Full Circle Associates

This week was one of those crazy weeks when a typically crazy week got upset by illness in the family that lives a thousand miles away. Figuring things out, getting details, supporting, etc, while juggling work and my family here at home. Chaotic is a word that comes to mind. The other one is knowledge-soaked. All of these activities were charged with the development, sharing and exchange of knowledge.

So here I am, intending to shut off the computer for the night and escape into a novel, when I follow a link on Shawn Callahan's blog to Patrick Lamb's post, If We Can’t Even Describe Knowledge Sharing, How Can We Support It? Of course, it was (partially) about knowledge sharing during health crisis. Kismet, eh? Even more that I am in the thick of working with a number of organizations around this thing we call "knowledge sharing." It surrounds me like a fog. Here is a bit from Patrick's post that struck me as useful and, today, more real than I can express.

"So what did I learn from this about knowledge sharing? A few small but important things:

* Not all sharing is created equal – people share as part of their jobs, for purely altruistic reasons, or for a blend of the two
* Much of our important sharing has formal, well developed conventions and rituals
* Social prejudice can get in the way of knowledge sharing, even if the relevant information is available and known (Mary Douglas has written about the irrational ways societies deal with disease)
* To understand knowledge sharing, we have to look beyond the event to the context: a knowledge sharing event rarely exists in a vaccuum; it’s usually a part of an interlocking network of knowledge sharing events, each of which complements and informs the others
* Knowledge sharing is often highly influenced by urgency, affective and emotional influences, and visible practical needs
* Knowledge sharing can be symmetrical (two way) or asymmetrical (one way) – context dictates which is most appropriate
* Knowledge sharing is not simply about transmit-receive transactions: even when there is a prime receiver in an asymmetric relationship, the receiver can shape and guide the sharing based on what he/she already knows.

Phew! Well said. Now, I am going to shut off this machine.

Tags: knowledgesharing, KM, healthcare