Knowledge Management
(Collison Parcell)

Knowledge Center

• About
• Home
• Dictionary
• Encyclopedia
• Question?
• Views

• Register
• Log in
• Help

• Change & Organization
• Communication & Skills
• Decision-making & Valuation
• Ethics & Responsibility
• Finance & Investing
• HRM
• Knowledge & Intangibles
• Leadership
• Marketing
• Program & Project
• Strategy
• Supply Chain & Quality

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

Contributed by: Chris Collison

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   Ways to Make Knowledge Capture Happen It seems to me that the most effective way to get ...           How to Design a Knowledge Transfer Template? What are the major issues that must be considered ...           Components of Knowledge Sharing Systems What are the essential components of knowledge sha...           Knowledge Management in Testing of Software Kindly can I have your ideas on how knowledge mana...           Knowledge to Use Knowledge Knowledge is found everywhere in organizations.           Knowledge Capturing Process and Methods Who can share a more detailed documentation on the...           The Value of Knowledge Sharing. The Proposition Knowledge is best conserved through knowledge shar...           The Impact of Knowledge Management in Value Creation At which precise stage is value created by means o...           Knowledge Management Social Capability Culture and people factors can be merged into Know...           Methods for Explicit Knowledge Creation What are the best methods or solutions to incorpor...           Technical Committees in Knowledge Management A tool to improve KM is a "Technical Committee" wi...           Global KM Acceptance KM is now globally accepted. In India and other ad...           Success Could Be your Failure? Make sure that your KM efforts are sustainable ove...           Are People ready to share? Very appropriately mentioned about the technology ...           Time Spent on Finding and Applying Knowledge A short article about a study of more than 200 kno...         Start a new topic

Knowledge Management Special Interest Group Special Interest Group

Knowledge Management Education & Events Find Trainings, Seminars and Events

Best Practices - Knowledge Management Premium   Social Networking for Knowledge Sharing All of you know the value of Facebook and Twitter ...           Conditions for Knowledge Management Everyone speaks about knowledge management, what a...

Expert Tips - Knowledge Management Premium   Barriers that Hinder Effective Knowledge Sharing According to Chris Collison, there are seven commo... Usage (application): Effective Knowledge Sharing, Pitfalls to Avoid, Knowledge Management Implementation       How to Identify and Map Knowledge In his article “Knowledge Mapping: The Essentials ... Usage (application): Knowledge Identification, Knowledge Capturing, Knowledge Storage       Positive Effects of Age Diversity on Company Productivity and (Tacit) Knowledge Sharing Backes-Gellner and Veen (2013) outlined the main a... Usage (application): Tacit Knowledge Transfer, Workforce Productivity, Incentive Management       Critical Activities to Build a Learning Organization Learning organizations are distinguished because t... Usage (application): Implementing Organizational Learning, Best Practices       Capturing Learned Lessons Knowledge from bad and good experiences will lead ... Usage (application): How to Capture Organizational Learning? Best Practices       How Culture Levels Explain Failures in Organizational Learning and Innovation Schein (as cited by Bertagni et al., 2010) tries t... Usage (application): Improving Organizational Learning, Organizational Innovation, Changing Organization Cultures       What are Smart Creatives? Traits To accommodate the strategic demands of the intern... Usage (application): R&D, Product Development, Service Development, Strategy, Innovation, HR, Career Management       People Development Approach for Successful Knowledge Management People play an important role in Knowledge Managem... Usage (application): Knowledge Management, Career Management, Talent Management, Employee Induction, Human Resource Development       Organizational Problems with Knowledge Workers Nowadays, many companies engage in a destructive c... Usage (application): Knowledge Intensive Organizations, Knowledge Management       Knowledge Management Scope Research by Deishin Lee (HBS) and Eric Van den Ste... Usage (application): Knowledge Management, Level of Know-how       Components of Learning Agility One of the critical factors for achieving organiza... Usage (application): Organizational Agility, Organizational Learning, Knowledge Management       Knowledge Management Focal Point Research by Deishin Lee (HBS) and Eric Van den Ste... Usage (application): Knowledge Management Focus

Resources - Knowledge Management Premium Management of Knowledge Workers Hans K, Hvide and Eirik G. Kristiansen study how c... Usage (application): Innovation, IPP, Litigation   Innovation and Knowledge Management Authors: Dr. Siddhan and Dr. Abdul Halam A pr... Usage (application): The Importance of Innovation and Knowledge Management   Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning An extensive presentation explaining both the conc... Usage (application): Models, Implementation, Overview, Examples   Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Sharing Preentation that is an introduction into the conce... Usage (application): Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, Knowledge Transfer   How to Improve Knowledge Sharing in Knowledge-intensive Organizations This presentation elaborates on the concept of kno... Usage (application): Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing Motivation, Knowledge Sharing Platform. Tacit Knowledge   Knowledge Management Systems Architecture This presentation is about knowledge development a... Usage (application): Knowledge Management, Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Systems, Knowledge Architecture   Overview of Existing Types of Knowledge This presentation provides an overview of the diff... Usage (application): Knowledge Management, Knowledge Types, Tacit, Implicit, Explicit, Declarative, Procedural Knowledge   Why Continuous Learning is Key to Your Life and Career 2015: FACEBOOK OR 12MANAGE? At the end ... Usage (application): Your Personal Growth and Development, Career Management   Introduction to Knowledge Management: Foundation Principles and Building Concepts 1. What is Knowledge? 1. What is Knowledge Ma... Usage (application): Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, Learning Organization   Introduction and Summary of SECI Knowledge Management Is utilizing tacit (the ... Usage (application): Initial Understanding of SECI. Start of workshop/training   E-knowledge networks The emergence of new technologies has increased th... Usage (application): Knowledge Management   Professor Evans Explains Why Fast Change Requires New Ways of Learning and Thinking In this historic video Action Learning Professor R... Usage (application): Action Learning, Coping with Change, The Need of Change, The Need for New Ways of Learning   How to Integrate Internal Organizational Knowledge with External Online Communities Due to many online and web-based technological dev... Usage (application): Knowledge Management, Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Sharing, Interaction, Knowledge in Organizations   Knowledge Management, Organizational Learning and Intellectual Capital Presentation about organizational knowledge, learn... Usage (application): Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management, Organizational Learning   Knowledge Sharing and Organizational Learning through Communities of Practices Knowledge management in Communities of Practice (C... Usage (application): Knowledge Sharing, Organizational Learning, Communities of Practices, Special Interest Groups   Three Levels of Knowledge Management According to Jury (2007), knowledge management can... Usage (application): Initial Understanding Knowledge Management, Organizational Learning   The Difference Between Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management Dr. Edward Rogers puts forth that organizational l... Usage (application): Initial Understanding of the Difference Between OL en KM   Knowledge Management Diagram Download and edit this 12manage PowerPoint graphic... Usage (application): Knowledge Management   Knowledge Transfer in the E-world This is a presentation about Knowledge Transfer (K... Usage (application): Knowledge Management, Knowledge Transfer, Internet, Intranet, E-Business, CRM     News about Knowledge Collison         News about Knowledge Management         Videos about Knowledge Collison         Videos about Knowledge Management         Presentations about Knowledge Collison         Presentations about Knowledge Management         Books about Knowledge Collison         Books about Knowledge Management         More about Knowledge Collison         More about Knowledge Management

Compare with Knowledge Management: Organizational Learning  |  Organizational Memory  |  Bridging Epistemologies  |  SECI model  |  Action Learning  |  Intellectual Capital Rating  |  Levels of Culture  |  People CMM  |  MAGIC

Return to Management Hub: Change & Organization  |  Communication & Skills  |  Human Resources  |  Knowledge & Intangibles

More Management Methods, Models and Theory