Advice to a new knowledge manager: don’t do it
Here’s a snippet from my recent interview with Gordon Vala-Webb, National Director, Knowledge Management at PwC Canada.
We had an animated discussion on how he has seen KM evolve, the skills and tools he relies on, and the explosive impact of social media. But all of a sudden our hour was up.
Before I let him dial off I squeezed in one more question that he could answer when he had more time: what advice would you give someone starting out in KM?
“Easy,” he said. “Don’t do it.” And then he was gone.
Not quite what I was expecting. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long for a more detailed response to appear in my inbox.
Gordon’s advice to a new knowledge manager: Don’t do it because:
1) There is no money or glory
- For you personally - in fact KM is likely a career-limiting move (you need to help people change, this makes them uncomfortable, especially your colleague directors)
2) There is no roadmap
There is no clarity on how to do KM within an enterprise. Everything is being invented, or reinvented, at the same time, including:
- Technology, vendors, products, pricing
- Business models Understanding how humans know, think, consume information and make decisions
- Organisational politics and power
- There is no easy way!
3) In fact KM is the hardest thing in an organisation. It is the most sophisticated management approach there is. It requires you to work across multiple disciplines (within your team and with others)
- Information architecture / taxonomy / metadata
- Usability / screen design
- Change management / marketing / adoption
- IT security / infrastructure, risk / legal
- Human resource management
4) And you have to do this while:
- Most people don’t understand what KM is or how it works
- Having to invent (or adapt) most of what you do (see no roadmap above)
- Having limited internal political power and resources
But - you should do it if you want to:
- Make a difference to your organisation (by breaking through the complexity barrier)
- Learn a lot about many different things
- Meet some really interesting people.
I wanted to share Gordon’s words now rather than wait until we’ve finished the report because I find it a comforting list. It reminds me that I’m not the only one to struggle with these challenges and it helps me remember why I got into KM in the first place.
I suspect the list could be longer. I’d add that you should do it if you want to get to the heart of an organisation and really understand what makes it tick. What would you add?
Finally, this nugget also reminded me of two lessons that were played back at me by Karl James at The Story in February: stories aren’t where you expect them to be (I hadn’t originally intended to ask this question and it was a snap decision to squeeze one more in before we ran out of time) and don’t switch off your recording device too early!
Owl letterpress print by the wonderful Jacqui Sharples. See more of her work here.
