Using Expertise - The Story So Far

Matt MooreInnotecture

November 2009

Our purpose

Human expertise critical to organisations (if we believe management rhetoric)...

...and yet very little research carried out on how organisations manage this expertise (or fail to).

Joint project between Straits Knowledge in Singapore (Patrick Lambe & Edgar Tan) & Innotecture in Sydney (Matt Moore).

Our methods

Narrative collection & sense-making (based on Cognitive Edge).

i. Blog for collecting & sharing stories.

ii.Workshops with anecdote circles & archetype/issue extraction (outputs available on wiki).

Online survey.

All outputs are publically available under CC.

Narrative

Blog

http://usingexpertise.blogspot.com/ Seeded with stories from previous projects. Responses from all over the world (Singapore,

USA, Australia, UK, India). Supplemented with anecdotes collected in

workshops. 180+ stories so far. Some commenting. Press interest (Australian Financial Review).

Workshops

5 workshops completed so far: Melbourne, Australia Canberra, Australia Sydney, Australia Dubai, Washington DC, USA

15-40 participants per workshop Happy to do more (just pay for travel)

Anecdote circle

8-20 people per circle, 45-90 mins Focusing question – e.g. “Can you remember a

time when you saw expertise being valued – or not?”

Guide participants away from generalised opinions or facts – otherwise sit back and let them talk.

Starts slowly but difficult to stop.

Sensemaking

Stick stories on the wall - from participants and other sources (e.g. blog).

Ask participants to identify characters & incidents -then apply adjectives.

Remove adjectives & ideas then mix. Create archetypes & challenge statements. http://usingexpertise.wikispaces.com/

Role Knowledge

Role Knowledge

Relational KnowledgeRelational Knowledge

ExperienceExperience

Technical KnowledgeTechnical

Knowledge

SkillSkill

MemoryMemory

Know-how

Templates, procedures, routines, practice, OJT

Know-who

Directories, introductions,networking, trust-building

Can-do

Training, coaching, practice

Remember-why

Documentation habits, storytelling, team-based working

Can Diagnose and Decide

Repeated and improving practice, career planning, placements, OJT, mentoring, shadowing, cognitive task analysis

Know-what

Training, study, qualifications

What do we need to retain?

Source: Patrick Lambe

The long tail of expertise

1

23

1. Functional expertise

2. Technical expertise

3. Special expertise

Risk Factors

• Solo, not social• Infrequently applied• Memory-based, highly

contextual• High impact (risk/cost)• Absence not

immediatelydetectable

Risk Factors

• Solo, not social• Infrequently applied• Memory-based, highly

contextual• High impact (risk/cost)• Absence not

immediately detectable

Survey

Background

Web-based (Surveymonkey). Promoted through emails lists (e.g. actKM, SI

KM Leaders, KM4Dev). 132 responses so far. Australia & US heavily represented. Significant responses from those in non-

commercial (government, development, NFPs), services firms (consulting & law) and education.

Respondants predominantly KM, IM, L&D, HR or IT.

How critical is expertise/experience to your organisation's survival? 0 = no importance, 5 = critical.

2%4%

2%

4%

28%

61%

0

1

2

3

4

5

Has a failure to manage or access expertise ever led to an operational failure in your organisation? Please give examples where relevant.

29%

2%

29%

40%

No, not that I know ofYes, catastrophic - organisa-tion-wide failureYes, major - significant fi-nancial and/or reputational lossYes, minor - some incon-venience to customers or staff

Does your organisation have a risk mitigation strategy to protect against loss of experience/expertise?

13%

52%

30%

6%

Don't knowNoPartiallyYes

Role Knowledge

Role Knowledge

Relational KnowledgeRelational Knowledge

ExperienceExperience

Technical KnowledgeTechnical

Knowledge

SkillSkill

MemoryMemory

Know-how

Templates, procedures, routines, practice, OJT

Know-who

Directories, introductions,networking, trust-building

Can-do

Training, coaching, practice

Remember-why

Documentation habits, storytelling, team-based working

Can Diagnose and Decide

Repeated and improving practice, career planning, placements, OJT, mentoring, shadowing, cognitive task analysis

Know-what

Training, study, qualifications

What do we need to retain?

Source: Patrick Lambe

Which aspects of expertise are valued in your organisation and how strongly? You only need to choose the relevant ones.

Technical knowledge

Skill in performing specialist tasks

Memory of why things are done certain ways

Experience, ability to improvise

Know-who, strong networks

Role knowledge, know-how for particular jobs

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

LowMediumHigh

Score the importance of the following expertise/experience challenges for a current or previous organisation, 0 = no importance, and 5 = critical importance

Getting accessBuilding expertise

Retirement lossRestructuring loss

Poaching lossExperts slowing innovation

Environment change

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

543210

25

Participative research project:

“Using and leveraging expertise in organisations”http://usingexpertise.blogspot.com

Organised by Patrick Lambe Straits Knowledge www.straitsknowledge.com and Matt Moore of Innotecture http://innotecture.wordpress.com

Take our “Managing Expertise” Survey!

http://tinyurl.com/expertisesurvey