Sharing and learning: the ‘glue and grease’ of comms and (I)KM

The ‘glue and grease’ – what a horrible expression!!!

The glue and grease: sharing/learning (Credits: GaryPuppa)

 

The first time I heard a former colleague of mine use that expression to refer to the role of communication I didn’t like it either.

But I’ve got to say that until I find a better expression for it, it’s a pretty accurate description of what our (then) comms team was supposed to be to others: the glue that brings everyone together, and the grease that lets knowledge flow easily.

But the ‘glue and grease’ only happens when the sharing (and learning) in KM comes together with communication.

Not many organisations have a KM unit that covers knowledge sharing. Not many companies have a comms team that looks into the learning and sharing that true agile KM offers… In a typical (research for) development organisation, one finds a ‘comms’ unit that typically takes care of media contacts, press releases, corporate communication and public relations, and generally publications. It’s the ‘big mouth’ of an organisation. And then one finds a ‘KM’ unit which essentially is an information management unit taking care of databases and portals and all kinds of information systems etc. That’s the ‘legs’. But where are the hands and arms that join forces and the brains that connect all actions with intentions?

The glue and grease is the sharing and learning (not in a literal, respective manner). And it’s time to bring comms and KM together, to power comms with KM inside, to pay a central attention to processes of sharing and learning. So: what are you doing in your organisation or environment, to ensure there is this glue and grease?

And add that to your process literacy kit, please 😉

Related blog posts:

• Dotty dotted communication – can we avoid this please?
• Researching… good questions from wrong ideas
• Power your communication with ‘KM inside’
• Getting KM and comms accepted, valued and right – An interview for APQC
• Revisiting the links between communication and knowledge management
• Harvesting insights (6): A checklist of comms/KM functions in any development (research) organisation or initiative

Agile KM / development / facilitation and the fair of the year?

A short post as more of an update than anything else…

This ‘Agile KM for me and you…’ blog has been going on for over seven years and its focus remains on social change through learning and knowledge work generally. I added ‘agile’ at some point to my focus on KM, explained why I did that and also unpacked what agile KM meant in my view. And I keep that blogging practice to address all of this on this blog, every week if I can.

Interestingly, a very active conversation is taking place on KM4Dev right now about ‘Agile in international development‘ (link pending membership to KM4Dev – go do it, it’s a fabulous community of practice) which points to some of the benefits and dangers that I alluded to in previous posts about agile KM. Some reflections on this blog about the conversation later, as things are all boiling here right now!

Agile KM, agile (graphic) facilitation, all the in service of learning and change (Credits: Sambradd)

And then since quite a bit of my agile KM writing has also been dedicated to facilitating learning and change, I have decided to set up another blog which will complement this one: AgileFacil, where I will explore specifically agile facilitation. I have currently reblogged all my posts from this blog about facilitation there, and from now on any time I reflect on facilitation, it will be on this new AgileFacil blog. Go have a look and tell me what you think.

AgileFacil, inspired by several years of KM4Dev practice (Credits: unclear)

Facilitation is high up on my work agenda these days, as among others the last issue of the Knowledge Management for Development Journal is dedicated to ‘Facilitation for development. Concepts, practices and approaches to share, learn and improve outcomes for societal development, based in the experience of knowledge management for development practitioners.’ One of the articles there is a blog review (not including AgileFacil as it wasn’t publicised then) of the best blogs on facilitation and some excellent blog posts to understand what facilitation is, why do it and how. A great starting point.

Finally, facilitation, agile developement, learning and change are all among the many topics addressed in the upcoming AgKnowledge Innovation Process Share Fair (25-26 May in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), where a lot of KM4Dev friends and CGIAR comms & KM colleagues will converge, together with many other participants, for what is bound to be – certainly to me – the most interesting fair, and event, of this year in the world of agile KM.

Watch this space, and the ILRI Maarifa blog, as I hope I’ll be blogging profusely ahead of, during, and after that ‘fair of the year’ (and if you wonder what a share fair is and how to do it, check this article by Sophie Treinen et al. (FAO) from the latest issue of the KM4D Journal).

All neatly integrated, innit? That’s also agile for you 😉

Every *little* step you take is magic (well, it can be if it’s purposeful)

Celebrate every little step you take (Credits: RamMorrison / FlickR)

 

In the series ‘Breaking Bad‘, lab chemist Gale Boetincher once talks about the purity of the crystal meth he can cook, guaranteeing his mafia boss 96% purity, a “hard-earned figure” he is proud of. The purity of his competitor (and future partner series hero Walter White)’s crystal meth is 99%. As Boetticher puts it:

That last 3%, it may not sound like a lot, but it is. It’s tremendous. It’s a tremendous gulf.

Relatedly, the Pareto principle (explained here) evokes that 80% of the value of a nation comes from 20% of the population. And business analysts would like us to think that the same applies to organisations and even ourselves.

The point here is two-fold:

• Every step we take towards change is a hard-earned one;
• Not every step we take is productive, however.

Focus on your leapfrogging steps

Change is hard, so we might want to focus on the changes we think will really be game changers. And as explained in the link above, you can actually consider your whole life from an 80-20 rule perspective, and find out where the value is.

So reflect daily, weekly, monthly, yearly on what creates value, what will allow you to work smarter. Thanks to a dialogue I had with an online mate, I have made it a weekly practice to reflect on what steps I’ve taken that allow me to be more effective, smarter.

Purpose (Credits: Hustle-Grind)

Focus on outputs, and outcomes, not the activities and inputs you give. Focus on what creates effects, not what you are doing. Focus on others and how they become part of the effect, not just yourself.

Focus on your passion and on what makes you productive effortlessly. Find out where your purpose lies as the graph here shows.

And don’t compromise on reflection and on activities that also take your mind off the work. Sharpe your practice smarts toward the most essential and productive outcomes.

And earn every little step

And indeed remember that change is hard, even when you are willing to change.

But when it happens, it’s magical.

Whether it’s the fact that you are thinking differently about an issue and have basically evolved in your reflection.

Whether it’s that you are changing the language you are using, paying attention to very subtle distinctions that make a world of difference.

Whether it’s reflected in the way you act upon a situation differently.

Whether it’s connected to other people much more and your focus on change is actively embracing others.

Recognize, celebrate every one of these little steps. Dance to every step of the samba of change.

And on this musical note, finally, since the title of this post was inspired by two different tunes by The Police, have your shot at either/both of them.

Every breath you take…

Every little thing she does is magic…

Related blog posts:

• Agile KM from ‘SMART goals’ to ‘practice SMARTS’
• From evil-inflexible to fantastic-elastic, the not-so-simple shades of willingness to change
• The path to wisdom is paved with effectiveness, focus, humility and empathy