the one you will be entering, and what challenges could they therefore expect?
• Find out as much as you can about your new employer:  Use your research skills to shed light on the past and likely future of the specific environment where you will be working. 
• Brush up on the key elements of emotional intelligence and interpersonal communication:  You will need considerable social nimbleness given the work relationships likely to exist in your new group of colleagues. 
• Lean on colleagues who have gone before you:  What did the graduates from a few years ago learn as they started their first jobs?  What could seasoned colleagues tell you?  (Oh, and you know where to find these colleagues - in the relevant professional association.) 
• Finally:  Don't be afraid to ask questions of your new boss and new team!  Asking shows you are interested in performing well and acting appropriately, and it's better to ask than to assume and be off the mark.

With such preparation, success should be well within your reach.  For those I haven't yet had the privilege of meeting:  See you at the next Career Day event! 

The Copyright Cost - and Loss - of Societal Memory

Corporate memory is a key concern for many information professionals and a focus in many of my projects.  I join several colleagues in speaking and writing about the cost associated with protecting it and of not having access to it.  Thanks to Marc Aronson, I was just reminded the memory-loss scenario pertains to society as a whole - exacerbated by none other than the e-book, our current poster gadget for new media.

 

In a 2 April 2010 New York Times article entitled "The End of History (Books)" www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/opinion/03aronson.html?th&emc=th, he paints a thought provoking picture of gaps in societal memory induced by the cost of acquiring rights to feature images or text from previous works in new nonfiction works :  "Seeing the clouds on the horizon, publishers painstakingly remove photos and even text extracts from print books as they are converted to e-books. So instead of providing a dazzling future, the e-world is forcing nonfiction to become drier, blander and denser."

 

Clearly and concisely, Marc Aronson explains how nonfiction writers seek to give depth to their work through showcasing something outside of it - objects or literature from the past, issues discussed by others - but encounter barriers to illuminating their writing with such illustrations due to prohibitive costs.  He points out how current copyright regulations and rights agreement structures as they affect e-books could limit new nonfiction works to drawing on public domain material or to creating completely original material, thus leaving in obscurity a vast landscape of existing content that is in practice untouchable.

 

He goes on to propose a logical and simple copyright payment scheme for facilitating the use of repurposed items to enliven and enrich new nonfiction works.  The scheme acknowledges the interests of all stakeholders in fostering a vibrant new platform for selected items of content to tell the stories of the past using the media of the future.

 

I commend Marc Aronson for proposing a re-think of rights payments to address unintended consequences of current copyright schemes, and I urge my readers to keep the article in mind next time they hold their e-readers.

 

As for the information generated within an organization, I suppose we could say it's fortunate re-using it is free but for the effort of keeping it and ensuring it can be found.  It's unfortunate the latter effort is often out-prioritized by other organizational activities.

Colin Powell: An Information Natural

At former US Secretary of State Colin Powell's keynote address opening the 100th conference of the Special Libraries Association (www.sla.org) on June 14, marching to the front of the huge hall rewarded me in the form of a seat in the second row of chairs: His strong and warm personal presence was close enough to experience "for real" - as opposed to looking at images on the jumbotrons.  My high expectations were exceeded: It was fascinating to hear him speak from the heart about his career experience - and it was a special treat to hear him comment on the information related aspects of his many and varied former and current endeavors.  The anecdotes - as an example, checking facts online while on the phone with an overseas official believing Colin Powell was relying on memory - were amusing and characteristic of a talk that was at once inspiring and down to earth. 

For me, the true delight was hearing that Colin Powell insists on good information, accessible by those who need it, and quickly.  He stressed how it is essential in order to achieve organizational, project, and mission success. (Yes!)

Mr. Powell spoke vividly about the "special collections" that are crucial for any organization - the documents and materials preserving its unique memory and knowledge and thus enabling it to perform its work, to make decisions, to verify facts in support of planning, and so on.  He described the payoff from deploying appropriate information tools and from demanding that everyone use them; and he stressed the impact today's technologies are having on what he called the "speed of events". (It was poignant that the SLA conference coincided with events on the other side of the world shared in many cases only through cell phones and social networking instruments.)  His comments on the need for investment in good information and communication tools - and rigorous use of them - resonated with someone who is regularly engaged in advancing the business case for such investment!

A special personal focus, the General explained, is education through documentation.  I have put on my list of future must-sees the history education centre he mentioned being involved in developing.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to listen to an accomplished speaker, inspiring leadership figure, and true believer in the higher purpose of information stewardship.  Thank you, General Powell! 

An IKM Awareness Checklist: Part 10 of 10

Summation:

In the previous nine posts, I have touched briefly on common components in the overall landscape of information and knowledge management within organizations - and I do hope I have achieved my goal of providing food for thought and discussion.  I'll round out the series with a few observations I have found to be true relative to IKM work no matter what the type, size, and sector of the organization:

• The various ingredients of IKM - tools, systems, practices - share a feature with calcium supplements:  Consumption alone does not yield bone density.  The supplements have to be properly absorbed through measures such as weight bearing exercise.  No matter what we purchase and how much we spend on infrastructure, information gadgets, and content, their presence alone is not a predictor of successful outcomes.  Measures need to be taken to incorporate them properly for the overall benefit of the enterprise organism; said another way, the organizational culture has to be accommodating for IKM initiatives to work well.
• Change is sometimes painful ... but stick it out through the initial hurdles, and what was once difficult becomes the norm.  Just as the runners say, "I'm out here in the rain before dawn because I really, really want to race in the marathon" so all those leading change in IKM practices need to keep the prize before their eyes:  We made the business case, we got going, we're going to stick with it through the challenging early days until we get to where the new is normal (unless, of course, unexpected extrinsic factors suddenly dictate otherwise).
• Maintaining enthusiasm over time for "doing the right things right" through carefully devised strategies and practices is a daunting challenge because day to day reality has a habit of intervening in the best laid plans.  Frequent and regular checkups are necessary to be sure we are still "with the program" adopted a year ago.  Here, too, a health analogy applies - well expressed in the adage "what we do between Christmas and New Year's Day does not matter - what we do between New Year's Day and Christmas does!" 

I welcome reactions and suggestions for future posts from readers - comment here, or send me an email!

An IKM Awareness Checklist: Part 6 of 10

Records

How are we doing when it comes to managing the physical and virtual embodiments of our organizations' activities - to meet legal and compliance requirements as well as to meet the need for preserving access to corporate memory?  And who is in charge?  With increasing awareness of the risks associated with inadequate records programs, the professional domain of Records Management is deservedly receiving heightened attention.  Wikipedia describes records management as "the practice of identifying, classifying, archiving, preserving, and destroying records".  (I hope "preserving" includes the concept of ensuring future generations' access to materials even though they may be "too old" for the law to mandate their retention - but that's another subject.)  Here are some questions all organizations would want to answer with a resounding yes:

6a.  Is there a formal policy to guide how records are dealt with?  Is it updated as technology advances to create new challenges?

6b.  Are employees generally aware of the fundamental records management and retention requirements applicable to the organization? 

6c.  Do employees understand the definitions of what constitutes a record among the many types of information objects they typically handle - and the lifecycle of those records?  Are employees' workspaces free of files that are also held centrally?  Do employees know what types of information objects should not be retained? 

6d.  Is records management a key topic in new-hire inductions?

6e.  Is a Certified Records Manager in charge of the records policy and program - even if the organization does not employ a full time CRM?

6f.  Is an analysis carried out periodically to assess the requirements and future options for records management, given the organization's evolution?

An IKM Awareness Checklist: Part 5 of 10

Do we pass the test for "quality content" in emails?

Given the reliance we have on the email tool and how much corporate memory is tied up in messages, it can be thought provoking to step back for a moment and consider the quality of the content we entrust to it.  Aside from quick text messages and email exchanges with trusted colleagues - where we assume the margin of forgiveness is wide - are there risks associated with our emails?  Plenty, as the many articles about email etiquette illustrate - and we may be grateful that it has become the cultural norm to give an email writer the benefit of the doubt.  Consider:

5a.  On the naked screen, brevity may appear brusque - but lack of brevity may hinder reading and understanding.  It could be a good idea to include as a matter of course "call me if you would like me to fill in more background" or something to that effect.

5b.  Long chains of previous  mail soon become very difficult to follow - and much good intentioned content may be effectively lost.  A concise summary of previous commentary would be a courtesy to readers - though admittedly potentially time consuming to prepare.

5c.  Given the lack of control over a message's further life, are we confident its content will stand up to unintended distribution?  (As it's sometimes said, "let's not put in an email anything we wouldn't want to see on the front page of the national newspaper with our names attached".)

5d.  Is there sufficient context that the thrust of a message will still be clear months from now - in other words, could the lack thereof lead to misunderstanding down the road?  (As in, "Yes but that comment was made before it was known how …")

5e.  Do we take the time to edit our messages for clarity and logical flow?  The "best" element in a message may not have occurred to me until I was almost finished … by not pausing to reconsider how to take the reader along my thought path, I could make it much harder for him or her to follow along.  If the less important items clog the first screen and my golden nuggets are hidden at the end … it wouldn't be surprising if the reader got an impression different from the one I wanted to convey.

5f.  Do we take advantage of the opportunity not to commit an exchange to email?  "Your message gave me much to think about and I wonder if we could discuss the matter over a coffee" may be the wisest and most productive reply!

5g.  If time doesn't permit a thought-through reply, do we ensure senders that there will be one later?  Letting someone know when to expect a response is common courtesy, and it relieves the sender of any concern "Did the message not get through?  Why am I not hearing back?

Next in the series:  Records

An IKM Awareness Checklist: Part 4 of 10

Email Management (You knew this was coming!)

We can't function without it - but we sometimes dread looking at the inbox. It's a fast and efficient communication vehicle - but we have discovered it gobbles up hours in the day.  We know better - but many of us admit to using our email folders as a personal information management tool (ouch).  So how should we and the organizations we serve deal rationally with email?  Here are several potential statements typical employees could make; their implications are food for thought for IKM personnel and all email users alike:

4a.  Because so much of the deliberation leading to a decision is traceable only through email exchanges, it is effectively lost to the organization.  In other words, it will be difficult in future to discover "what were we thinking?"

4b.  My sent mail folder works as a safety net:  When I can't find a document on the shared drive, I can usually remember approximately when I sent it to a colleague and find it that way - assuming the message in question is not so old that it has been archived by IT.

4c.  Ideally, messages ought to be grouped logically by topic - but I haven't had the opportunity to set up a good folder system for myself.  As a result, I spend a lot of time searching through past mail.

4d.  There is a departmental folder structure everyone adheres to for certain types of mail; in addition of course we each set up personal folders to reflect our individual jobs.  We have access to an expert who advises individual employees on managing email.

4e.  To keep the inbox manageable, I place all non-urgent informational email in a "reading" folder - only it seems I never get to it!

4f.  I have noticed several articles on 'email etiquette' with good advice on practices and pitfalls in email management.  If we all remembered just a few of the tips - for example, "ensure the subject line clearly states the topic and the desired action" - we might do each other a great favor.

4g.  Our collective approach to email would be a good topic for our lunch-and-learn series - so many of us are expressing frustration and looking for techniques to master the monster.

Next in the series:  Do we pass the test for "good writing" in emails?

An IKM Awareness Checklist: Part 3 of 10

Current Awareness:  Here, "current awareness" refers to the act of ensuring one becomes aware of appropriate topical and industry events, publications, legislation, news, debate, and so on in a timely manner so as to react to them or otherwise incorporate them into one's work.

If they do it themselves, how well - and through what means - do knowledge workers ensure they stay abreast of relevant developments in their field - without getting inundated by and wasting time on irrelevant or duplicated information?  If it's done for them, how successful is the program? 

3a.  Employees are keenly aware of the need to stay abreast of developments and put effort into maintaining a personal lineup of sources to monitor and/or news "feeds" to receive.

3b. The culture supports free subscriptions to many web based newsletters, blogs, and the like - and the time to review the incoming notifications is regarded as a necessary part of staying sharp.

3c. The information centre or a similar entity offers a customized service to establish, manage, and periodically review a set of current awareness sources - including ones that aren't free.

3d. The information centre, the communications group, or a similar entity monitors the media and posts a daily intranet collection of items of general interest to everyone ("what you need to hear about today").

3e. Employees sometimes comment how they are uncertain they 'get it all' and feel uncomfortable when they are caught unaware of a relevant development.

3f. Employees indicate their current awareness mechanism is irregular, deriving in some cases from conversations with colleagues.

3g. Some say that although they do not subscribe to many sources, they still feel they catch the important items.

3h. Employees find it time consuming to look at their burgeoning inboxes and end up deleting many notifications unread.

3i. Personal preferences vary from "I want it all to come in email (or I'll never find the time to look)" to "I'd prefer a central news forum where I can go browse if I have the time (and yes, I may rarely find the time)" - so any organizational effort to support current awareness must necessarily cater accordingly.

Next in the series:  Email

An IKM Awareness Checklist: Part 2 of 10

Corporate Memory:  How easy is it to find out what we know?

How accurately do the statements below describe the organizational entities in which we work?  The statements illustrate typical circumstances in typical workplaces; no value judgment is implied. My purpose is to invite examination of the practices we follow - with the goal of identifying information and knowledge related opportunities.

2a. Employees manage the information objects (documents, presentations, bookmarks, emails, etc) they need in personal files according to organizing principles they find intuitive.

2b. There is a central repository or document management system housing the department's files, routinely used by everyone.

2c. The entity is small enough and/or the external contacts are so well defined that everyone knows "who to go to" when there are questions.

2d. A directory or similar tool tracks who is in charge of what subjects or projects so it is straightforward for a new team member to identify the best person to approach.

2e. There are formal mechanisms for sharing information (for example, at staff meetings or through tools such as wikis) or informal channels through which information flows naturally.

2f.  When an employee retires or leaves, a procedure ensures information handover to any successor.

2g. Additional mechanisms for protecting corporate memory include ...

Next in the series: Current Awareness

An IKM Awareness Checklist: Part 1 of 10

Best Practices? No.  Awareness? Yes.

In his post http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2008/08/05.html#a2212 well-known Dave Pollard offered a thought provoking inventory of "12 tools that will soon go the way of fax and CDs".  Dave has this to say about item 3, the elusive "tool" known as Best Practices:  It's natural that people want to hear what the leading companies and individuals in any area of business endeavour are doing, but the sad truth is that most "best practices" are so devoid of context, of the knowledge and history that explains why they are so effective, that they essentially become unactionable.

Indeed each organization - in fact each department within it, whether by way of geography or function - is a unique mix of purpose, history, resources, individual approaches, and many similar factors.  It is impossible to generalize how an enterprise unit ought to go about information and knowledge management (IKM). What is possible is to gauge the level of awareness among managers and team members as to the suitability of the practices being followed now or potential new practices to be followed in future.

Over the years, I have used many questions to shed light on the approach an organization takes to IKM.  In this and the next nine posts, I illustrate the nature of such questions in hopes they may help readers who are interested in the attention paid to the way knowledge workers go about IKM.  There is no implication that a "correct" answer exists - the intention is strictly to encourage conscious assessment of actions habitually taken (or not).

IKM Awareness Checklist 1 of 10:  Policy

1a. Is there a Chief Knowledge Officer or similar position with central responsibility for IKM polices and practices - or is ownership (with funding) decentralized to the local level?

1b. Are there documented procedures to follow for finding and storing information - or do individuals follow personal practices tailored to their own work?

1c. Are new employees given training in the appropriate inhouse or external resources, search methods, and tools such as document management systems - or is there a mentoring function to handle that aspect of each job?  Is it assumed that new team members are already well versed due to previous experience - or does the department take in new hires fresh from formal education?

1d. Is an overall assessment of IKM practices undertaken from time to time - or are such practices considered in evaluations of departmental or individual performance? 

1e. Do position descriptions specifically mention expectations as to research and communication - or is it implicit that knowledge workers are assumed to perform professionally in that regard?

Next in the series: Corporate Memory

But for the want of accurate or updated information ...

Recently, I heard two fascinating (read scary) anecdotes how manufacturing companies had to invest vast quantities of man hours - and suffer the resulting customer perception damage - in reproducing or repackaging product ... not because of external calamity but merely because a key information item was left out of instructions or because an outdated manual was referred to in the absence of awareness a newer one was available.

Yes, documentation and procedure manuals are a challenge: Difficult to prepare, never mind keep up to date (e.g. because on-the-floor changes in procedure or customer input may not have a means of being communicated to the documentalists reliably), they are sometimes just as difficult for employees to consult conveniently.  The impact may be "limited" to needless expense in extra work, delayed shipments, and the like ... but consider that in some cases, public and personal safety could be involved as well.

In the anecdotes, significant losses ensued from something as simple as the lack of a business process documentalist and/or the necessary rigor in (1) keeping process manuals accurate and up to date and (2) making it easy and unavoidable for employees to consult them.  My experience tells me such a scenario is sadly common - in private and public sectors alike.  The question as always is: How can we promote the understanding and the organizational culture that investment in good information practice and culture pays off ... if not now, then at some point in the future?

Vital Heads-Up - or Information Clutter?

In a European bank's window envelope, showing through once the contents were removed, appeared the following:  "Should you receive multiple envelopes sent the same day, please be aware that it is cheaper to pay the extra postage than it would be to collect several statements in one envelope.  We hope you understand."   Hmm … would some recipients think "that makes sense, glad you told me" and the rest think, "why are you telling me this?"

While curious whether the bank's explanation was occasioned by actual or anticipated complaints, I surmise the bank is using the window envelope as a means of communicating with recipients who may not visit its website -- likely featuring a "click here for more information about multiple mailings on the same day".

The simple example illustrates the quandary we information professionals face from time to time:  Will an upfront caveat or announcement show diligence and thus avert subsequent criticism - or will it amount to unnecessary noise for those who are unaffected or unconcerned?

Whenever we prepare to communicate broadly, let's ask:

• Do most members of the potential audience need to hear the message?  What are the risks if the message were not sent out?  How can we label the message so recipients understand whether it applies to them?

• Are there official drivers?  (For example, must it be documented that due efforts were undertaken to inform relevant parties of a matter?)

• Is there a way to be brief but provide an option for more information?  "New data elements in the corporate directory: For details,  …"

In today's environment of information overload, it is a necessary courtesy to communicate in the right amount.

How much are our services valued at the top?

We information professionals eat, sleep, and breathe "good information practices" - but it is not a safe assumption that our conviction of their value is shared by others - for starters, by senior management.  Let's be sure to find out just what those in charge of allocating the information centre budget think they are getting for their investment!  It may be disappointing to discover, for example, that there is low awareness of our contribution to the organization - but such a discovery is the first step toward bridging the perception gap.  Once we know how "the 17^th floor” regards the investments in content and staff, we are in a better position to focus our efforts where they will deliver the greatest impact. 

Where are the information sharing stars?

A simple and intriguing performance evaluation approach asks: "Name the top 5 people in your department or across the organization who in your opinion do a great job of sharing information and knowledge for the benefit of others".  For managers, the results are gold: These named colleagues are the go-to people who have built a reputation for always having something to offer to help a project, support a specific task, or teach a technique. 

We information professionals can learn from that phenomenon.  "Who in your department is generally considered to be the go-to, and why?  I'm asking in the context of setting up some new information services."  Naturally, we want to know what the seekers are looking for -- so that we can assess how we might support the go-tos.

Silobreaking

Silos are for breaking down - let’s make it our business: Much more often than I like to say, I witness employee comments along the lines of "Wish we'd known your team had already tackled X - we are struggling with it now".  The organizational cost of silos is breathtaking, and the emergence of "silobreaking awards" suggest there is hope.  Can information professionals offer a solution?  You bet.  (Expertise and project directories are just the beginning.)  In any culture where silobreaking is desired and rewarded, we can offer effective strategies for managers to endorse.

Social connections

Much attention is being paid in recent times to the phomemon of social networks and their impact on how information and knowledge moves around - or not - within organizations.  It seems some people are natural "distributors" while others aren't. For information professionals, the message would be:  The best favor we can do ourselves in terms of achieving our goals is to understand the social networks in the organizations we serve - and to be well and truly connected to the right nodes!