As in many situations, what a manager does in the normal course of their job has a significant impact on their employees.  I was a leader of a team of 8 people.  We happened to be just completing a significant migration of our users from SharePoint 2003 to SharePoint 2007.  And, our company had just been acquired by HP.  Because of the acquisition, I started very early in talking with my team about the potential impact.  We had no idea where we all would end up, or if any of us would survive the integration.  I told my time many times over 3-4 months that they needed to keep their head in the game, and they needed to make sure they were also thinking about plan B.  These were all professional men and women who had worked for our company anywhere from 12-24 years.  Some didn’t want to face the reality, others embraced it. 

My leadership rule has always been to be open and honest with my team members.  I knew I couldn’t tell them what was happening, but I could tell them the reality of the situation and potential scenarios.  And, they had to decide for themselves how they were going to deal with any of these scenarios, one of which definitely was going to be the elimination of their job.   I’m experienced in team building so I used one of my team building activities of celebration.  A few weeks before I knew I had to lay off half of my team, I brought everyone together for lunch outside the office.  I picked a place that had an outdoor area with a fireplace.  After we had lunch, we went out to the fireplace.  We all sat in a circle.  I gave each person 2 pieces of paper and a pencil.  I told them to take one of their papers and write down everything about the company, team, job(s), experiences that were the best.  Then I had them take the second piece of paper and write down the worst.  We took our time and had each person talk about their best experiences.  It was full of laughter, joy and tears.  Then, instead of talking about the worst, I had them burn the page of worst experiences in the fireplace.  As they threw their papers into the fire, I told them that just as the paper was burning and turning to dust, so they needed to take any negativity and let go of it.  A couple people actually brought some items that they really wanted to burn up as a testament to what they wanted to get rid of.  This ritual/ceremony helped both me and each team member have closure with their work and with their team members.  When I had to lay off 4 members of the team, because they had built a strong supportive relationship, I brought all 4 into my office at once and went through the layoff process with all of them together.  It was a day where many people were being let go.  There was a lot of fear and negativity.  The only bright spot was my team members, who already had their head in the right place to deal with the process.  And, those that were left behind, while they still felt guilty, not watching their friends have to slink out of site, or be escorted out, helped them deal with their survival guilt in a much better way.  In fact, after they were all escorted out of the office, they all met at a restaurant and had Margaritas. 

My point in this story is to recognize that as consultants we have to start working with clients before these things happen, not after.  It’s impossible to help the survivors if they haven’t had a chance for closure with their team members.  I realize my situation isn’t typical.  But it is for those leaders who know how to lead and how to build teams.  For those leaders who truly are open and honest with their team members.  This is what transparency is about.  This is what it is to treat your employees like adults.  I’m not saying it will be easy for every employee.  One on my team had a very difficult time.  But you know what, she was the first one to find a new job.  And, I would like to think that her having closure, allowed her to more quickly move on to bigger and better things. 

As an added note, 5 weeks later, I had to lay off the rest of my team and myself.  I can definitely say that the rest of us were even more prepared than the others having gone through the process. 

I truly believe that helping people understand their value throughout the year and throughout a project goes a long way in making each team member feel respected and valued.  When layoffs occur, which they always will, the individual will be prepared and will know what value they provide their company and the next one.

Then, if you add to it the following principle from David Snowden:

• We always know more than we can say, and we will always say more than we can write down. This is probably the most important. The process of taking things from our heads, to our mouths (speaking it) to our hands (writing it down) involves loss of content and context. It is always less than it could have been as it is increasingly codified.

Knowledge Harvesting (KH) really doesn’t seem to be the most effective way of solving the problem.  And, of course I am assuming that the primary problem that KH is solving is brain drain from organizations – regardless of whether it’s boomers or Gen X, Y and Millenials moving around.  Wouldn’t it be cheaper to keep these knowledgeable people connected to your company for as long as possible?  Especially knowing that you can never really get their knowledge out of their heads in any valuable way for future use.  And, in light of the ever increasing change in technology and how we work, how relevant will that information be 1-2 years after it is documented. 

Why aren’t there more KM strategists in companies asking better questions about the knowledge in their company and establishing better ways to nurture it?  I like the agricultural metaphor, because nurturing knowledge growth, planting knowledge seeds, knowledge fertilizing, knowledge grafting… all really resonate for me.  But, harvesting just doesn’t work for me.  Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it seems so final, cut, broken, pulled out, and we all know that as soon as we cut flowers, pull out a carrot, pick an apple, it’s on its way to total decay.  Hmmm.

If companies are really afraid of losing the knowledge in people’s heads, then why not just maintain a good relationship with that employee.  (Duh)  We share knowledge with people we like.  We share knowledge when people are in need.  How about playing up on that instead of thinking we can put a straw to people’s heads and draw out the good stuff.  Why not use social networking tools and communities of practice to maintain these connections?  Isn’t that cheaper and more efficient?  The more we can create the contextual opportunities for people  to ask questions and solve problems, regardless of whether they continue to get a paycheck from a company, the better we have reduced the impact when people leave.   

No, I don’t think I will be doing any knowledge harvesting.  I am going to stick with knowledge nurturing, knowledge seeding, knowledge fertilizing, knowledge pollinating….

Let me give you an example….  My creative process kicks into high gear when I talk with someone.   If I am to work at my most creative level, allow me to talk with people about my ideas.  Inevitably, my idea will evolve, shift, and move like an ameoba every time I talk with someone.  It’s not that I change my mind, it’s that each encounter feeds my ideas and at each step perfects my thoughts.  And, let me just say, that this is not a preference, this is a fundamental requirement for me to work.  I definitely am not the type of person that you tell to go off and think about something and come back later with a solution.  That would be like telling me to go and write an article without using my hands. 

This is in distinct contrast to someone like my husband who’s creativity comes from alone time and physical labor.  He processes information best through physical movement.  Don’t expect him to give you a response to a question right away.  He needs time for his brain to process it and to go into that file cabinet of a brain and bring out all the possible pieces of information and experiences related to that request.  He needs to cogitate by himself and then he can come back and talk about it. 

If I force him to respond immediately, I’m doomed.  I won’t get anything from him.  But, if I plant my request like a seed, and then come back later, I am greeted with a full grown plant around which we can have that conversation and dialogue that I need in order to eventually come up with the best and most creative idea. 

Between his process and mine, there is significant disconnect in the timing of creativity.  The key here is to  recognize the differences and build out a new way of working that supports both processes.  If you do, then you will find that you have created a highly effective creative community where all members are able to bring their most creative selves to creating new and innovative products and services.

Wow.. This was probably written in 1991, published in 1992 and now 17 years later, we have so many examples of how this is playing out in our society.  “Open Source” code, “social networking”,  “transparency”  if you look at these “open systems” you can see how the information that flows  through these systems provides a steady stream of change, of continuous improvement. 

It seems interesting to me that there has been so much talk about “finding balance”, and really what we should be doing is constantly finding the imbalance in life.  It’s the change in life that makes us more and more vibrant, and provides greater opportunity.  Maybe the idea is to ebb and flow from one area of focus to another so that we can constantly integrate newness into what we are doing and who we are.

Nick Milton at Knoco, Ltd. Based in the UK, has a blog entry on this topic (We only learn when we don’t know what to do)   He provides a much more business oriented example of what it looks like to really keep disequilibrium in the system.  And, to Nick’s point of creating a “knowledge seeking” culture, rather than just a “knowledge sharing culture”…  I would suggest that for a company to stay agile in today’s marketplace, you need to ebb and flow between one and the other. 

Since starting my own business (thank you EDS (HP)) I have exposed myself to more new information and am living in a constant state of disequilibrium… and the reality is, I feel more alive and energized than I ever did in the last few years of my corporate career.  I am constantly moving from a knowledge seeking mode to a knowledge sharing mode.    

What’s your thought?  Find balance or imbalance in life?