If you’re not familiar Kurzweil’s thoughts and works, or even if you don’t agree with them, conceptually they are quite elegant and at the very least quite thought provoking.  Here’s a little glimpse into his thoughts for those new to his idea of “Singularity”:

Watch Ray Kurzweil on Singularity

In a way (albeit a very small way), we like to think of our team at Orbital as a group of futurists; a team who strive to help organizations meld their talent, ideas and technology to reach their fullest potential.  With that hope in mind, this recent commentary at Tech Crunch Disrupt from Eric Schmidt, the renowned CEO of Google, resonated with us.

Schmidt is discussing what some have referred to as “Autonomous Search,” an idea where your Search Engine is active and running in the background of your life at all times.  In essence, a computer program is being designed to give you the information you need, before you even realize you need it.

In “Schmidt’s Utopia,” this technology represents an advancement in general human happiness, essentially by giving people back their time.  Other folks have some slightly more distopic outlook.

Watch Eric Schmidt at Tech Crunch Disrupt

Either way, some of the language is so Kurzweil-esque it’s as if we can see the gears of Singularity turning right in front of our eyes. And really, it’s pretty exciting.

For many of the organizations that I speak/work with regarding knowledge networks/communities of practice they have [or are planning on implementing] a collaboration software package with many slick bells and whistles but without a clear path and strategy for getting up and running – this often results in an empty knowledge landscape with little showing except for some bells and whistles strewn about.

Even in the CIO world it’s popular to say that collaboration and innovation isn’t about the software but what do you do in addition to buying software? 

The Iceberg in IT

The delimna I frequently witness is what I call the ‘Iceberg in IT’ conundrum.  Someone decided that people needed to collaborate more and told IT to implement a package that enables collaboration.  While a good software package is certainly a required step, I prefer to put it near last instead of first. 

Using the admittedly cliche and ubiquitous iceberg metaphor above, social software is simply the visible thing that enables collaboration to happen.  When IT is told to purchase it when there is no strategy to generate adoption, it will feel cold and barren [sorry - couldn't help it].  In order to truly affect how this can help people do their jobs there is a large amount of work that needs to done behind the scenes…hence the 7Cs of success:

• Capturing:  the notion of collaboration is foreign in many organizations so people often need to be shown what potential is there if they were to collaborate.  We always visit different geographic locations and capture [via video, audio, memory stick, etc.] what people are working on so that we can determine common topics and have some seed material to begin populating the software system.
• Connecting:  even software that’s designed to connect people will do little in that regard if left on its own.  People [especially when at the early phases] need some help connecting with one another – simple things like setting up bridge calls and facilitating conversations serve to build trust and awareness and provide nuggets of content that can be housed in the platform.
• Combining: in a dispersed organization you’re bound to find bits and pieces of similar work living in a great many places.  Helping the users combine that information using the wiki feature of a platform, for example, will show users the efficiency in working together while training them on what in the world a ‘wiki’ is.
• Contextualizing: the most effective collaboration initiatives will integrate members from an organization’s suppliers and customers and related academic institutions.  Translating that into compelling content that will make sense to your users will be critical in getting them to absorb and leverage it.
• Confirming:  similar to above, if you’re getting knowledge from various sources, care must be taken to ensure that what’s being provided is accurate information so that it can be acted upon.
• Circulating:  what good is the best information if no one knows about it?  The role of a community/network coordinator is essential in circulating news about what’s new, recent questions, etc.
• Communicating: having someone dedicated to getting the word out about the success stories in your knowledge network will go a long way in generating interest, excitement and ,of course, additional funds that will be necessary to continue operations.

Having an effective Web 2.0 collaboration platform at the center of this activity certainly will make it much easier to coordinate but the software alone [today's versions anyhow] will never replace the behind-the-scenes efforts required to start and sustain collaboration and innovation.

Here are some of the methods used at Orbitl RPM:

Knowledge Networks + Communities of Practice

Tips, best practices and insights already flow through most organizations.  Some of the informal interactions that happen around the proverbial water cooler are where the most useful information gets transferred.

It happens in the break room, out to lunch or via a response to an email question.  Orbital RPM adds strategy and structure to this informal organizational element that allows people to learn more from others.  We help cultivate knowledge networks and communities of practice, or groups of people who transfer their knowledge and insights with others in the same role or with the same objectives.  

For executives we offer membership in learning communities that are composed of other executives from similar but non-competing organizations.

For all other employees we specialize in cultivating knowledge networks and communities of practice as a forum for them to learn from others, develop their own solutions and add more value to their employer.  These groups may also include representatives from the organization’s value network.

Knowledge Transfer

NASA’s Lunar Program lost critical knowledge during the downsizing craze of the 1990s when Saturn 5 engineers were encouraged to take early retirement.  One NASA manager confided, “If we want to go to the moon again, we’ll be starting from scratch.  All of that knowledge has disappeared.  It would take at least as long and cost at least as much to go back.”

When people leave an organization, whether through retirement or before, an immense amount of experience, tips, and stories goes with them.  Proactive organizations are finding and sharing that knowledge before it’s gone.

Orbital RPM uses a process that captures and transfers the tacit knowledge that organizations need to avoid re-inventing the wheel, or in most cases, something much more sophisticated than a wheel.

Learning Histories

Knowledge networks tend to focus forward in order to address common issues and collaborate toward innovation.  This neglects the significant events in that group’s recent timeline that can provide content for budding networks as well as resources for knowledge transfer when network members move on. 

Where appropriate, a deliverable will be records (audio, video, text, etc.) of the lessons learned from past transformative events so that mistakes can be learned from and ideas advanced.

I recently returned from a trip to a client’s site in the Andes just outside Cajamarca, Peru.  We were there with an elusive mission…capture knowledge.  Can it get more vague?

As we plow further into an economy centered around knowledge and the exchange of it, this exercise will become much more commonplace (I predict) but for us we needed to explain to our client that in order to facilitate the exchange of tacit knowledge, first we had to be able to show some of it.

Of course tacit knowledge, by definition, can’t really be adequately captured so we were looking for things that would serve as the catalysts of conversation, as indicators that people around the globe in similar positions were facing like challenges and developing complementary solutions.

To accomplish this I brought along six tools:

1. Videocamera: probably the most important of them all.  The power of video cannot be underestimated as a means for transferring tacit knowledge, building relationships/trust and just providing a consistent (and quick) means of getting others up to speed on complex situations.
2. Camera: For situations where video wasn’t allowed or suitable a still camera was utilized.  It has similar benefits as a videocamera…just a slightly different application.
3. Audio recorder: This was used to capture the conversations we had with people.  It was a great resource for us to go back later and revisit our conversations and hear verbatim what the person was saying as well as their tone when saying it.
4. Flash drive: Not everything we encountered was tacit knowledge.  Explicit knowledge that was contained in documents and spreadsheets is certainly valuable as well and we were easily able to snag it via the USB drive.
5. Laptop: While technically not critical for capturing, my laptop served as peace of mind that we could download our loot from the day and know it was safely saved for later use.  It also allowed us to see our pics and videos from the day and refine our strategy for the following days.
6. External hard drive: This was also for peace of mind as well as video storage.  It’s a 500 MB durable drive that I dumped video into each night.  It’s nice b/c it didn’t take up space on my laptop and it can take a beating.

This was a great trip because it yielded many tangible (or at least viewable) examples of the knowledge that people had as well as what they were seeking.  This provided the foundation for several excellent conversations with our project sponsors – it’s nice to be able to transition from talking about things such as ‘knowledge workers’, the ‘knowledge economy’ and ‘knowledge transfer’ and show a video of real-life examples of this happening at one of their locations.

What tools have you used to capture the knowledge in your organization?

• Organizational Innovation Program
• Idea Campaigns for Specific Topics
• Crowdsourcing for Idea Generation

The result is an organization that enjoys a steady pipeline of ideas proactively targeting customer needs and improving business processes critical to organizational performance.  Be it operational excellence, new product development or process improvement – we incorporate all facets of the business.

• The Leader Ship
• Action Learning Programs
• Networked Leadership Assessments

The result is leaders that have the skills to lead your organization into the knowledge economy along with critical, tangible organizational improvements they have implemented while on their learning journey. Orbital RPM’s Leadership Development solution is built to integrate with broader Talent Management initiatives such as succession planning, retention or compensation programs.

Even better, the Gators won the basketball tournament last year as well.  One of the announcers Monday night explained what Billy Donovan (Florida’s head coach) had done in the months leading up to last night’s victory while in the shadow of last year’s win…

He talked to others that had done it too.  Bill Bellichick of the New England Patriots was a common confidante along with Rick Pitino – both of which have secured their back-to-back wins. 

Stellar coaches are not the only ones that can benefit from this tactic because this is how all people learn.  What opportunities are there in your organization to put people in contact with others that have been through what they are going through, that have solved the challenges they are facing or that are utilizing a similar strategy? 

This can be in the form of a full-blown community of practice or a simple introduction among peers that may just last through lunch. 

Leave it to me to find a parallel between this great acheivement in sports and informal learning but hey…it’s what I do. 

The question for March is:

 What would you do to support new managers?

Ray Sims was the first to post and proposed utilizing audio self-paced learning, coaching and a community of practice.  Ray is targeting two areas that have been proven to speed someone’s integration into a new role:

1. Quickly becoming part of a network
2. Relevant knowledge is distributed through-out a long period time

There is too much stuff for people to remember; especially when starting a new role.  Learning to me is about providing easy access to information at the time people need it.  Audio learning, coaching and a thriving community will certainly go a long way in providing muliple access points to the information a new manager will need.

I feel there is also room for another piece here as well.  If learning is about access to information, how do you ensure new managers will experience lasting change in skills, mindset or behavior?  Just as they develop at anything else…practice.

An integration period is a prime time for new managers to participate in an action learning project.  In an ideal world their groups would consist of other managers at various stages of their management career.  The initial sessions would immerse the new manager in activities to heighten self-awareness (i.e. a 360 degree assessment conducted in their former position, a Myers-Briggs or DISC report, a natural abilities test, etc.) after which participants list which areas in which they would like to develop.  Next, the managers are exposed to some foundational content (my favorites are Appreciative Inquiry and systems thinking) that will be the concepts to which they’ll be held accountable throughout the program.

A relevant, timely business challenge is presented to the participants and they are responsible for all data collection, solution design and execution.  All the while a learning coach acts as an embedded reminder to participants of their individual development goals as well as referring them back to concepts from the initial workshops.  Over the course of a few months participants present a solution to the business challenge.  Throughout the time they have been forced to reflect on their own behavior and new concepts via the action learning coach.

It is only through being made to apply the concepts that participants will be quicker to adopt any new behaviors, mindsets and skills needed to be a manager.  Along the way a cross-functional network of managers of varying tenure will be formed and provide a solid foundation for knowledge transfer and knowledge management.  This will also serve to support the overall company-wide community that Ray suggested.  As the grayer managers move on, relationships have formed and developed the infrastructure for the insights, experience and stories to be passed on to the newer managers.

This combination of learning and development create a killer combo for the rapid on-boarding of managers.  It’s not successful because the new-comers are going in to management roles, though.  It’s successful because the new-comers are human and that’s the way we learn and develop.

The beauty is that this is a foundation that can be tweaked for positions all throughout the organization – not just managers.