Running on Risk!

When does Knowledge Start?

That might seem like a bizarre question to start a Blog Post, but it is intended to get you to think about when Knowledge is created! Take for example a new start-up company, they are creating Knowledge immediately; Learning Lessons, collecting expertise, innovating, even forming opinions about suppliers and finding the best source of materials and services, and this needs to be captured so that it can be shared. You then have the collective Knowledge of the individuals within the new organisation; how to harness and share that collective knowledge. So in my opinion, organisations should be thinking about Knowledge Management right from the outset.

But do they? In most cases the answer is no. It is the usual scenario; "It's not a priority", "We don't have the money for this!", "We don't really need it!", "What is the Return on Investment?"

But what price can you put on the loss of key knowledge that keeps the business going? Every organisation has it. Hewlett Packard went as far as saying "If only HP knew everything that HP knew".

So how about $69 Million? The US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) "lost knowledge" of how to make a mysterious but very hazardous material codenamed Fogbank. As a result, the warhead refurbishment programme was put back by at least a year, and racked up an extra $69 million (You can read the story at http://www.heraldscotland.com/how-the-us-forgot-how-to-make-trident-missiles-1.826976).

So when you put this into context, is it worth taking the Risk with your key Business Knowledge? Knowledge Management needs to be viewed almost like an Insurance Policy or Risk Management. There is always a Risk that key knowledge could be lost, so what are we going to do about managing that risk? I have worked with organisations that have done just that! Start to look at Knowledge Management and nothing more. One organisation that I worked for realised three weeks before a large number of 'Key' staff were due to leave through a redundancy programme that key knowledge was due to be lost. One of the Directors approached me and said "Can we capture this Knowledge before it goes?"; you can probably guess the answer!

A quote that I have used with a number of organisations is that "Knowledge Management is like Holiday Insurance; you make a conscious decision not to take out the insurance and it's fine as long as nothing happens. However, you only realise that you need it when it is too late!"

Whilst organisations continue to find excuses not to implement KM then they will continue to keep "Running on Risk".