Calvin: Sometimes when I'm talking, my words can't keep up
with my thoughts. I wonder why we think faster than we speak.
Hobbes: Probably so we can think twice.
~Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes
Hobbes: Probably so we can think twice.
~Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes
Knowledge
worth of many successful organizations lies in the fact, that they have competitive
edge on account of the few talented individuals dispersed at different level.
Even
within organizations, for workers, executives, managers the common knowledge base
is easily accessible but the unique proposition lies in the special
understanding of that innate knowledge that is rarely if ever discussed with
Diasporas.
And
that is the very reason why certain companies have an edge over other, either
in certain geographical areas or for that matter responding to critical
situations, probably because the former has realized “the Mantra”. There is
great significance of seamless flow of information and knowledge sharing across
subsidiaries or across geographies or across hierarchies. Every individual has
his own knowledge base and if seen as the larger picture many such
knowledgeable individuals are scattered across cultures, hierarchy within an organization, meaning neither the organization
nor the individual can completely
exploit the limit to which this knowledge can grow and even lead the organization
to greater heights.
This
means that the knowledge hangs in limbo; or rather knowledge exists but is diffused,
especially in a diverse organization. Imagine interactions amongst such
talented coworkers across geographies could yield a huge power and such a large
scale interaction would dwarf the significance and reliability on a select few
individuals and rather distribute the sense of achievement across the organization.
Many businesses have been satisfied at passing knowledge down the line through
phones or faxes, but perhaps with the advent of communications in the past
decade many leading organizations, academics and professional training groups
have come to believe that the future lies only in the hands of those who can
manage knowledge.
From
this we can quite simply imply that be it a huge organization or small setup,
information is there for all to know but knowledge that is the context in which
that information has to be used effectively and that insight that can be gained
by only sharing awareness through a common platform. So far the large
organizations with vast pool of resources and investments have been able to tap
this need. Those in phase of growth not able to keep aside that budget have
been constrained.
Skype,
Gtalk are tools for individual interactive video sessions but we would like to
post few open questions for your thought: How does a small- medium size
organization have focused group knowledge sharing sessions breaking location
boundaries? How can an entrepreneur set up have interactive communication with subject
matter experts of other geographies? And if so, how to connect? Which social
media has a power to connect likeminded organizations and individual experts?
Looking
forward to hear your opinions: