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BusinessWeek just published an article about how groups around the world are preparing for the Knowledge Economy.

Notice the focus on the design of the physical space that they’re proposing and how that will help foster the necessary community that will be required for collaboration, learning and innovation.

Now I’m clearly a little biased in my support for this message – but that bias first came from all of the other sources that turned me on to this trend.

Using the ideas in the article, what can your organization do to prepare for the knowledge economy?  How can your workspace be configured to best support the way work happens?  How can you integrate the collaboration of your customers, suppliers and employees into the learning and innovation that will drive your organization forward?

Business Challenge:

The Regional Field Sales Teams at General Motors are responsible for selling and delivering wholesale automobiles to GM’s network of franchise dealerships across North America.  Regions are further divided into zones and Zone Managers are charged with overseeing their zone team of sales, marketing, service, accessory parts and many other functions.  Geographic dispersion combined with high pressure and a fast pace resulted in local teams solving issues on their own and working fairly isolated from peers that were performing very similar duties.  Rework was high and the ability to innovate was low.

Solution:

Orbital RPM conducted a Social Network Analysis in order to determine how information was being exchanged amongst the Zone Managers across the country.  That information was used to illustrate gaps where knowledge flow could be improved, individuals to be used as part of the core team and a strategy for beginning the transition from local silos to a knowledge network of Zone Managers.

Once the strategy was engaged and Zone Managers were shown the power and potential of collaborating with their peers to help with everyday items as well as innovative ideas a technology solution was implemented from Orbital RPM’s Social Software service.

Outcome:

“We were looking for a new way to approach the learning and development of our field leadership.  Orbital RPM helped us by acknowledging that most of our workforce’s learning occurs informally.  To that end, they designed strategies around social networking to support that.”

-Tom Burch, General Motors Training Manager