This is an article I’ve been working on drawn from client experiences and recent research into the areas of knowledge management leading to workforce integration and connected business strategy. Written for business leaders who are strategizing ways to leverage company knowledge, mitigate the risks of a retiring or transient workforce and build a more agile workplace this article discusses some key concepts to help with an approach.

I’ll break the article down into a multi-part posting… and I welcome your feedback…….

Why do we need to connect our business?

Well there are many reasons; here is one. Imagine your company – years of trials and tribulations of working in a competitive market have made the company wiser. Vast amounts of experience and knowledge has lead to its competitive advantage. The years have also lead to growth activity that has contributed to fragmented decision-making and an uneven distribution of knowledge favouring a few employees. Company divisions have grown semi-autonomously and without strong collaboration between them have developed their own processes and systems - effectively creating duplication and redundancy. This is expensive and inefficient.

If there was a means to ‘re-align’ your company so that your systems were consolidated, processes were rationalized, knowledge was shared and trust was high wouldn’t you want to do this? Not a simple nor quick initiative to undertake, nonetheless the journey to adapt a new mode of operating and develop a Connected Business is all about striving for these outcomes.

Texas Instruments is an example of a company that is adapting - by sharing best practice between its semiconductor fabrication plants they have saved the equivalent of investing in a new plant. Skandia Assurance is another example - by developing new measures of intellectual capital and incenting their managers on increasing its value have grown revenues much faster than their industry average.

In order to get started on becoming a connected business here are three things you need to know.

1. Understand the difference between knowledge and information – sharing knowledge is more a cultural change than a procedural one. Different skills are required to manage both.

2. Know what knowledge sharing looks like – if you don’t know what you’re looking for then how will you find it? It’s important to have a vision of how knowledge sharing will manifest itself within your company so that everyone is working toward that same vision.

3. Know what capabilities enable a Connected Business – Capability is an overloaded word. For an individual to ride a bike, they must posses capabilities of balance, muscle strength and coordination, then they must learn how to combine these in order to ride. For an organisation to become a Connected Business, they must posses capabilities of Communication, Collaboration, Trust etc…(these will be discussed in more detail later), then they must learn how to combine these capabilities in order to realise the benefits of becomming  a Connected Business.

Next: Part Three – Knowledge vs Information

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