I had a really interesting discussion last Friday with someone I cannot name, and who is working for a French global company I cannot name either. After many failed attempts for the last ten years to establish a good knowledge management practice in that company, its top management apparently came to the conclusion that it was probably not in the company’s DNA, and therefore that maybe the company should consider a completely different approach and maybe “outsource its KM”.
Now that is a very interesting thought, and I think a very powerful one. If companies cannot develop a culture of knowledge sharing and innovation, it’s primarily because they are having a hard time measuring the benefits. All metrics of intangibles –and KM in particular- are shaky, and the most promising ones, based on network analysis (VNA) still have a long way to go before they become generally accepted practices.
In the meantime, organizing a knowledge market might be the best way to go. Let’s imagine what it would look like…
