by Allison Davies, Head of Program Development for the Knowledge Management Institute of Canada
and Blake Melnick, CEO and Chief Knowledge Officer for the Knowledge Management Institute of Canada
with contributions from cohort students Stephen Cohos and Mike Dyman
In previous posts, Blake and Allison described the initial concepts in our pilot course on Knowledge Management and Workplace Innovation, some of the issues and insights from course learning activities and the Design Challenge provided by WINCan’s workplace partners at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. In this final post in the series, two workplace learners from the course reflect on their experiences, followed by reflections from Allison and Blake on one aspect of their ‘learning to be surprised’ experience as facilitators.
Reflections by Two Workplace Learners (Stephen and Mike)
In the following excerpts from the Q & A transcript, two workplace learners in our initial cohort in the KM and Workplace Innovation online course reflect on their experiences. Stephen Cohos is a “curious structural engineer” for environmentally sustainable design at Entuitive (Calgary AB) and Mike Dyman is a Senior Engineer in space robotics hardware and services with MDA (Brampton ON).
The interview was undertaken to solicit feedback about the challenges of collaborating within a distributed workplace environment, and about the connection between Knowledge Management and Innovation. The interview was conducted and by Allison Davies, Program Coordinator at KMIC.
On Working within Distributed Environments
Did you enjoy working within a distributed work environment? What were some of the advantages? What were some of the challenges that arose while working within that type of environment? How would you advise others to navigate being innovative within distributed work environments? What do you think are some of the skill sets that are required to achieve this?
“Working in a distributed environment was not a totally new thing for me, but it is not my typical day-to-day workplace experience. Personally, I find it more challenging than a traditional face-to-face environment as I find it difficult to make the instant connection with the people on the other side. I found that it takes more effort by all parties to connect, learn about each other, and trust each other. The traditional human connection is missing in those early days and the team needs to find a way to build rapport. On the positive side, there is no discrimination or judgment of the person, just the ideas. I can see that being an advantage to traditional workplaces where you see "old school 'boys club' mentality, however, your written communication skills have to be on point. You have to be able to convey your message in writing, which can be difficult or unclear. Good writing skill is a must. As well, approaching the online workplace with a curious mindset can help with engagement”
What do you believe are key success factors for driving innovation within the distributed workplace environments?
“The Key success factors are:
The ability to communicate in the written word and the ability to use of links and online sourcing
Curiosity
Being able to connect with people (build trust) within a digital environment”
On KM and Workplace Innovation
Can you talk about the mindset required to be innovative within workplace settings?
“Innovation in the workplace comes from dissatisfaction with what currently exists or how processes are currently done. I find the most inspiration by looking at tools, processes, failures in the workplace, noticing that there is room for improvement, and then figuring out a better way to achieve that same goal. Notice the little things, be curious, ask questions, take risks”
What do you believe is the relationship between KM and innovation? - How does a deeper knowledge of KM principles and practices, help foster the capability for innovation?
“Understanding how knowledge is acquired, stored, and passed along is key to innovation. We all look at the world through our individual lived experience. If we can share that lived experience with others, often we can find connections through a shared lived experience. Innovation occurs when we can change a shared experience (of hundreds to hundreds of thousands of people) from a negative one to a positive one. All the great inventions (light bulb, Iphone, airplane) created a massive change experiential change for a large number of people”
What role do you believe Knowledge Building Principles and Design Thinking could play in workplace settings and the success of workplace innovation?
"Honestly, if a business sees value in KBP and DT, I believe they will see tangible change in their workplace. The principles are a guide to success, you just have to commit to them”
What is your most important takeaway that you can offer to individuals who may be new to workplace innovation?
“Open your mind, explore the unknown. Be courageous”
Reflections by the Course Facilitators (Blake and Allison)
In the Gig Economy the ability to work in distributed, virtual teams is a critical competency required by both students and employees. While virtual learning has been around for many years, very few people have ever taken a virtual, online course and even fewer have extensive experience doing collaborative, outcome -based work within these environments.
As more and more organizations are moving to Results Based Management Models allowing them to attract the best talent regardless their geographical location, employees and students now have the opportunity to “work and learn from anywhere”. This is a fundamental mind shift for organizations, but it also requires employees and students to think, learn, and work differently.
Observations and feedback from the Knowledge Management Institute of Canada’s recent prototype program for WINCan, “KM and Workplace Innovation” indicated that working within distributed environments can be a challenge, particularly for those with no prior experience. The challenges identified tend to fall into the following categories:
Trust/Courage - The lack opportunity to build typical personal relationships which result from face to face interactions; the courage and the willingness to contribute unfinished personal ideas into a public space for comment and criticism; Consideration of ideas from others, which stand in contrast to one’s own; a willingness to entertain multiple perspectives in order to improve ideas and advance collective knowledge towards the achievement of a common goal.
Communication Proficiency - The ability to represent ideas coherently and in multiple ways (visual, written) and the willingness to constantly revise and reframe these ideas as a result of new knowledge and for the purpose of promoting understanding by others.
Technology Proficiency- Collaborative, virtual environments have very different functionality when compared to the more familiar communication tool of email. It takes time for students to shift their mindset from working with tools such as email to working in environments, which contain multiple tools to support ideation and outcome-based collaboration.
Accommodation - Making room for, and contributing to, advancing the ideas of others as well as expressing ideas of your own.
Commitment - assuming personal responsibility for setting aside time for reading, contributing and advancing knowledge of the community on a daily basis.