In Search of Sustainability
Act-km Conference 2003 28-10-03
Neill Allan
[email protected]
Joined up Government
• “The whole idea of drawing up and piloting
the new proposal hand in hand with the staff
who will be using it is to ensure that the
system delivers what staff really want, as
opposed to what someone who doesn’t do
their job thinks they want…” (“Knowledge
Network – Joining up government, joining to
citizens” UK Cabinet Office, December 1999)
Supporting Sustainability
• Sustainability is a complex goal requiring us to resolve many
dilemmas arising from differing values and perceptions
• Integrating social, economic and environmental sustainability puts
great pressure on cooperative working between ministries, public
sector agencies, social and ethnic groups, and NGOs
• If policy is to reflect accumulated wisdom, systems, then social
networks (formal and informal structures) and competencies must
reflect that need
• If stakeholders are to be engaged and motivated to act relevant
competencies and methodologies must be developed
• Management of knowledge in this area will be about these issues
The Strategic Imperative
 Reduce wasted time, money and other resources
 Reduce learning curve right down and remove
unnecessary mistakes
 Reduce risk
 Replace outdated paradigms
 When every decision, at every level, is made in the
light of the full knowledge base of the organizations
Striving for meaning
Imagination
Relevance
Embrained knowledge
Common steps to useable
understanding
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Look for recognised categorization
If not found look for recognised patterns
If lacking or confusing look for a hypothesis
Test hypothesis
Refine or reject hypothesis
Draw conclusions on meaning and
implications
What is knowledge &
how do we use it?
Data
Flight AZ240. Arrival time 7:40 a.m.
Information
I’m booked on AZ240 & it’s 60 minutes late
Understanding
It might make up the time but it probably won’t
Relevance
It happened before & we met @ the airport or
I may be able to fly BA instead
Knowledge
I’ll call John and ask him to come or tell him my new
flight arrangements
© n.allan
I’ll be late for the meeting
Utilisation
The Voluntary Nature of
Knowledge
• Knowledge can only be volunteered, not
conscripted
• We always know more than we can tell,
and tell more than we can write down
• We only know what we know when we
need to know it
David Snowden
Information and Knowledge
systems
• Information systems key features
– Awareness of the presence of the information
– Relevance
– Usability
• Knowledge
– A culture in which information is converted to valueproducing utilisation
– A culture in which individuals wish to volunteer and
exchange their knowledge and that it will be valued
Complex adaptive systems
• Complicated
– Assembling an aircraft
• Complex
– Snowflakes, fractal patterns
• Complex adaptive systems
– Composed of many living individuals
– Forests, a flu epidemic, Human organization
– Consequences
– Emergent events
– Management of uncertainty
What is Dilemma
• Views taken about resolving a problem or creating a policy involving
seemingly opposing values.
• “The test of first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed
ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to
function” F.Scott Fitzgerald
• Cars
– We want them to be high performing but safe
– Economic on fuel but accelerate fast
– Compact yet roomy
• Computers
– Complex and multifunctional yet user friendly
• Countryside
– Tranquil and natural yet available for quad bikes and shooting
Effects to bear in mind
• What is true of finished products is true also
of processes, strategies and policies
• Values working together make the
organization more powerful.
• Unresolved conflicts tend to diminish
individual and group energies.
• Reconciling values leads to better products
and services.
• We need to create synergy from the poles
of the dilemma
The Prisoner’s Dilemma
• An opportunity to revisit emotions that
underpin management of dilemma
w
Some Governance Issues
• Closed. Financial
Reporting
• Physical & Financial
Capital
• Tangible owned assets
• Exclusive governance
• One-way passive
communication
• Opponents
• Rights
• Plans
• Responsibility to point of
output
• Open Triple Bottom Line
reporting
• Economic, human, social,
natural capital
• Intangible borrowed assets
• Inclusive governance
• Multi-way active
communication
• Complementors
• Responsibilities
• Scenarios
• Stewardship throughout lifecycle
Macro and Micro management
• Macro management
– Management of culture and subcultures
• Trust
– Provision of supporting tools and systems
– Support for learning processes
• Including development of informal networks
• Micro management
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Trust
Permissions and Expectations
Identity
Maximizing on the diversity of Traits
Social interactions
Some useful competencies
• High Emotional Intelligence
– To recognise and respond to diversity in individuals and
group, supporting champions and managing laggards
• Competent use of narrative and dialogue
– To reap the benefits that narrative gives in effectively
communicating complex subtext and values
– To gain the objectivity in expressing experiences and
perspectives that dialogue skills bring to the surface
• Good change management skills
– To manage the processes,
– To mentor and coach the emotions involved in the changes
Some key general learning points
• Knowledge is the root of organisational value and the competitive
differentiator
• Understanding how information and knowledge link on the route to
gaining value from utilisation
• Knowledge is both a thing and a flow
• Knowledge is systemic and whilst cause/effect approaches may prove
useful, systems management approaches are more valid
• Knowledge is key to the management of risk and choice. Perceptions
of risk adversity creates boundaries to imagination and discussion
• Knowledge is volunteered not conscripted, so trust, reputation
enhancement and valuing diversity increase knowledge flows
For Implementing Sustainability
• The breadth of knowledge across complex maps of crosslinkages between government bodies, other organisations
and citizens requires competencies to create the motivation
and action that will, in turn, be dependent on levels of
understanding and meaning generated
• This and the inherent dilemmas will make it very
susceptible to the positive and negative properties of
complex adaptive systems and their management
• Knowledge management provides the methodologies and
programmes to grow these competencies and yield value