Knowledge Management Author and Speaker, Leader of SIKM Leaders Community, Community Evangelist, Knowledge Manager

Nov 24, 2015

The Wisdom Network, Accentuating the Positive, How to Discuss KM ideas

13-Sep-06 Archive of Weekly KM Blog by Stan Garfield

KM Books

The Wisdom Network: An 8-Step Process for Identifying, Sharing, and Leveraging Individual Expertise — by Steve Benton and Melissa Giovagnoli (American Management Association, 228 pages)

— Introduction: What Are Wisdom Networks?

Chapter 1: Experts-in-Hiding: The Nature of Knowledge in Companies
Chapter 2: The Obstacle Course: Clear the Inevitable Hurdles
Chapter 3: Step 1: Set the Scene — Establish a Network-Friendly Environment
Chapter 4: Step 2: Magnets — Create Topics to Attract the Experts
Chapter 5: Step 3: Support Systems — Nurture Communities That Emerge Around Magnet Topics
Chapter 6: Step 4: Boundary Crossing and Role Breaking — Ensure Diverse Perspectives
Chapter 7: Step 5: Hide-and-Seek — Identify the Experts
Chapter 8: Step 6: Create Organizational Stars — Acknowledge Wisdom
Chapter 9: Step 7: Ideas Are Not Enough — Provide Implementation Options
Chapter 10: Step 8: Performance Evaluation — Create Unconventional Measures
Chapter 11: Growing Pains: The Care, Feeding, and Evolution of Wisdom Networks

KM Links

Accentuating the Positive

On September 11, 2006, I attended a Positive Links presentation by C.K. Prahalad on “Democratizing Commerce: The Challenge for the 21st Century” at the Center for Positive Organizations (formerly the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship) in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. This prompted me to provide links to positive approaches to leading, conducting business, sharing proven practices, and asking questions.

C.K. Prahalad (August 8, 1941–April 16, 2010)

Coimbatore Krishnan Prahalad, former Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan, was a globally recognized business consultant. His later work addressed a complex emerging market, the world’s poor and the innovative business models that will help end world poverty.

Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS)

An exciting new movement in organizational studies that draws on the path-breaking work in the organizational and social sciences. “Positive” indicates the discipline’s affirmative bias; “organizational” focuses on the processes and conditions in organizational contexts; and “scholarship” reflects the rigor, theory, and scientific procedures that ground the POS approach.

The premise of POS research is that by understanding the drivers of positive behavior in the workplace, organizations and individuals can flourish. POS does not adopt one particular theory or research method but draws from the full spectrum of theories and methods to understand, explain, predict, and create high performance.

Research Domains of Excellence

Compassion
Organizational Virtuousness
Positive Emotions
Positive Identity
Reflected Best Self
Positive Leadership
Empowerment
Fundamental State of Leadership
Positive Social Capital
Energy Networks
Generalized Reciprocity
High-Quality Connections
Resilience
Thriving
Values

Articles

Positive Deviance

In every community there are certain individuals (the “Positive Deviants”) whose special practices/ strategies/ behaviors enable them to find better solutions to prevalent community problems than their neighbors who have access to the same resources. Positive deviance is a culturally appropriate development approach that is tailored to the specific community in which it is used.

Appreciative Inquiry

An approach to organization change that has been used successfully in small and large-change projects with hundreds of organizations worldwide. It is based on the simple idea that organizations move in the direction of what they ask questions about. For example, when groups study human problems and conflicts, they often find that both the number and severity of these problems grow. In the same way, when groups study human ideals and achievements, such as peak experiences, best practices and noble accomplishments, these phenomena, too, tend to flourish.
Appreciative Inquiry distinguishes itself from other change methodologies by deliberately asking positive questions to ignite constructive dialogue, organizational energy and inspired action within organizations.

KM Questions

Q: I am interested discussing KM ideas. How can KM practitioners do so?

A: The following communities all host active threaded discussions. Post to one or more of these to get a discussion going: