David Pearce's presentation from the APM Programme Management SIG Conference which took place on the 15 March 2018

2. The Importance of Knowledge Sharing across
Programmes: Introduction & Tools
David Pearce

3. Knowledge Sharing – Presentation Structure
3
 The APM context, and issues to be addressed
 The different types of Knowledge
 How Sharing takes place, and why it can be difficult to do
 The stages of Sharing
 Introduction to Knowledge tools, and when to use them

4. APM perspective - KM - what is it?
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Definition:
‘Knowledge management is the systematic management of
information and learning. It turns personal information and
experience into collective knowledge that can be widely shared
throughout an organisation and a profession.’
p22, APM Body of Knowledge 6th Edition.

5. APM perspective - KM - why is it of value?
5
‘Knowledge management underpins organisational learning and
maturity.’ p22, ibid
‘Good knowledge management can reduce risks and increase
efficiency through the re-use of proven approaches and
avoidance of known pitfalls.’ p23, ibid

6. APM perspective - KM - for Programmes
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Why Knowledge Management is important for Programmes:
 Programmes by definition contain multiple projects
 This creates the opportunity to capture lessons from earlier
projects and apply them to later projects

7. APM perspective - KM - filling in the gaps
7
The APM BoK does not go into any details on how to undertake
Knowledge Management, or set out how to address any issues.
This presentation sets out to explain areas to focus on, and tools
that can help.

8. Why Sharing is difficult - types of Knowledge
8
It is important to understand that there are different types of
knowledge, and that they need to be shared in different ways:
 Encoded Knowledge – in books
 Embedded Knowledge – in procedures
 Embodied Knowledge – know-how, problem solving skills
 Embrained Knowledge – personal experience

9. Why Sharing is difficult - types of Knowledge
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From this we can appreciate that:
 Some knowledge can be captured in a written format
 Some knowledge exists between people
 Some knowledge is in the heads of individuals
It is important to understand that this results in the need to
share in different ways to benefit from all the different types of
knowledge.

10. Why Sharing is difficult - Ways to Share
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11. Sharing Headings: Ways to Share
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12. Sharing Headings: Hot
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13. Sharing Headings: Warm
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14. Sharing Headings: Cold
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15. Sharing Headings: Cool
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16. Balanced Approach to Sharing
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17. Why Sharing is difficult - where Knowledge sits
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There is additional context that needs to be appreciated:
 Programmes are made up of a large number of people and
potentially a large number of firms
 It is important that learning in Programmes does not remain
locked within Programmes. It needs to be shared widely
 Sharing needs to be addressed as a specific issue, because
otherwise it will not happen

18. APM perspective – KM issues
18
‘Organisations need to capture knowledge and experience,
optimise their usefulness and make them available.’ p22, ibid
Before you can capture knowledge, a business needs to
understand where the knowledge comes from. There is also a
stage after making the knowledge available.
This is all captured in the following sharing model.

19. The Three Stage Sharing Model
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20. Stage One: OFFERING
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 Shared information and knowledge has
to be made available to others

21. Stage One: OFFERING
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 Shared information and knowledge has
to be made available to others

22. Stage One: OFFERING
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 Shared information and knowledge has
to be made available to others

23. Stage One: OFFERING
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 Shared information and knowledge has
to be made available to others

24. Stage Two: FINDING
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 Others who need this information and
knowledge must be able to find it
• .

25. Stage Two: FINDING
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 Others who need this information and
knowledge must be able to find it

26. Stage Two: FINDING
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 Others who need this information and
knowledge must be able to find it

27. Stage Two: FINDING
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 Others who need this information and
knowledge must be able to find it

28. Stage Three: USING
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 For a programme to gain value from its
information and knowledge, it must be
used

29. Stage Three: USING
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 For a programme to gain value from its
information and knowledge, it must be
used

30. Stage Three: USING
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 For a programme to gain value from its
information and knowledge, it must be
used

31. Stage Three: USING
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 For a programme to gain value from its
information and knowledge, it must be
used

32. Supporting stages: CULTURE
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 A programme must have a sharing
culture to gain the most value from its
information and knowledge
• The wrong culture may also stop
individuals offering to share their
knowledge.

33. The Three Stages of Sharing:
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34. Why Sharing is difficult – How we share
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Offering:
 No universally accessible home for knowledge
 Opportunities to share are limited
 No time to capture knowledge due to project pressures
 Individuals see knowledge as power and guard it

35. Why Sharing is difficult – How we share
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Finding:
 Poor filing structure
 Poor search function
 No database of individuals skills and knowledge
 Poor connexions between offices / teams

36. Why Sharing is difficult – How we share
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Using
 Individuals like to invent solutions for themselves
 Knowledge from elsewhere is not trusted
 Captured knowledge not in a format others can readily use
 The wrong type of knowledge has been captured

37. Why Sharing is difficult – How we share
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Culture
 Sharing not seen to be allowed
 No support for sharing activities
 Sharing seen as a one way process, does not benefit the
individual

38. Why Sharing is difficult – How we share
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Other issues
 Having the context to learn the lessons
 Having the experience to understand the learning
 Understanding how it will be used - format

39. APM perspective – KM issues
39
‘There are two key challenges: knowledge is difficult to assemble
and it is difficult to encourage its use.’ p23, ibid
Getting people to be willing to share is critical, you then need to
give them the right opportunities to share

40. Knowledge Sharing Tools
40
 1, Communities of Practice
 2, Peer assist
 3, Knowledge Exchange / Toolbox talks
 4, Knowledge handover
 5, After action review
 6, Knowledge fairs – coffee mornings – knowledge speed
dating
 7, Show & tell
 8, Opportunities for impromptu sharing – e.g. water
cooler chats
 9, Mentoring
 10, Story telling
 11, Consultant approach – bring in an expert to comment
and advise
 12, Site knowledge visits
 13, Apprenticeship
 14, Social events
 15, Checklist Use
 16, Knowledge brokers – the people who know who knows
what
 17, Yellow pages – expert directories
 18, Wiki’s
 19, Blogs
 20, Communication plans
 21, Lessons learned – Retrospect
 22, Knowledge retention interviewing / knowledge
harvesting
 23, Learning Histories
 24, Business driven action learning
 25, Producing expert papers
 26, Knowledge mapping – skills mapping
 27, Knowledge repositories – extranets
 28, Knowledge assets
 29, Best practice transfer
 30, Checklist Production

41. Knowledge Sharing Tools – When to use them
41
BEFORE
 2, Peer assist
 4, Knowledge handover
 11, Consultant approach – bring in an expert to comment
and advise
 26, Knowledge mapping – skills mapping
 28, Knowledge assets
DURING
 3, Knowledge Exchange / Toolbox talks
 5, After action review
 7, Show & tell
 8, Opportunities for impromptu sharing – e.g. water
cooler chats
 9, Mentoring
 10, Story telling
 14, Social events
 15, Checklist Use
AFTER
 18, Wiki’s
 19, Blogs
 21, Lessons learned – Retrospect
 22, Knowledge retention interviewing / knowledge
harvesting
 23, Learning Histories
 25, Producing expert papers
 27, Knowledge repositories – extranets
 29, Best practice transfer
 30, Checklist Production

42. Why Sharing is difficult – is it more work?
42
No one likes homework:
 Facilitate the learning capture sessions
 Remove the ‘work’ element; plus no phones, no computers
 Make it fun, or at least comfortable; in a neutral location
 Make it part of the programme: paid for, and planned
 Just because something doesn’t look like work, doesn’t mean
it can not create value

43. Knowledge Sharing – main points to remember
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 There are different types of Knowledge
 They each need to be shared in different ways
 The stages of Sharing – can help with diagnosing issues
 There are many Knowledge tools, find the most helpful
 Sharing can be difficult – facilitate capture
 Don’t lock Knowledge away in Programmes

44. Questions
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45. The Importance of Knowledge Sharing across
Programmes: Introduction & Tools
David Pearce