Understanding the impact of distrust in KM programmes

I have been struck by the impact of distrust between members of an organisation on their attempts to set up and run knowledge management programmes. Having developed a model for quantifying distrust and applied it within our INPACT (Integrated Process and Culture Transformation) methodology, I have been experimenting with using it within a KM programme.

The model started life as a series of scribbles while reading a Steven Covey book: 'The Speed of Trust'. The book sets out the clear relationship between a manager's ability to gain trust and his/her effectiveness as a leader and change agent. But it fell short of quantifying this relationship - surely, I thought, one could develop a model to do this? So I did - and it works.

It's simple really - all the best models are! Ask a manager 3 questions, each measured against a 4 point scale (poor-excellent).
The 3 questions relate :
1. senior managers
2. staff
3. managers in an equivalent position in other parts of the organisation with whom he/she interacts.
(If you want to know the questions we use, come and ask!).
Put the scores together and convert the result into a %. This is your distrust factor.

How does it impact on change and knowledge management? Well, think about it...

If I ask you for some information or to make a change to a process and you trust me, you'll probably do it. If you don't, you probably won't! In exteme cases, where there is real distrust between us, I may have to ask several times, then escalate it to my boss to involve his opposite number and finally get the information or the change late and/or not at all. And the amount of time and effort I need to expend rises in direct proportion to the level of distrust.

So in a change project I can apply the distrust factor to the planned cost and timescales and come up with an estimate of the extra work and delay likely to be incurred unless the root cause is dealt with.

Similarly in a KM programme, I can assess the degree to which I should assume knowledge sharing and effectiveness of any KM strategy across the organisation.

If you are interested in trying this out in your own organisation, contact me

PeterD

Launching INPACT - a new change methodology

Over the years I have been interested why companies and public sector organisations have such difficulty harnessing new technologies and making the changes to their processes and systems that would allow them to work better. Why do so many transformation projects fail to deliver the expected benefits?

Way back, I started looking for answers, and more recently, in my work helping local authorities understand and implement e-procurement and e-contract management systems, I began to formulate these into a more structured methodology.

So why do transformation projects fail to deliver? Here's a list of some of the reasons:

1. Unclear objectives
2. A lack of recognition of the complexity of the project, leading to allocation of inadequate resources to deliver it
3. Not enough attention paid to process detail in designing the transformation, leaving old manual processes continuing to be carried out in parallel with the automated ones - undermining take-up
4. A high level of distrust in the organisation and not enough time spent securing people’s ownership of the changes
5. Lack of attention to training and not enough support for fine-tuning and embedding the new processes to realise the benefits
6. A culture of non-compliance and the lack of mandate from the top – that’s usually the show-stopper!

In order to address all these barriers to success, I adapted some of the models and tools I had developed or come across over the years and created a methodology which I called INPACT, which stands for Integrated Process and Culture Transformation. You can learn more about INPACT at http://www.imaginist.co.uk/. There's a slide presentation, notes to accompany the slides and a case study strategic review using INPACT principles.

INPACT is an innovative and relevant methodology that brings together what I and others have learned over the past 10 years in implementing modernisation and efficiency improvement into major organisations, particularly the public sector. It raises the effectiveness of external consultants and in-house change agents in delivering bottom-line benefits to clients.

So now I have a methodology, what should I do about getting it out there? Well, that's a good question. I can use it in my consultancy work and I can tell my clients and colleagues about it, but really it needs more research and trialling to develop it into a practical toolset - and then it needs to be applied across a cross-section of organisations to build up case studies. I don't have the resources to do all that myself.

Here's two of the strategies I am trying to put in place - ideally, linked:

1. Find a major consultancy that is willing to take the methodology on board (and me with it!)

2. Find a business school that is interested in researching and refining the models and bringing INPACT into the mainstream of management science.

A bit of a challenge, isnt it!

I'll let you know how I get on... and please do come back with any good ideas or contacts you might have.

PeterD
The Imaginist Company