Live KM blogging: Driving for proven practices

One of the things have noticed in the Coast Guard is we have a severe "not invented here" complex. We hate to use things not developed by ourselves.

This is, I believe, one of the things that has slowed down the deployment of the Performance Excellence Criteria. We reward our military senior leaders for inventing things, for implementing things, for developing things. Sustaining good things doesn't get rewarded. Copying someone else's good work doesn't get rewarded.

Coasties, for some reason, don't believe in proven practices, at least in implementing someone else's proven practice.

Knowledge management, however, is all about proven practices. Well, okay, it's not all about it, but proven practices is important in implementing a successful knowledge management system.

One question posed today is important for us to consider: How will you recognize great sharing and re-use behavior?

I'm particularly intrigued by how we recognize and encourage the re-use of proven practices.

Onoe idea I heard today: An organization recognizes people who contribute proven practices by giving them a plaque. A green plaque. Recognition; good. If you re-use a proven practice, you get recognized also. With a white plaque. And, when senior leaders walk about, they rave about the white plaques.

White plaques have more value, as it shows a transmission of a proven practice.

The knowledge isn't stuck.