by Patti Anklam
A few years ago, it was my privilege to meet Adrian (Zeke) Wolfberg, from the Defence Intellligence Agency (DIA). I met Zeke through the Network Roundtable at the University of Virginia, and I co-authored an article with Zeke that described how he used social network analysis in his initial efforts to establish a “knowledge lab” at the DIA (see Creating Networks at the DIA). I was committed to write a story about the social network analysis part of his work, but what really amazed me at the time was the way that Zeke had (single-handedly) put in place a program that would lead to the DIA’s transformation.
Zeke has now written an article for Inside Knowledge about the genesis of the Knowledge Lab and the work that he has been doing for Inside Knowledge magazine. You can download a PDF of the article (the first of two parts) here. It’s note-worthy not just because it’s another example of some of the fine knowledge management work being done in the U.S. military, but it also shows how much can be accomplished using a network and building on the the insights and best practices learned from others.
The Knowledge Lab has only one employee — Zeke — who initially ran the program with only volunteer staff from within the agency and even now, four years later, has only one additional full-time employee. The operational principles provide a useful guideline for any company that is launching KM activities:
- Look outside the DIA for examples in equivalent organizations and select successful, proven methods that could be adapted for use in the DIA
- Create a small team outside of line organizations that is empowered to try out new ideas and fail forward, learning quickly
- Look for short-term high-impact pilot projects a test beds for new ideas; and
- Develop a voluntary network of people from across the organization who are committed to change based on valuing and leveraging knowledge.
In difficult economic times, it is often that programs like knowledge management are easy targets for reduction when in fact, it is exactly these times that companies need to think about generating more value from the knowledge that have, and accelerating innovation (even if it’s about ways to cut costs!) by bringing more of the network to bear.
Thought...
