Knowledge Management depends on accessing and sharing people’s experience and expertise
In their presentation at the ASLIB/IFEG meeting, John and Elisabeth focused on making knowledge accessible through such interventions as “Learning before, during and after”, Communities of Practice, and Collaborative working. In doing so we spoke about the importance of:
- Focusing on the business goals and tasks that people seek to achieve,
- Defining clear working practices,
- And above all: understanding and building on the differences and strengths of the people involved,
We will be exploring these three interventions in more detail, in our new "Knowledge Surgery" column for Aslib’s “Managing Information” which begins in December.
Open Innovation is enhanced by the right mindsets and personality types
This was the theme of our Sept-Oct 2012 newsletter, and featured in the break-out session which Elisabeth and Lucy Loh ran for “Open Innovation in Action” the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst Open Innovation Summit, on the 15th November.
Speakers and delegates throughout the conference, as well as in the break-out itself, explored how different mindsets and personality types do in fact have a major role to play in innovation, whether ‘open’ or otherwise. You can read more about this in Elisabeth’s recent blog
Any form of collaborative working relies on building rapport and trust
Elisabeth continued on the theme of Open Innovation in her introductory workshop for project managers as part of PIPMG’s: “Discovery to Market: Three Critical Stages – Turning Ideas into Projects” on the19th-20th November.
Open Innovation brings added challenges in working across organizational boundaries and cultures, with the consequent importance of building strong rapport between the people involved.
Part of the workshop involved a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis on Open Innovation. Whilst the strengths included the opportunity that OI provides for greater personal development and engagement, the threats included the heavy reliance on trust that working in this way will also require.
Focusing on what motivates your staff will make you more effective as a manager!
The theme of ‘intrapreneurs’ came up during the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst Open Innovation summit. Whilst not everyone in an organisation will view themselves as an ‘intrapreneur’, understanding and responding to what motivates your employees will help managers to engage them and support them much more effectively.
This is a message that Elisabeth introduced in a recent small group training session on conducting Performance Appraisals. The training was very well received!
If you’d like to find out more
Do get in touch if you’d like to find out more about RiverRhee Consulting, our range of off-site and in-house courses, and how we can help you to not only enhance team effectiveness but create an exceptional team. See the RiverRhee Consulting website or e-mail the author at elisabeth@riverrhee.com.
Best wishes for a healthy, restful and peaceful end of year to you all…
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