From Wikipedia: Knowledge workers in today's workforce are individuals who are valued for their ability to interpret information within a specific subject area. They will often advance the overall understanding of that subject through focused analysis, design and/or development. They use research skills to define problems and to identify alternatives. Fueled by their expertise and insight, they work to solve those problems, in an effort to influence company decisions, priorities and strategies.
Knowledge workers may be found across a variety of information technology roles, but also among professionals like teachers, lawyers, architects, physicians, nurses, engineers and scientists. As businesses increase their dependence on information technology, the number of fields in which knowledge workers must operate has expanded dramatically.
The term was first coined by Peter Drucker ca. 1959, as one who works primarily with information or one who develops and uses knowledge in the workplace. A man ahead of his time!
Action: Attract and hold the highest-producing knowledge workers by treating them and their knowledge as the organization's most valuable assets. Peter F. Drucker
"No matter how smart you are, you need a team of really great people". Steve Jobs. D5 Interview- 2007
In his recent book, "Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution" by Geoffrey A. Moore, the highly acclaimed author and Venture Capitalist adds currency to the importance of this management practice focus on the knowledge workers. Much of today's and all of tomorrow's global competitiveness of "developed" economies rests on their ability to conceive and develop (not manufacture or service) complex systems. As India Co. leads in Services, and China Co. leads in Manufacturing, the Americas Co. must lead in Complex System Design and Integration. The leading organization needs the best knowledge workers more than the best knowledge workers need the organization, because the worker and her IP are mobile to a great degree.
I want to add two additional concepts that I feel are important and speak to the need for significantly more creativity and rigour with respect to the practice of knowledge worker management. These thoughts may also help you to get more out of executing Dr. Drucker's action call, today.
1) The "hold" in Dr. Drucker's Action Call is in reality a far more complex human capital "work-flow". It is in fact: retain, develop, promote, reward and out-place. So, do you give your knowledge workers what they want in order to keep them? How do you help them to develop into the world's best? Do you have the ability to promote them and help them to generate wealth? How do you help them find their next challenge that is beneficial to you, but outside the traditional "company" boundaries? By finding answers to these (and other) questions, you will be practicing the management science which Dr. Drucker calls for in his call for action for this day.
Our current financial and management systems certainly don't help you in any way. They likely don't even measure the value, let alone the flow of this "critical" asset over time. Have you found ways to do this? Do you have human inventory backed up? How fast is your flow of human capital? Have you encountered HR teams that are up to this challenge, or even think this way (let us hear from you)? The "competition" for knowledge worker talent is global and stiff.
2) Are the vast majority of "your" critical knowledge workers even on your payroll? They are more likely with your customer, your supplier, your competitor, your consultant, your outsourcer. Do you have responsibility for them too, in some significant way? For a more comprehensive understanding of this issue, you might read: "Co-Opetition : A Revolutionary Mindset That Combines Competition and Cooperation : The Game Theory Strategy That's Changing the Game of Business" by Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry J. Nalebuff. How do you attract, retain, develop, promote and out-place outside your four walls?
Losing ground in this arena is not an option we (in Americas Co.) can afford. Increased professionalism and application of working management models will be necessary. The following examples begin to look at those models. What have you seen/done?
Example 1: The repeat Entrepreneur Model. The way I see it, Cisco has actually built a self-improving and "regulating" knowledge worker process into its well respected and much quoted acquisition program and strategy. As did Hewlett-Packard, but they more so in the earlier days. Top knowledge worker talent is "recruited", developed, rewarded and out-placed by ensuring that product development projects they are working on or have completed and must now be brought to market are either out-placed through external venture formation, and then often acquired when the products are at a point that they can benefit from Cisco's "go-to-market" expertise and strength (I tried to shorten that sentence but... ). It is quite common that serial entrepreneurs make repeat paths through the process. This is also a model which has generally been accepted in Silicon Valley (the serial entrepreneur) and other regional innovation clusters. OCTANe is working hard to make this happen in Orange County, CA.
Example 2: The Mentor Model. In this, companies like McKinsey & Co. probably excel. KW employees are matched up with one or two Mentors over their working life who take responsibility for guiding them through the process of HR flow even through to out-placement. That's where I think McKinsey really excels. They seed their own "outgoing" at clients and work partners in senior management positions. It is my view that mentoring, as a management practice is still in its infancy with huge opportunities still untapped. One of the reasons might be that HR functions have to give up significant power to allow mentoring programs to thrive, in my experience. At its core, the built in strength of a Mentor based program is that it fosters "treat others as you would like to be treated" behavior (which helps us with that part of Dr. Drucker's call to action today). It is also the best way to maintain the, oh so important personal link between inside and outside when a talented KW employee chooses outplacement as their next step. It has always been in my best interest as a businessman to keep in close touch with my mentees and mentors.
By the way, other "must" books by Geoffrey Moore for the technology crowd, include "Crossing the Chasm", "Inside the Tornado", "Living on the Fault Line", "The Gorilla Game". Geoffrey and I hooked up in the early 2000's to do some really interesting projects over several years. As with many others, I have lost touch over the past 3 years, but his insight and foresight is always appreciated and fondly remembered. What an intellect... and a really nice man.
No comments:
Post a Comment