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Learning to Fly is inspirational. It encourages small scale beginnings just to get the process moving in the right direction.
Learning to Fly does what it says: you are encouraged and enabled to take part in knowledge sharing about Knowledge Management by visiting the Learning to Fly website and joining the discussion group [which used to be at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learning-to-fly Do you know if it has moved or ceased?]
Learning to Fly is summarised in six separate photocopiable pages which are also available at the Learning to Fly website.
Avoidance of jargon both within the book and in their practice - they do not even use the term 'Knowledge Management' even though that is what the book is about. Presumably they consider that the term gets in its own way.
Consistency and integrity - it all fits together. It is all thoroughly consistent with one or two key principles - a voluntary approach to Knowledge Management that is so enticing that it is hard to understand why anyone would not want to buy into it. It's even described as 'a lazy way of working' because you are encouraged to find solutions that already exist (rather than wasting time reinventing wheels).
It is grounded, readable and practical thanks to a brief story at the beginning of each chapter and a good sprinkling of quotes and brief examples of Knowledge Management principles in action.
The authors more or less admit that they are caught between a website design for the book (meaning that it includes a lot of cross-referencing and can be read in any order) and a book that can be read from beginning to end. I prefer books to be books and websites to be websites. I read the book from beginning to end and encountered repetitions that were really only needed for people reading it in a more haphazard website way.
I was disappointed by their choice not to include many examples from outside BP. Some more examples from other settings such as public and voluntary sectors and other kinds of business would help all readers to appreciate how these principles and tools can operate in other contexts.
I would have preferred a little more theory. Yes it does set out to be very practical but the only links to related theories are found briefly in the resources section at the end (just the books we have on our desks). Given the authors' enthusiasm for 'peer assists' it would be consistent to see more evidence of peer assists or peer acknowledgement (about Knowledge Management) within the text. The one exception is the US Army's After Action Review which has a high profile, but other approaches to Knowledge Management do not get a mention. (What about the connections with Appreciative Inquiry for example?)
'Tools' turn out to be mostly just a few basic questions even though there are a few ways of using graphics that are described and illustrated towards the end of the book.
It is interesting how willing everyone is to give help when the approach is right. The authors clearly believe that people really do like helping each other. When altruism shines back on the giver (as a recognition of their expertise) while also providing significant savings for the organisation as a whole, there are multiple reasons for creating and maintaining systems that encourage the sharing of knowledge.
The authors believe that everyone has expertise worth sharing. The challenge is to design systems and strategies that make people want to share that knowledge and seek the knowledge of others. Other approaches to Knowledge Management have failed to achieve these modest goals. Collison and Parcell have avoided using a top down approach, they have not made knowledge sharing compulsory and they have not offered rewards to encourage participation. Knowledge Management at BP has therefore become a ground up system in which people voluntarily take part as they learn about the benefits of doing so. They do use simple viral marketing such as email signatures to promote participation, but the principle of voluntary participation remains.
This knowledge sharing system works independently from other systems and structures at BP. I do not think the authors say as much, but the principles embedded in their own systems could easily have a wider influence within BP affecting attitudes to work and learning within the company.
Information Technology and Internet ideas clearly get quickly outdated. The principles remain highly relevant and the Learning to Fly website probably ensures that you can readily access and participate in discussion about the latest ways of using internet and intranet tools for Knowledge Management. This website service should help to make the book future proof.
This is Collison and Parcell's first book. They now run a consultancy practice outside BP. So maybe their follow up book will have a greater range of examples that more readily inspires those who work outside the oil industry.
Connections with reviewing
Learning to Fly is very much about reviewing. The authors' enthusiasm for After Action Reviews makes this connection clear. Learning to Fly is about learning from experience and sharing what is learned. Within the work environment it is clear that reviewing procedures should be regular, simple, timely and time efficient. The emphasis is on embedding reviewing into the culture of the organisation. When the learning is about technical know-how it is important to make the information readily accessible to those who need it. However, this is (in my view) very different to the kind of reviewing that helps people to learn about themselves as people, as workers, as managers, as team members, etc. This kind of reviewing is more personal, and it can take time to explore the ins and outs of human behaviour in ways that will help participants learn useful lessons from their experience and perform better at work. Reviewing for self-knowledge is different to reviewing for technical knowledge. Time and care is needed for unlearning old ways and learning new and better ways of working. It is true that regular brief reviews can assist all kinds of learning, but Learning to Fly is mostly about learning that is useful to the organisation
Recommendation
The 6 photocopiable pages are free-standing but you really need to read most of the other pages to get inspired and committed to go into action. Getting started with simple things is what the authors recommend. I have already made a start by using and recommending 'peer assists' for a group of which I am a member.
Learning To Fly: Practical Lessons from One of the World's Leading Knowledge Companies Chris Collison, Geoff Parcell |
Common Knowledge: How Companies Thrive by Sharing What They Know Nancy M. Dixon |
This review compares Common Knowledge with Learning to Fly.
They are both useful books for anyone with a serious interest in knowledge management. Both have tidy summaries for quick reference. Both draw on BP's experiences and both draw on the US Army's After Action Reviews. Given that there is quite a lot of overlapping content, you might save some reading time by reading just one of these books. Which one?
Common Knowledge is the one to go for if you want a broader view and more examples from different industries.
Common Knowledge also has a broader theory base and structures the book around five types of Knowledge Transfer: Serial Transfer, Near Transfer, Far Transfer, Strategic Transfer and Expert Transfer. This helps the reader to choose the most suitable strategies once they have identified the nature of knowledge transfer they want to happen. Each chapter concludes with a summary of the design guidelines for the particular transfer strategy. This does help the reader to choose appropriate strategies, but in practice there is much overlap between strategies.
According to Nancy Dixon, "Many organizations allot no time to debriefing a project team or reviewing a just completed event". The main question then becomes how can you persuade people/organizations to make debriefing and reviewing a higher priority? This question is considered in both books, but is given more attention in Learning to Fly - which focuses on strategies that encourage people to volunteer to take part in these processes. If your organisation is already committed to knowledge sharing, then Common Knowledge will give you ideas about how to do this more effectively. If you are trying to encourage people to put time aside for debriefing, reviewing or knowledge sharing, then Learning to Fly provides more ideas about getting people to buy in and join in. Both books provide impressive examples of the cost savings that can result from knowledge sharing - a key selling point in any organisation.
In just a few pages Nancy Dixon challenges three myths about knowledge sharing:
Learning To Fly: Practical Lessons from One of the World's Leading Knowledge Companies Chris Collison, Geoff Parcell |
Common Knowledge: How Companies Thrive by Sharing What They Know Nancy M. Dixon |
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