SharePoint as a Collaboration Tool

Since my last post, I had taken a brief hiatus to work on a few publishing projects and conference presentations and now I'm back and will be making more blog post over the next couple of weeks. During my brief hiatus I have heard about more about SharePoint (specifically SharePoint 2013) than I really want to know! So, this has prompted me to write about SharePoint as a collaboration tool and solicit the thoughts of my blog viewers on this subject.

CollaborationTool: SharePoint

At the majority of the clients I am working with, the SharePoint platform serves as the mechanism where collaboration takes place. In the SharePoint environment, collaboration sites such as wikis, discussion boards and blogs serve as ways teams share information and knowledge. Most teams have created team pages and document libraries where specific documents and other content (spreadsheets, images, video, PowerPoint presentation, etc.) are worked on and shared with specific members of the team.

Part of collaboration infrastructure on the SharePoint platform is the use of automated workflows. The automated workflows are leveraged to facilitate the maintenance of content (information and knowledge), which consist of creating, updating and review/approval of content before it is published in the knowledge base.

SharePoint 2013 offers a more robust platform (than previous versions) to connect and share with the people across your organization as they work on the myriad of problems and projects within the enterprise. The question remains is SharePoint the optimal tool within your organization to share knowledge? For those upgrading… are you convinced that SharePoint 2013 is the right solution for you? Finally what have been your challenges using, upgrading, or integrating with SharePoint?

Drinking the KM "Kool-Aid"

Many organizations have begun to understand the value and promise Knowledge Management (KM) can bring to their workforce. Delivering innovation through collaboration and sharing remain the cornerstones of KM. However, once your organization has established its KM Strategy, and/or rolled out it's initial KM offering (i.e., KM System, KM Process, Tools, etc.) what happens next? What happens next is the adoption process. Whether its a new process, procedure, or system; getting your workforce to leverage and use it in the course of executing activities and delivering on their task will be essential to your KM program's success. In order to achieve this there must be processes and vehicles in place to allow, encourage and reward staff members as they work within this new paradigm. It will not be easy. As with anything new it will take some time for adoption to occur. To move this along there must be KM supporters, mentors, and/or evangelist at all levels of the corporate infrastructure to encourage the workforce to "drink the KM Kool-Aid". In other words buy in and practice KM in all aspects of performing tasks and activities.
Developing an organizational culture of knowledge sharing, collaboration and lifelong learning should be the goals of any KM program. Organizations such as Fluor Corporation have been successful in infusing KM within it's culture. From human resource activities, to leveraging knowledge for strategic purposes to engaging with clients, Fluor remains an example of how KM can be leveraged effectively at an organization. Drinking the "KM Kool-Aid" is a slow and deliberate activity grounded in a basic KM process of Connect-->Collect-->Catalog-->Reuse-->Learn and Innovate. When practiced effectively this process will be a cornerstone to enabling the adoption of Knowledge Management throughout your organization. I am very interested in hearing comments on this subject as well as examples of how your organization has or suggestions or will adopt KM.

KM for Collaboration and Innovation

This blog post is centered around a conversation I had with Preston Simons, CIO of Abbott Laboratories during the National BDPA Technical Conference   in August. Our conversation was initiated from a question I posed to Mr. Simons concerning how Abbott was utilizing Knowledge Management (KM). At the heart of his response he mentioned how Abbott researchers were using KM as a collaboration and sharing mechanism to foster innovation and leverage similar research across the organization. Over the past couple of months, the idea of leveraging KM within the research areas of organizations came up several times in conversations with marketing, product owners, and technical colleagues at other organizations. The central theme here is that research areas are critical to new product creation and the speed to market for new products are essential to stay ahead of your competitors. KM plays a central role not only from the perspective of innovation by knowing what has been done and/or what is being done in other areas of research that can be utilized, but also from the collaboration and knowledge sharing among researchers contributing to the speed of new products to market.

To foster and support an environment of knowledge sharing and collaboration for researchers, KM offers a process of Connect -- Collect -- Catalogue -- Reuse -- Learn. This process is supported by several KM tools such as Communities of Practice (CoP), Wiki, white boarding and brainstorming tools, knowledge maps as well as knowledge Cafes. Instituting KM will uncover what you know, who knows it and facilitates the diversity of thought you need for innovation and speed to market.

One questions remains... What is your organization doing to assist researchers in fostering innovation and to speed these products to market? If you are not leveraging what KM will do for you I bet your competitors will!

Knowledge Management at Your Organization

Have you ever wondered what all the fuss is about concerning knowledge management (KM)? What is knowledge management anyway? At its core KM is about sharing and collaborating about what you know, capturing what you know, and reusing that knowledge as to not reinvent the wheel and/or to combine with other ideas to foster innovation. Recently I had the privilege to attend a KM meeting conducted by the APQC (APQC's January 2011 KM Community Call), which had representatives from Conoco Phillips, Fluor, IBM, GE and Schlumberger. What I came away from this meeting with is the need to have KM become part of an organization's culture. I believe that this is important because we do not want KM to be "another task to complete on the checklist", but the way we conduct business. This includes the business between the various individuals and entities within our corporations as well as with our customers. Talking, listening, capturing and applying what we learn from each other is a constant never ending and always evolving process.
I challenge all of us to take this attitude into our workplace and remember that when you share what you know you don't loose that knowledge, but rather you enhance that knowledge with the other individuals you share it with. Take a minute to review the slides from the APQC Jan 2011 KM Community Call as well as this video from YouTube Discover What You Know. Feel free to comment and share your knowledge!

Managing Time!

I recently read a blog post from Knowledge Jolt with Jack http://blog.jackvinson.com/ about how successful leaders manage time. I recently started working with a Virtual Assistant (VA)http://www.peppervirtualassistant.com/ company so that I can get a better grasp on managing my time more effectively. In looking for a virtual assistant I reached out to by fellow twitters and this collaboration lead to my VA selection.

In reaching out through social media I have found that this is NOW the most efficient and effective way to collaborate, and share knowledge as well as to market and expedite the flow of business. In effect web 2.0 tools such as twitter, facebook and linkedin when use effectively assist us in managing our time by getting our work done more effectively. The world of social media allows us to not ever feel like we are working alone. In fact we have an entire world of knowledgeable people ready to "pay it forward" by sharing their knowledge on a wide variety of topics. I can't way to see how we all will leverage web 3.0!

Knowledge Management in Healthcare

As the Obama Healthcare plan is being dissected by Politian's and the public alike, in order to stimulate innovation and bring down healthcare cost the federal government must leverage Knowledge management (KM). You may be asking yourself... How can we leverage KM to bring affordable healthcare to all Americans?

KM is about sharing know-how through collaboration, which includes the integration of systems to enable knowledge sharing. The knowledge being shared includes research, patient records, and doctor expertise. These collaborative work enviornments will bring more effective communication along with more responsiveness to patients. The following represent some links to information on leveraging KM in healthcare.

http://www.ikmagazine.com/xq/asp/sid.0/articleid.DDD4001B-931E-4375-8E64-EDD4D44D1000/eTitle.Your_Say_KM_in_the_healthcare_industry/qx/display.htm

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wbs/research/ikon/research/leanhealthcare/

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1560470

I welcome your comments and suggestions.