Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/63913
In a knowledge economy, no managers can afford to rely on what they have known in the past to see them through their careers indefinitely. an ecosystem functions well, players easily can find their unique niches and contribute to the whole what they do best. If, in a given niche, I cannot provide as high a value as someone else, I must discover and redefine my true niche. For example, here's a story to illustrate that point on a personal level. Recently, I attended an invitational conference of an inter- national group of computer scientists, biologists, artificial intelli- gence experts, sociologists, and other researchers. I had prepared a presentation that was scheduled for the last day. However, as I conversed with other participants during the first two days, I twice found it necessary to revise my presentation. There was no point to wasting everybody's time, I thought, by elaborating on issues that already were covered by somebody else. Thinking of the workshop as a miniature ecosystem, and each participant as a species occupying a certain knowledge niche, I noticed how the unfolding patterns of our shared knowledge evolved and shifted with each new presentation. Given the new and continually changing shape of the workshop's implicit "issues map," I saved those elements of my original presentation that added unique knowledge value to that evolving mini- ecosystem, and abandoned those covered by other participants with more coherence and clarity. Doing so allowed me to re- focus my ideas on issues about which I had a more unique con- tribution to make. (To read this presentation, titled "Designing for the Emergence of a Global-Scale Collective Intelligence: Invitation to a Research Collaboration," visit www.co-i-l.com/ coil/knowledge-garden/kd/designing.) Knowledge Ecology: The Next Steps AN ORGANIZATION OR COMMUNITY THAT ASPIRES TO go beyond knowledge management, and instead develop shared intelligence and collective wisdom, must take several steps to achieve that goal: 1. Mandate that a self-selected team engage in a learn- ing expedition that explores ways to improve dramatically the vitality of your knowledge ecosystem. It will use, among other tools, a Web-enabled network of focused conversa- tions to foster discovery and collaboration. 2. Empower the team to acquire the resources it needs to carry out its mission. 3. Choose or ask the team to choose a focus for a strate- gic conversation about your organization's future actions. 4. Engage and use the power of your knowledge ecosys- tem to make that conversation highly effective, efficient, and enjoyable. technical conditions only if they learn to grow, harvest, and leverage the unique mix of knowledge and capabilities of all of their members. Organizations can thrive in continuously shifting market and Distributed Intelligence, Collective Wisdom Knowledge ecology is about recognizing and honoring people— their knowledge, their expertise, and intelligence—as the main source of value creation. "Honoring" includes providing them with the best available tools, methods, and expert facilitation of knowledge development, as well as encouraging productive con- versations. In a well-nurtured ecosystem, relevant information, successful practices, and mutual inspirations feed one another. The health of a knowledge ecosystem requires that business leaders, HR executives, and management educators provide sus- tained attention to the right cultural and technical conditions in which people, and their relevant knowledge, can blossom. Recognizing what knowledge is relevant also is a key part of success. Spectacular failures have happened to organizations that have been successfully climbing a mountain in their knowledge landscape, but that have chosen the wrong mountain to climb. However, when an organization designs its knowledge ecosystem to unleash the potential of its members' creativity and collaboration, it equips itself with the collective wisdom it needs to know what knowledge is relevant and what is not. It will have, first, a better understanding of the interrelatedness of the parts within it; and second, a better intuition about the future. Verna Allee wrote in Knowledge Evolution: Building Organ - izational Intelligence, "Wisdom is ... a highly creative and con- nective way of processing knowledge that distills out essential principles and truths. Wisdom tells us what to pay attention to. Wisdom is the truth seeker and pattern finder that penetrates to the core of what really matters." Discovering the "essential truths" within an organization is simply knowledgeable. To understand and respond to the kaleido- scopic patterns of new opportunities and potential dangers to its mission, an organization must mobilize the distributed intelligence of its members and listen to the collective wisdom of the whole.s the true goal of knowledge ecology. And now, with the emer- gence of the Web and related technologies, there are even more opportunities to create intricate connections and collaborations within and among diverse knowledge ecosystems. But even in these conditions, an organization can't afford to be z George Pór is the founder of Community Intelligence Labs, a consulting and research firm based in Santa Cruz, California. He now resides in Paris working as a Senior Research Fellow for the Center for Advanced Learning Technologies at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France. He can be reached at george.por@insead.fr. BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 33