In knowledge work (2004) I commented on how Lilia Efimova described the main uses of blogs for knowledge work: personal knowledge repositories, learning journals, or networking instruments. Another point in Lilia’s paper is that knowledge work is “discretionary behavior&# , in that knowledge workers have to be motivated to do knowledge work. Many companies are tryng to find ways to motivate their knowledge workers. Yesterday, Jack Vinson asked, Is the term Knowledge Worker no longer useful? MORE >>

So i enjoyed a  recent post (The Rise of the Chief Performance Officer) by knowledge management leader Tom Davenport where he suggests merging organizational groups that share performance improvement as their mission but come at it from different vantage points and methodologies.  He cites a recent meeting of his knowledge management research group: we advocated for merging knowledge management with some other function - most likely the human resources/organizational learning/talent management constellation. Knowledge Management. Learning and Development. MORE >>

But is it appropriate for knowledge workers? The UPS program is an example of mostly physical or psychomotor learning,  but the lessons hold true for knowledge work as well.  For managers to learning “problem solving and decision making&# they need to make decisions and solve real work problems first in a simulated setting and then in real work context with feedback and coaching. New consultants need to consult; learning designers need to design learning, engineers need to design and test solutions all within safe, feedback rich, immersive work contexts. MORE >>

This post continues the Ten Strategies for Integrating Learning and Work series. Last post I discussed communities of practice and social media, two strategies focused on collaboration and networks where learning and knowledge are a natural byproduct.  This post shifts focus to how structured problem solving and Action Learning approaches can intimately wed learning with working. Each uses problems and work tasks as the subject matter for learning, reflection and behaviour change. 10 STRATEGIES FOR INTEGRATING LEARNING AND WORK. Understand the job. Summary. MORE >>

This post was sparked by a couple of recent articles: Babson Knowledge: How Google Plans to Change the Scope of Googling (And Why Information and Knowledge Workers Should Care). Interestingly, I think the algorithms that Google relies on for searching the public web (based on incoming links) will not work nearly as well as older algorithms based on frequency, semantic interpretation and other techniques. While there is some defense of Corporate IT in that it is harder to get at information that is stored in a wide variety of systems, e.g., ERP, CRM, etc. then get with it. MORE >>