Knowledge Delay Strategy

The idea of knowledge delay or storage can be a difficult one to deal with. Although it is something that we do from birth, it isn’t often that we are encouraged to sit back and reflect on just how we hold onto and manage this stock of personal capital. In the following sections I offer a number of ideas that might help you to move down this road and think about how you can effectively manage your ability to store and retrieve knowledge on demand. The key questions are:

· How effective is my memory as a storage system?

· How do I use systems to retain information?

· What impact do emotions have on my storage capability?

· Do I store knowledge in partnership with other people?

This question might seem relativity easy to answer, but in reality they underpin your entire capacity to create a market value. Consider any management meeting that you have recently attended. The session was probably full of ideas, questions, challenges and emotional learning. Now think about how much of that knowledge was actually taken away and translated into something with real market value. In my experience up to 90% of all ‘potential’ knowledge created in a team or organisation is lost because of poor or missing processes to capture and harness the knowledge. Unless we ask these types of questions and make the delay process explicit then we are not capturing capital for future exploitation.

FLUID, FIXED OR FIRM

The purpose of this stage in the model is to consider how we store, retain and reuse knowledge that has been stockpiled for later use. The matrix considers primarily the human or fluid aspect of storage, there is also the issue of fixed storage – i.e. logging information on paper, in a system or even on a clay tablet.

The delay process can be considered in three ways: Fluid; Fixed and Firm. Although this offers a slightly simplistic view of the asset categories, it does help to understand how we structure and manage our knowledge.

Fluid - The elements of knowledge that are contained within our hearts and minds and leave when we leave the business. It might be personal experience accumulated over a number of years in the business, or a long-term relationship cultivated with a customer. Sometimes it can be shared knowledge that has yet to be coded into the organisation’s systems and processes. This might be an idea that a person has submitted, but has been excluded or lost in the internal system. The bottom line is that if the person leaves, so does the knowledge.

Fixed - These are knowledge elements retained when an individual leaves. Once knowledge is locked in the system as coded information, it can be seen as hard capital. It is available for anyone in the company to make use of it, irrespective of the originator's presence. Such examples might be coded software, product upgrades or business proposals.

Firm – This is knowledge that sits between the fixed and fluid model in that it has a dependency on both elements. This might be the unique sound that is produced from a musical genius playing a quality instrument. Individually each of the elements can perform to a satisfactory degree, but in bringing the two together, there is an added presence, a synergy that enhances the levels of knowledge. Conversely, the knowledge might only be available when two separate elements are brought together, like the need for two opposing polarities to generate an electrical current. An example might be where an individual has independently created a database. Anyone else who attempts to use it will not be able to extract the information, because they do not have an intimate appreciation of the system’s architecture.

It often boils to one of three choices, the fluid option, whereby you hold it inside yourself; the firm option, where you partially codify the knowledge, but record in a system that is personal to you; or you can take the fixed option and hard code it into a system, process or report.

No one delay process is right, as the decisions around this stage will be depend upon the content of the knowledge and the context in which it is being stored. However, they do come with various risks for both you and the organisation you work with. The fluid choice keeps power with the knowledge owner and allows you to leverage personal gain from the asset base. However, the risk for you is that you might forget it and the risk to organisation is that when you walk out the door so does the personal capital. The second option might be that you make a rough note in a diary or log book. This gives you the security that it will be easier to recall at a later date, but you are starting to hand over control of the capital of the knowledge, especially if the log book system is owned by another person or company. The final option is to opt for the fixed storage. Whilst this guarantees the information will be there for others to access (unless password protected), it can reduce your capital value and reduces your personal market value.

Although there is no right answer for this conundrum – there might be a right question. If you are originating knowledge and publishing this as information for others to see, then ensure that the ideas offered in the delivery section of the book are considered. Ensure that you receive the reward that that you believe is appropriate. Although the delay stage is concerned with storage, by virtue of the fact that your knowledge has been codified and make open, you might be at risk of delivering market value for little market return.

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(c) Mick Cope

	Fluid - The elements of knowledge that are contained within our hearts and minds and leave when we leave the business. It might be personal experience accumulated over a number of years in the business, or a long-term relationship cultivated with a customer. Sometimes it can be shared knowledge that has yet to be coded into the organisation’s systems and processes. This might be an idea that a person has submitted, but has been excluded or lost in the internal system. The bottom line is that if the person leaves, so does the knowledge.
	Fixed - These are knowledge elements retained when an individual leaves. Once knowledge is locked in the system as coded information, it can be seen as hard capital. It is available for anyone in the company to make use of it, irrespective of the originator's presence. Such examples might be coded software, product upgrades or business proposals.
	Firm – This is knowledge that sits between the fixed and fluid model in that it has a dependency on both elements. This might be the unique sound that is produced from a musical genius playing a quality instrument. Individually each of the elements can perform to a satisfactory degree, but in bringing the two together, there is an added presence, a synergy that enhances the levels of knowledge. Conversely, the knowledge might only be available when two separate elements are brought together, like the need for two opposing polarities to generate an electrical current. An example might be where an individual has independently created a database. Anyone else who attempts to use it will not be able to extract the information, because they do not have an intimate appreciation of the system’s architecture.