Library clips

Some quick snippets on how we more effectively adapt to change within an informal, fragmented and networked environment such as enterprise 2.0.

The idea here is on the learning organisation where people are connected in networks, and publish and converse their know-how. This is perpetual social learning embedded into daily work, which enables more situational awareness.

Dave Snowden on Everything is Fragmented:

“The more you structure material, the more you summarize (either as an editor or using technology), the more you make material specific to a context or time, the less utility that material has as things change. For years now I have asked this question at conferences around the world: Faced with an intractable problem, do you go and draw down best practice from your company’s knowledge management system, or do you go and find eight or nine people you know and trust with relevant experience and listen to their stories?”

“The free flow of the blogosphere, ad hoc collaboration, Facebook and many other tools work because they conform with the patterns of expectation that arise from our evolutionary uncertainty. Have you ever heard anyone ask Wikipedia or the blogosphere, “How do we create a knowledge sharing culture?” No, but when I visit the knowledge management practitioners in organizations around the world, it is the dominant question. It’s not natural to chunk up material, to make it context specific; it is natural to share, blend and create fragmented material based on thoughts and reflections as we carry out tasks or engage in social interaction.”

Jay Cross on What’s so different about learning today?

“Until recently, the secret of success was to learn what had worked in the past and do that. Education and training faced backward. People learned the conventions and rules of thumb that worked for their ancestors. When things were slow to change, this was an excellent strategy…”

“…but things are changing so rapidly today that the only certainty is that what’s ahead won’t resemble the past. The rear view mirror no longer reflects the future. Workers need to be able to assess new situations, learn in real time, and improvise solutions. That’s an entirely new learning agenda, for it means putting enough trust in workers to give them the wheel”