Kathy Harris

Innovation, collaboration and knowledge management are aspirations of most organizations right now. Businesses are being pushed or pulled into innovating just to survive; organizations are cutting jobs (and expertise) pushing KM into a top of mind concern; and collaboration is more critical than ever for decision-making, communication and rapid response. 

These are significant undertakings for any organization. There’s the business complexity, of course — you need razor-sharp focus on the right business concerns. But, what separates innovation or KM or collaboration initiatives from other “projects” is their dependence on cultural and social synergy. In fact, for an organization to succeed, the majority of individual employees must personally undertake and succeed in these initiatives. 

In 21st century workplaces, we expect employees to contribute far beyond their work-specific competencies and knowledge. So, in addition to your marketing expertise or software development skills, organizations expect creativity, teaming, rapid learning, knowledge sharing, social networking and remote engagement. This dependence on creative and social skills is a profound shift in organizations; in fact, I believe these workplace and workforce capabilities are a new critical success factor.  

 So what are we accountable for beyond applying our work skills? Here are some competencies that may appear in our performance goals…

• Innovator and change agent: Be accountable for change and continual improvement. Contribute new intellectual capital. Build creative skills. Capture “mental models” into new practices, processes and frameworks.
• Responsible user of resources: Reuse knowledge, experts and expertise. Collaborate and contribute to social networks and communities. Develop proficiency in personal technology; use it to improve your work processes and productivity. Source effectively to internal and external providers. Know and leverage your own and your team’s authority levels, decision paths and responsibilities.
• Teaming proficiency: Participate in multiple teams beyond your “home” team. Lead and participate in communities. Leverage social networks for decision making. Contribute and collaborate equally well in face-to-face and virtual environments. Review and help improve others’ work. Fill gaps and “white spaces” in your team’s work. Communicate appropriately and effectively. Contribute to your team’s and organizations’ collective intellectual capital.
• …fill in your own…. we’re innovating here!!