By focusing on these, seemingly simple, initiatives, BA has made significant progress toward its end-goal of becoming a knowledge-based, knowledge-led global airline. British Airways aims to retain it prominence as a leader in a fiercely competitive industry by tapping into the intellectual talent and energy of its employees.
Stop
Acting from the position that it is better to start from scratch on any project
Thinking its more time-effective to do a job yourself than teach some- one else to do it
Believing that your knowledge is your power
Feeling individu- ally competitive
Start
Acting from the position that rele- vant
information/previ- ous experience must be out there somewhere in the organization Thinking that time spent in develop- ing others is an investment of your knowledge in the organization Believing that sharing knowledge gives you more power
Feeling that your team’s success is your success (Adopt the Scarlet Pimpernel phrase:
‘All for one and one for all’)
Some examples of what BA is doing The ‘Rendezvous’ channel on the intranet, groups the current people, books and discussion forums where people share experience, offer help and guidance
Measuring managers on their ability to demonstrate capability in delegating effectively, performance management, coaching and developing others, and motivating others
A quote from somebody in Information Management ‘a number of our customers ask us for help on how to start up on the intranet. We are more than willing to share our experiences and let them make their own decisions. If they need our help – excellent. If not – even better for them, but we have offered’
Measuring managerial performance on the capability ‘encouraging teamwork’.
Providing a range of related training and development ideas
Some examples of the kind of things that you can do
Get to know what sources and expertise are available to you.
Contribute to appropriate discus- sion forums or use them as a channel for finding people with experience that could help you
Identify where you need to develop your performance man- agement skills. Take some of the training and development pro- grammes on offer
Look for opportunities where you can contribute your knowledge and skills. Do not wait to be asked. Be proactive in offering
Hold regular team meetings.
Attend and participate in team meetings
Stop
Limiting your role by having a lim- ited range of con- tacts
Looking at the world from your department’s per- spective
Doing just the job you were
employed to do
Telling people what to do
Start
Learning how to develop broad- ranging organiza- tional networks
Developing empa- thy for other per- spectives and mindsets
Demonstrating ini- tiative and proac- tivity in your role
Coaching and sup- porting their self- management.
Seeing people in terms of their future potential, not their past per- formance
Some examples of what BA is doing At Waterside, promoting a working envi- ronment where it is easy for people to casually meet and greet
Including within the management frame- work the key capability – valuing others
Publicizing through such channels as BA News and BA TV significant contri- butions that staff make to the commu- nity
A quote from an internal consultant: ‘I am also coaching a couple of people live on projects (as opposed to just telling them what to do), and have built in time in terms of my allocation to do that’
Some examples of the kind of things that you can do
Take advantages of such pro- grammes as ‘in touch’ to develop your knowledge of the airline and make new contacts. Attend cross-departmental activities and develop involvement in cross- functional project teams
Broaden your skills by participat- ing in some of the opportunities offered by community relations.
Take part in employer-supported volunteering
Volunteer to take on a new role or responsibility which will develop your skills
Next time you are about to criti- cize someone ask, instead, if they would like any help in learning how to do the task better. Then spend some time teaching them
Stop
Thinking of it as a discrete role
Thinking of it as ‘9 to 5’
Thinking you will be in it for life
Thinking you will be specially rewarded for doing that job well
Start
Thinking how it contributes to overall organiza- tional success
Thinking of it as flexible hours
Thinking how this job can contribute to your portfolio of skills to take to your next role.
Thinking how you can add value over and above your job description
Some examples of what BA is doing A quote from an Information
Management staff member; ‘we have an electronic monthly reporting mechanism whereby anyone can take up another’s role by using the log as a handover of experience and progress on specific proj- ects.’
Introducing concepts of flexible work- ing, remote working, part-time working and distance learning
Supporting people in transferring from one part of the organization to another
Running a reward and recognition scheme and inculcating a culture where people are recognized for achieving
‘quality practices and behaviours’ rather than shining exceptionally
Some examples of the kind of things that you can do
At your next staff meeting ask the question ‘what elements of our jobs could we do more co-opera- tively in order to improve busi- ness performance?’
Look at the policies on flexible working. Consider how they can be applied in your area
Read the job adverts in Jobscan.
Consider the steps you would need to move into a different role
Nominate a colleague or staff member for a reward or recogni- tion award. Aim to stretch your- self and have your contribution valued and rewarded
Stop
Focusing on rewarding own people for individ- ual effort
Forcing short-term results at the expense of longer- term investment
Pigeonholing people and jobs
Maintaining hier- archical structures
Start
Focusing on rewarding team effort and contri- bution
Allowing time to reflect, input to knowledge net- works, develop new ways of adding value Enabling creativity and mould break- ing
Developing net- worked structures
Some examples of what BA is doing A quote from Information Management,
‘We had a campaign last year called
“Rising to the Challenge” where we heard a lot about the red/green behav- iours, encouraging working together.’
Adopting the use of the balanced busi- ness scorecard to measure business per- formance – recognizing that
non-financial measures of performance are as important as financial measures
‘In our quarterly staff forums we try to share experiences about projects we are running, maybe a new technology we are using for the first time in BA, a par- ticular hurdle that was difficult to over- come, but the solution may help other groups’
Operating the Brainwaves Suggestion Scheme
Introducing the organization design and development methodology – and through this encouraging ‘silo busting’
Some examples of the kind of things that you can do
Put as much into supporting your team’s work as you do into doing your own work
Find out more about how BA is measuring business performance
Copy what this person has done.
‘I have been trying to promote an environment where people share knowledge. Sometimes you have to start with things like the latest gossip, just to try and get the atmosphere whereby people feel they can trust, i.e. “We are nearly there – but not yet!”’
Make some suggestions/recom- mendations on how your bit of the organization could be struc- tured more effectively
8
BP Amoco
Leveraging knowledge has become a fundamental driver of busi- ness practice for BP Amoco. BP Amoco has become a leader in knowledge management, vouchsafed by the fact that it was recently voted as one of the Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) by Fortune 500 companies. BP Amoco came second to Microsoft in the 1999 MAKE awards as was com- mended on its success in establishing an environment for effec- tive knowledge sharing and continuous learning. This success has been driven by encouragement from the very top to optimize personal and corporate performance.
So what is the secret of building a knowledge culture?
According to BP Amoco knowledge consultant, Chris Collison, it is not just about learning dry facts and finding and developing new experts. A true knowledge culture necessitates recognizing innate talents of employees throughout the company and encour- aging sharing of know-how in a process that opens up new pos- sibilities. This contrasts sharply with a regime imposing programmes from above. Collison draws upon an analogy of cooking a great meal to make his point: ‘You can only learn so much from a recipe, but if you watch how a master chef prepares it, then you can prepare a gourmet feast.’
Group Chief Executive, Sir John Browne, initiated the knowl- edge management programme in 1996, when he commissioned a task force to examine knowledge strategy inside and outside the organization. Subsequently a small central team was set up to act as a catalyst, and now the practice has become widespread.
Under John Browne’s leadership the company has become one of the most profitable of the major oil companies. According to John
Browne: ‘Learning is at the heart of a company’s ability to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. It is crucial that every time we do something again, we should do it better than the last time.’
The logic is that there is no point in ‘reinventing the wheel’ all the time. This requires that the company does not make the error of managing each business unit in isolation. In other words, knowledge must be ‘replicated’ throughout the company. Doing this is simultaneously a challenge and an opportunity. Browne saw the challenge as an opportunity, in stating: ‘Knowledge, ideas and innovative solutions are being diffused through out the world at a speed that would have been unimaginable ten or twenty years ago. Companies are only now learning how to go beyond seeing the movement as a threat to seeing it as an oppor- tunity.’
From the start, the express aim of the knowledge management initiative was to drive performance improvement by encouraging knowledge sharing. Indeed according to Collison, BP Amoco esti- mates savings of millions of dollars in operational costs through knowledge sharing. This figure continues to grow, although the true extent of the gains is almost impossible to quantify, given the complex nature of the sharing expertise.
Sharing knowledge, the product of learning, requires trust which, in turn, depends on forging solid relationships. Without trust people will not share knowledge.
Collison suggests that managing knowledge is about ‘learning how other people do things, so you can do the job better’. A col- league and fellow knowledge consultant of Collison’s elucidates further by stating that ‘knowledge management is not just a matter of discovering what the organization knows, but the how, the what, the why and the who’.