Employee skills, competencies and capabilities should be harnessed. PHOTO | FOTOSEARCH
As small businesses endeavour to distinguish themselves from
their competitors, it proves imperative that they both identify ways of
capturing knowledge that is distinctive to the firm and also explores
ways of being innovative in how they capture and deliver value to their
clients.
Entrepreneurs must ascertain how to best
develop learning organisations. There exist a number of ways in which
entrepreneurs can capture organisational knowledge
In
this day and age, entrepreneurs need more than just technical know-how
in building up a wealth of knowledge that is unique to them.
Firms
that have been in existence for long usually have uncovered the art of
developing the capacity to learn and utilise knowledge as a matter of
survival.
An organisation’s knowledge architecture comprises shared
understanding, internal systems, quality control measures, operating
procedures and routines.
Employee skills, competencies
and capabilities should be harnessed such that even by the time they
leave an organisation their unique contributions will still be useful.
It becomes knowledge that is specific and applicable to that
organisation.
Through the practice of cross-functional
cooperation and sharing of knowledge, crucial firm-specific information
can be built up to advance organisational objectives.
Improving
the use and re-usability of tacit and explicit knowledge is key to the
creation and retention of knowledge unique to a firm. Companies should
take copious notes, document learning, create a database and make it
accessible across the organisation. According to researcher Chris
Argyris, in order to avoid the risk of losing the benefits of
experience, a firm must engage in double loop learning as opposed to
single loop learning. Single loop learning involves the adoption of a
whole new set of structures to improve productivity and quality.
Double
loop learning, however, occurs when those set of structures are
continually altered, questioned and updated in line with experience
gained and the ever-evolving business environment. This will also foster
bottom-up inquiry, not just top-down orders.
An often
overlooked point, proper knowledge management involves identifying
informative patterns in the data a firm holds and converting that data
into useful insights critical for decision making.
Knowledge
must be viewed as an asset rather than a burden. Data turns into
knowledge as something to be exploited and utilised to generate value.
When
an organisation is able to harness knowledge that is imperfectly
imitable, non-substitutable, rare and valuable, then it proves possible
to
After-action reviews, learning reviews and frequent
brainstorming sessions are some of the ways in which an entrepreneur
might want to capture new knowledge from the team. Another way is by
forming communities of practice which could enhance cohesiveness and
team spirit among employees.
One could also ask “what
areas of knowledge if well harnessed now, would really propel us forward
in the next five years and enable us to achieve our goals?“.
Capturing
key data about existing clients and potential ones represents often the
most important. This brings in the angle of incorporating customer
profiling in the business so as to better understand its clientele.
In
summary, the organisational knowledge base plays a critical role in its
ability to be innovative and also survive in the long run. It is
therefore imperative that firms learn how to generate new knowledge,
capture existing knowledge and use it to uniquely position themselves
from their competitors.
Steve Muriithi, Director of finance at Humanum Ratings.
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