© 2006 CIBIT

Improving business

excellence with knowledge

management

Rob van der Spek

Managing consultant

Workshop on knowledge management Repsol YPF

18th of October 2006

rob.van.der.spek@dnv.com

+31-6-54781900

Disclaimer:

CIBIT has been acquired by DNV in 2006 and KM

services are delivered by DNV since 1st of Jan

2010.

For more information: see

www.dnv.com/knowledgemanagement

© 2006 CIBIT 2

CIBIT Consultants | Educators

Active in Europe in the area of knowledge management since 1988

Consultant and topic expert to Several multi-national companies (Corus, Siemens AG, Shell, Unilever, British

Nuclear Group, SKF, Sara Lee / Douwe Egberts, Heineken, FIAT)

Governmental agencies

European Commission

European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM)

Master classes in the Netherlands, UK, Germany, Italy and Taiwan Core: building the business case for knowledge management

For more information: see

www.dnv.com/knowledgemanagement

© 2006 CIBIT 3

Agenda

What are the objectives of knowledge management?

What are critical success factors?

How to organize knowledge management?

© 2006 CIBIT 4

No 1 asset in a knowledge based economy

Employees which learn as fast as possible,

apply learning’s in action, improve their skills and

continuously improve the performance of the company

© 2006 CIBIT 5

Achieving business excellence through

effective knowledge management

Learn from the things you do and improve your operations

fast and effective

Learn from your customers, partners & competitors and

innovate in a smart way

Share your knowledge across operations and leverage your

performance globally

Ensure that your employees have the right skills and can

access all available people and information they need to

build these skills

© 2006 CIBIT 6

Costs of ignorance?

1. Costly mistakes are duplicated because earlier ones were not

recorded or analysed

2. Good ideas and best practices are not shared which raises overall

costs in the company

3. 1 or 2 key employees hold crucial knowledge and continuity of

operations is at risk

4. Work is redone because people are not aware of activities, projects

in the past

5. Customer relationships are damaged because knowledge is not

available at the point of action

6. The company learns too slowly which results in delayed product

development or missed opportunities

7. Employees become frustrated because they cannot find

information or knowledgeable people

© 2006 CIBIT 7

KM in action? Three types of initiatives!

Create

Corporate Memory

(content)

Create Communities

of practice and

networks

Create

capabilities

Knowledge

management

© 2006 CIBIT 8

Key Success Factors of knowledge

management initiatives

Clear focus:

Which capabilities are crucial to our business strategy?

Which costs of ignorance should be avoided?

First-class infrastructure

ÍT and processes that enable

your employees to work together and share information

Leadership:

Stimulate and recognize contribution of employees in

sharing and re-using experiences

© 2006 CIBIT 9

Knowledge management is not a goal in

itself!

KM is a instrument to achieve business excellence

It should create bottom-line results

The leaders in the field of Knowledge

Management:

Use KM to improve Key Performance Indicators

(financial results, client satisfaction, added value)

Use structured approaches to identify crucial knowledge

areas, their strengths and weaknesses

Integrate business planning and knowledge

management

© 2006 CIBIT 10

Drivers for benefits

Revenues

Market share

Time to market

Continuity

Reduced avoidable

failure costs

Enhanced quality of

decision making

Pro-active capability

planning

Corporate

performance

Process and product

improvements

KM actions

and instruments

11

Core Questions: given our strategy…

What should be our core capabilities?

Do we ensure and safeguard our core capabilities in our company or value chain?

Can we still deliver in the future?

Where are our main risks in capabilities?

Is our core knowledge codified?

Do we have protocols, best practices, standard ways of working, frameworks, templates?

Are these resources available and accessible for all?

Do we have networks that take care for knowledge development and sharing?

Do we involve people across our operations?

© 2006 CIBIT 12

First-class Infrastructure

Processes

Connecting people across the company

Content management

(ICT) -tools

Communication tools via Intranet

Search facilities to find communities, people, documents and

other relevant sources

Structure and roles

People who facilitate teams and individuals in building

capabilities and improve their ways of working

© 2006 CIBIT 13

Communities of Practice

Communities of Practice are a major tool for

companies to create knowledge sharing platforms

between people

Companies use Communities of Practice for:

Cross-operational sharing of knowledge and good practices

Solve local problems by tapping in global knowledge

Create new knowledge

Develop tools, methods and frameworks

© 2006 CIBIT 14

Role of IT

Though many authors argue that IT is not the most

important enabler for KM,

When the best efforts are taken into account it shows that the

majority of best efforts make strong usage of IT.

Good IT-tools are no less then expected but not

enough.

Now hot: web-blogs, Wikipedia

It is much easier to deliver good results with

passionate and committed people and sub-optimal IT-

tools then the other way around.

© 2006 CIBIT 15

Leadership and motivation

What makes employees learn

From their own experiences?

From the lessons from the past?

From other disciplines?

From other communities?

From other cultures?

What stimulate employees to make their learning’s

accessible?

For the future?

For their peers?

For other communities?

© 2006 CIBIT 16

Cultural and motivational issues

The main cultural and motivational barriers are:

Pressure on short-term results

Governance model which emphasises on local results instead

of company-wide performance

KM is perceived as a corporate initiative and not a tool which

can help local operations to improve

Not-invented-here syndrome

‘Knowledge is power’

© 2006 CIBIT 17

Tactics to deal with cultural and

motivational issues

Demonstration of impact on performance at the work

floor (what’s in it for them?)

Involvement of employees (what do they need?)

Good ICT-tools which really help employees

Repeated communication what the company would like

to achieve

© 2006 CIBIT 18

Competency building

People should be trained and coached in applying KM

principles as part of their job

How to collaborate in a multi-national company?

How to participate in global communities?

How to use the corporate intranet?

How to perform an effective Brainstorm, sharing session,

After-Action Review, evaluation meeting?

How to transfer learning’s to peers in other operations, other

communities, other cultures?

© 2006 CIBIT 19

Organisation of KM

Most KM initiatives were started

By a small team of pioneers creating awareness, starting

pilots and convincing management.

Successful pilots are used to communicate the “business

case’ and potential benefits.

Companies who have expanded their KM activities

Have a core team which is multi-disciplinary, networked within

the company and strongly business oriented.

They facilitate local operations, share their insights within the

network of ‘knowledge managers’, and act as internal

consultant and change agents.

© 2006 CIBIT 20

Clear communication

Be clear on costs and benefits of KM

State what you would like to achieve and how it fits in the

strategy

Do not sell cheap

Real KM activities, which create sustainable benefits, require

investments.

Theories on KM should be limited,

Focus should be on the success stories, anecdotes and

personal impressions of managers and employees.

Show the employees that their contribution is

important for the company.

© 2006 CIBIT 21

© 2006 CIBIT 22

Summary

Knowledge management can help Repsol YPF to

reduce the costs of ignorance and improve its

performance

Requires:

Clear focus on your core capabilities and opportunities / risks

involved

First-class infrastructure for employees to share information

and collaborate across operations

Leadership and commitment to employees who are willing to

share their experiences with others