The Performance Support Bridge to Knowledge Management
By Jim Elsenheimer
The key to transitioning from EPSS to knowledge management is collecting the tacit knowledge held in workers' heads and incorporating it into the "corporate memory."
You're starting to understand electronic performance support systems (EPSS) and how to use them along with training to improve people's effectiveness. Now the president of your company wants to develop a knowledge management (KM) system. What are you to do?
First, don't panic. Second, keep on the EPSS trail and it will lead to KM. The two are closely related and have some common elements. Don't scrap what you have built for an EPSS; just keep building.
In today's Information Age, we have access to so much data that we're reaching information saturation. To move to the Knowledge Age, we need a way to make the information we have meaningful in terms of the performance we want to achieve with it. Information is the "what," while knowledge is the "when, how, and why." Performance support interventions such as EPSS neatly bridge the two.
Performance support can serve both our information and knowledge needs. It distills information into usable chunks. Rather than sending someone to wade through piles of documentation, an EPSS support tool can send them to concise procedural steps for the task they are to perform. Performance support can also answer the "when" and "how" questions of knowledge seekers by providing materials with which to answer those questions.
Looking ahead to KM
The aim of KM is to create learning organizations that provide equal access to corporate memory. A learning organization denotes a structure of practices, systems, and culture that promotes sharing experiences and lessons learned to encourage quality performance and continuous improvement. Corporate memory includes all the information, data, and know-how that a company possesses. This memory is often inadequately captured as explicit knowledge, and it ignores undocumented tacit knowledge. KM attempts to open the vaults of tacit knowledge stored in people's heads and add it to the active corporate memory. By doing so, higher quality resources are available for training purposes and performance support.
To understand the implications of explicit and tacit knowledge, consider the analogy of a computer system. The system represents explicit knowledge. It provides the field names, data, and function keys; everything you can clearly see on the screen. While this is valuable information, it doesn't relay everything needed to perform tasks successfully. The users represent tacit knowledge. They hold the elements of system operation that the system doesn't show. The users' knowledge of operating the system and handling the data are the critical keys to performance and often are poorly documented.
The object of a KM system is to capture users' tacit, practical knowledge and make it available as part of the system. That's why EPSS is the first step toward KM; it puts the how where it's needed. Knowledge is not just in the heads of expert users, but in the hands of all users.
It's important to realize that a KM system is not just a repository for corporate memory, but a reflection of the corporate consciousness. In other words, KM doesn't just remember, it thinks. The thinking part is the ability of users to share their knowledge and enhance the system's contents and functions. This ability generates a dynamic work environment that fosters collaboration and innovation. The result is a system that actively supports continuous performance improvement, not just the one-time formalization of a process.
Building the bridge
The challenge for EPSS designers and developers lies in planning how to bridge the gap between the EPSS systems of today and the KM systems of tomorrow. A practical approach for crossing from here to there has two stages: tapping tacit knowledge, then spreading the knowledge through the organization. The following details aspects of each stage.
Tap the tacit. The first stage focuses on how information is gathered for the analysis and design of an EPSS or a KM system. Many current performance support efforts are limited to the use of existing, explicit documentation for a process or system. Relying on explicit knowledge limits the progress that can be made with the EPSS, both in terms of effective process support and in bridging to KM.
To get more bang for your analysis buck, strive to tap into the tacit knowledge base. Data collection and analysis should involve the people who work with the process or system. They possess the unwritten knowledge of how things really work and what's required for successful performance. Even if a project isn't currently heading toward KM, this approach can help you design more effective performance support interventions. The idea is to combine explicit and tacit knowledge to create tools that are more meaningful in their application.
There are a number of strategies you can apply to "tap the tacit." Most importantly, you need to get out of documentation and learn how things work on the floor. Watch the system in action and talk face-to-face with the target audience. Users can tell you what they do and what they currently use to get the job done. They may have a library of unofficial (tacit) work aids they use regularly. This information can be essential in guiding your approach to performance support interventions and may even do some of the work for you.
To expand the value of data collection, talk to supervisors and downstream clients of the process or system. Supervisors can clue you in to how the users respond to the system, as well as trouble spots that may be good candidates for support interventions. Similarly, downstream clients can help identify areas of weakness or inconsistency that need clarification and support. This kind of information is rarely captured formally, but can prove invaluable in the success of a performance improvement intervention.
In addition to helping you design better support tools, tapping tacit knowledge provides the opportunity for process improvement. Shocking as it may be, what users do with a process or system does not always match what the documentation says. This is why it's dangerous to rely solely on explicit knowledge. By reconciling the explicit knowledge of documentation and the tacit knowledge of users, supervisors, and clients, you can develop an improved and unified approach.
For example, even if users are performing their tasks correctly, the system may not provide all the information that's needed downstream. A downstream group may feel this is due to user error and begrudgingly correct the error rather than isolate the system problem that created it. The process of tapping tacit knowledge at multiple levels may highlight needs and inconsistencies, such as those that involve people or systems. This new insight can lead to meaningful improvements and better overall performance.
Let the tacit flow. The second stage of bridging to KM focuses on how information is gathered and applied. This step can boost an EPSS system into the realm of a KM system. The key is to allow users to input their tacit knowledge directly into the system. Once you tap the tacit, give it the opportunity to keep flowing.
Few current systems allow users to do anything but work. This forces users into the position of creating personal libraries of tacit knowledge to support their performance. A KM-oriented EPSS system enables users to share questions and tips by creating the opportunity for user input. At first, this could simply be a listserv or electronic bulletin board where users post questions or comments. The idea is to establish an environment of sharing that involves a two-way knowledge flow. This is a start in capturing users' tacit knowledge in an online form and adding it to the corporate memory.
As the flow of tacit knowledge increases, you can integrate input opportunities directly into the system. Likely candidates for online knowledge sharing include
- comments and questions about content
- tips and tools provided by users
- work (processing) examples
- best practice case studies.
As an EPSS system becomes more robust in KM capabilities, it opens even more continuous improvement opportunities to enhance the knowledge and performance of the company. Process improvements and system enhancements can be made by applying the user comments and knowledge captured online. Openly encouraging and applying new ideas fosters the cooperation and innovation that's critical to a learning organization.
The role of training
With all of this system-based sharing going on, you may wonder about the role of training in the new organizational order. Fear not. While evolving EPSS systems create bridges to the future, training is still needed to provide direction to the bridge and lead the charge over it.
Provide direction. Anytime something new is introduced, people need to be shown where it is, what it can do for them, and how to use it. This has always been part of training's responsibility, and EPSS and KM systems don't change the need. A common mistake that many companies make is thinking such systems are so user-oriented that they don't require training. This fallacy has doubtlessly led to the failure of many worthy systems. Before a system can work, users must be prepared to use it.
Training should provide the direction needed to clarify the company's new approach. This goes beyond teaching users the functional aspects of new systems and capabilities. Providing direction means introducing the new concepts required to successfully implement KM programs. Training must show people the map to the future and build their confidence in the journey that's to take place. Without such preparation, people may be more inclined to jump off the bridge than to continue to the other side.
A new direction for training in the transition to KM systems is teaching people how to interpret information and think about appropriate actions. Most current training, even that relating to EPSS systems, focuses on the skills needed to follow explicit directions (for instance, how to access and follow step-by-step procedures, how a system functions to perform tasks, and so forth). A knowledge-based worker must not only know where to find information and how system functions operate, but also how to interpret information and apply it appropriately.
For example, in current EPSS system training, a user might be taught how to apply a performance support tool for a specific task. With a KM-oriented system, there is no longer just one tool for a task. There may be a procedure, user tips, process examples, and a case study related to the task. The user must know how to take all of this knowledge and determine what applies to the current situation. Rather than simply learning to perform a task, a user needs to learn how to think on his or her own given current information, then know how to take the appropriate action.
Lead the charge. A trainer's duties don't end with preparing people and leading them to the threshold. Training must also actively lead the charge over the bridge. People often resist change, even when it makes sense to them. As a training professional, you have a stake in seeing that all of your preparation doesn't go to waste. Users may need continued encouragement as new processes and systems are implemented. While management plays a large role in the success of this phase, training can help by offering transitional mini courses and on-the-job coaching to bring users along.
Another role for training is to be a champion for the continuous improvement implications of an EPSS/KM system. It's not enough to gather the users' tacit knowledge with the system; this knowledge needs to be analyzed and applied. Trainers, often the leading advocates for users, can team with other groups to formulate process improvements and system enhancements.
Finally, trainers should continue communicating with users as processes and systems are revised and enhanced. Users can become frustrated if things change unexpectedly. For small changes, a simple system notice or update newsletter may be adequate. For more significant enhancements, supplemental training sessions may be needed to keep everyone up to speed.
Training and performance professionals are positioned to lead the charge to the future. Rather than waiting for new directions to come from management as KM becomes more broadly applied, we can take performance support tools such as EPSS systems and begin building bridges today. Knowledge and action go hand in hand, so who better to take an active role in changing the world than training and performance professionals? Don't just be ready to answer when the call comes; ensure your role by placing the call and leading the way.
Jim Elsenheimer is a training and performance specialist with Interactive Media Corporation, based in Butler, Pennsylvania. (www.interactive-media.com). He can be reached at jelsenheimer@interactive-media.com; 724.284.7366.