Having recently participated in the development of a KM strategy for DSE and been part of the KM Asia forum, it started me thinking again about KM and revisiting some of the work I did when I was with VPSCIN and Vicpol.
I came across a definition of KM we devised after having facilitated a workshop around KM for Vicpol. The struggle at the time was to convince people that knowledge was more than simply adding to the intranet and that it had a people basis. One of the first steps was the following definition that still has some traction today:
“Knowledge Management is adding to, sharing and shaping what we know, to create action that adds value.”
We had used a process of emergence in the workshop and coupled this with looking at some of the literature……….not unlike the process that was recently undertaken in DSE.
However where I think I have moved to is the notion that you cannot manage knowledge…it is rather an emergent process for the individual and groups and happens with the right conditions being present to facilitate exploration, curiosity, learning and thinking.