Knowledge Management
(Collison Parcell)

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Learning, capturing, sharing and exploiting of knowledge, experience and good practices. Explanation of Knowledge Management of Collison and Parcell. ('01)

What is the Knowledge Management approach of Collison and Parcell? Description

The Knowledge Management method from Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell is a framework that can be used for learning, capturing, sharing and exploiting knowledge, experience and good practices.

Knowledge Management is an oxymoron – nobody can really manage an asset which resides in the heads of employees, and is shared primarily through conversation.

What you can do, though, is: to manage the environment in which knowledge can be created, discovered, captured, shared, distilled, validated, transferred, adopted, adapted and applied. To create business value.

For creating an environment within which knowledge rapidly flourishes we need:

The right conditions. A common reliable infrastructure and an organization that is willing to be entrepreneurial.
The right means. A common model, tools and processes for learning.
The right actions. Where people instinctively seek, share and use knowledge.
The right leadership. Where learning and sharing is expected and role-modeled.

The methodology provides a number of tools, interventions and facilitation techniques to help organizations to learn before, during and after activities.
The benefits from these learning interventions can be multiplied if they are shared more widely as good practices – either through people-networks (communities), or through the capture and codification into regularly updated “knowledge products”.

Origin of the Knowledge Management method by Collison and Parcell. History

Originally derived by the knowledge management team of BP in 1998 from good practices in the US Army and other learning organizations, the methodology was published in 2001 in the book “Learning to Fly, lessons from one of the world’s leading knowledge companies”, Collison & Parcell. Once published, the methodology produced a community of practice – now in excess of 700 people from a wide variety of public and private sector organizations. In 2005 a new version of “Learning to Fly” was published to demonstrate the transferability of the approach, carrying stories of application from ten other organizations. Applications range from the United Nations to De Beers, from the BBC to primary schools in New South Wales. Elements of this knowledge management approach can be found today in a large number of organizations and business schools. Including Henley and Cranfield Management Schools.

Usage of the Knowledge Management framework by Collison and Parcell. Applications

Preventing wheel reinvention, particularly in large, international organizations.
Accelerating the integration process following an acquisition or merger.
Identifying, capturing and sharing good practice in organizations.
Dealing with cultural barriers that hold back organizations – e.g. “Not invented here”
To build, nurture and support networks and communities of practice.
Creating a culture of continuous improvement and learning.
Involving leadership in the right behaviors to reinforce knowledge-sharing.

Steps in this Knowledge Management method. Process

See the diagram on the right.

People and teams agree on a set of goals. Then they use knowledge to deliver against their targets, ultimately creating value. Where do you begin to intervene with knowledge management?
Focus on the "Using Knowledge circle". What if you could inspire your organization to learn before, during and after any significant activity. Simple learning processes like assisting a colleague, retrospects (post project reviews) and after action reviews make their contribution here, and help to elicit new knowledge - knowledge which would have remained in the heads of the individuals concerned.
All this learning activity needs to be connected to some kind of "knowledge bank". If you want to learn before doing, you will want to make a withdrawal. And when you have learned lessons which you want to contribute, you'll need to make a deposit.
That's where the ability to capture and distil knowledge becomes important. But that's not the whole story. It is impossible to capture everything, so it's important to link the people and network who hold key knowledge and insights, and to encourage them to own and update any knowledge which is made explicit - captured as information.
The environment or culture within your organization surrounds the model, which is critical to get started and sustain knowledge-sharing. This will be reflected in the right leadership behaviors, and the way in which Knowledge Management becomes embedded into core processes so that ultimately it becomes an "unconscious competence".

Strengths of this Knowledge Management framework. Benefits

Delivering more, from less! Isn’t that what is being asked of all of us?
Improve identification and transfer of good practices.
Learning and improving leading to faster cycle times in product development and continuous improvement.
Preventing the repetition of mistakes, and wheel-reinvention.
To identify and overcome a not invented here culture.
To improve the level of sharing and take-up of new ways of working.
Credible approach. Proven in BP and a wide range of organizations, ranging from primary schools to corporate giants, from the UN to agile, networked non-government organizations.

Limitations of the Knowledge Management philosophy by Collison and Parcell. Disadvantages

Requires a willingness to deal with the underlying culture and process issues – it's not just a technology quick fix – it's a holistic approach.
Easier to demonstrate the immediate benefits in larger, distributed organizations. Although benefits are there for SMEs too.
Deceptively simple.
Knowledge management is often misunderstood by technology vendors peddling information management technology. There may be some management preconceptions to overcome.

Assumptions of Knowledge Management. Conditions

Organizations achieve benefits if they work more effectively and efficiently.
Companies that provide time-based services to clients may have to look more closely at where value is created to derive benefits from better management of knowledge.

Book: Collison & Parcell - Learning to Fly -

See also: Chris Collison's website

Knowledge Management Forum

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Components of Knowledge Sharing Systems
"What are the essential components of knowledge sharing systems in an organization?"

Social Networking for Knowledge Sharing
"All of you know the value of Facebook and Twitter these days. Have you ever thought of such social network within the organization where all can share their work related knowledge and also share pe..."

Knowledge Management in Testing of Software
"Kindly can I have your ideas on how knowledge management can be used in software testing? Many thanks."

Knowledge to Use Knowledge
"Knowledge is found everywhere in organizations. A successful organization has knowledge on how to use pertinent knowledge spread over different heads for the benefit of the organization.
O..."

Knowledge Capturing Process and Methods
"Who can share a more detailed documentation on the knowledge capture process and methods?"

Knowledge Sharing Proposition
"Knowledge is best conserved through knowledge sharing."

The Impact of Knowledge Management in Value Creation
"At which precise stage is value created and how can this opportunity be leveraged in sustaining firm's overall competitive advantage?"

Knowledge Management Social Capability
"Culture and people factors can be merged into Knowledge Management Social Capability, and technology and leadership factors can be merged into Knowledge Management Process."

Methods for Explicit Knowledge Creation
"What are the best methods or solutions to incorporate SECI knowledge into explicit (information) knowledge for daily use of management in organizations."

Value of Knowledge Management
"Knowledge management is a multi-dimensional exterior – a spark so to speak with many components - this “innovative”, “process “and/or “development” of this “tacit” and “explicit” knowledge that..."

Effects of Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Management.
"Knowledge sharing should be encouraged in organizations as it helps to reduce cost and also to reduce repetitive mistakes."

Technical Commitees in Knowledge Management
"A tool to improve KM is a "Technical Commitee" with employees from different processes in the company. This committee has the responsibility to develop and improve processes and products. All informat..."

Global KM Acceptance
"KM is now globally accepted. In India and other advanced countries for last 2-3 years, there has been a sea-change in terms of accepting KM seriously. If you look at the companies who make superior us..."

Conditions for Knowledge Management
"In the third world now everyone speaks about knowledge managment, what are the conditions that must be met? Why? Thank you."

Success Could Be your Failure?
"Make sure that your KM efforts are sustainable over the long run. Once you have proven successes, you will have plenty of people knocking at your door. Do not commit to more than you can handle. Here..."

Are People ready to share?
"Very appropriately mentioned about the technology vendors. In my last 10 years of working on KM, I agree that culture is a limitation. If people are ready to share, only then can technology benefit."

Time Spent on Finding and Applying Knowledge
"A short article about a study of more than 200 knowledge workers by Al Jacobson and Laurence Prusak (HBR Nov 2006) indicates that 20% of all time is spent on finding information, and 80% on eliciting,..."