The 8 Principles of Fun

The adventures of managing knowledge have kept me quite busy the last few weeks. Blogging did not have it's due during this time. To make it up to you, I'd like to introduce you to a wonderful little movie called 'The Eight Principles of Fun' put together by Michael Bungay Stanier, principle of Box of Crayons. The movie is a wonderful little reminder of what is important as we move through life with some great quotes.

http://www.eightprinciples.com/

It also is a reminder of how we can take what we have learned and share it with the world. Want to engage your staff or your group? Get them to write their most impactful lessons of the last week and share with each other at the end of the week. Better yet, have them written down without an authors name and guess who learned which lesson.

Want to create a strategy that people can really get behind? Write a story of the future as if that strategy were actually implemented. What would the world, your organization, your family, look like if that strategy had been put in place. Now, put it in the format of a Life Magazine article or a Newsweek column. In other words, make it real. What an impact that kind of story telling can have.

Don't sit back and wait for someone else to tell the truth. Have the courage of your convictions and do it. You are the role model for sharing experience, knowledge, wisdom....and doing it with honesty and without an agenda. Do not manipulate....communicate! And be willing to accept the consequences.

And in the meantime, have a great weekend. Glad to be back on the blog!




http://www.eightprinciples.com/

Principles of KM, Leadership and Life

The principles of managing knowledge do not deviate from the principles of good leadership.
Many organizations (and people) want a quick fix to their KM issues. What the following demonstrates is that without these basic principles, we will fail or at the very least falter, at our efforts in managing knowledge, leading people, and building solid and authentic relationships.

The leadership Center of Franklin University website discusses the three principles of leadership they think to be critical: Passion, Communication and Integrity
http://leadership.franklin.edu/LL023.htm

These three principles apply also to Knowledge Management and to those who practice it.

It takes passion for us to identify the opportunities to apply KM, to hold the torch as we facilitate behavioral and organizational change, and to continue onward through long term implementation.

Communication can make or break the effectiveness of KM as we build awareness, drive toward acceptance and finally motivate the organization to take action.

The principle of integrity is what I find most intriguing today. We often don't discuss integrity as a key component to managing knowledge. Integrity is a key component to all we do, especially as we affect the lives of others. It is integrity and the consistent practice of it, that allows people the freedom to take what they perceive as professional and personal risks in sharing knowledge, and sharing themselves.

As Jane Robinson, Chief Talent Officer writes in Leadership: The Relationship Perspective on the Franklin University website:

Integrity
Correct principles are like compasses – true north does not change. People expect leaders to stand for something and to have the courage of their convictions. A leader that acts with integrity will model consistency in their behavior and will make the same choices and decisions regardless of their audience.

When actions are in alignment with principles, honest communication will be a trademark of their leadership. Integrity enables a leader to remain committed to honesty, reliability and confidentiality. Staying in alignment with one’s principles provides “notice” on those non-negotiable issues. There will be no uncertainty regarding what guides motivation. It will be very clear to a person of integrity what she will not do. Followers of a leader will not be surprised; her actions will be consistent.

In addition to acting in ways that are consistent with underlying principles, an effective leader will engage in forthright honest communication. Members of the team won’t hear bad news somewhere else in the organization first. They will hear it first from their leader. There are no surprises.

Integrity demands that leaders address performance-related issues quickly and openly, offering appropriate alternatives. A leader of integrity shares information and does not hoard it, encouraging two-way participation in achieving the goals of the organization. A leader shares the “secrets of success." Jane Robinson, Chief Talent Officer, Franklin University

Applying these concepts to KM and to life is critical to sustainable success, to building solid healthy professional (and personal) relationships and to moving KM forward. And we find again and again, the principles needed for managing knowledge, as for leadership, are those for living an authentic life.