KC-UK 2005

Co-creating Value

By Sergej van Middendorp, strategist at e-office and co-founder of the Proof of Value Network

Thanks for the photographs to Martyn Laycock and for co-editing to Verna Allee, Fran Kelly, and Martyn Laycock

Introduction

Two innovative networks came together to launch an experiment at the Knowledge and Content UK conference held in London July 4-5 this year. The two networks were the London Knowledge Network, a membership organization and the Proof of Value Network, a highly collaborative network of cutting-edge service providers, consultants, and thought leaders.

Our experiment centered around the question, “How can we position an innovative network of service providers while creating real-time insights and value for conference participants?” What follows is a brief review of what we did to prepare for the event, what happened in our ‘Proof of Value Network Live’ advisory centre, and what valuable insights and questions came out of that experience.

Idea for the booth

Do something different

In the preparation for the event, we asked ourselves how we could break out of the traditional exhibit hall format and engage participants in a different way. The creative combination of some of the trends we see in our environment made us decide to go into action research mode and design a co-creative environment with the conference participants.

Co-create with participants in the conference

We thought the best way we could go about this was to use the tools we use in our practice. Central to our effort would be the co-creation of the conference Value Network. Furthermore, we were looking at the entire conference as a Knowledge Innovation ZoneTM, defined by Proof of Value Network thought leader Debra Amidon as a segment or community of practice in which knowledge flows from the point of origin to the point of need or opportunity. We wanted to use Verna Allee’s ValueNet WorksTM Analysis approach live with visitors to discover how all participants at the conference create value together for their network by exchanging tangibles and intangibles.

Furthermore, in dialogue with our hosting partner for the event, The London Knowledge Network, we decided to showcase the different tools and methodologies that can be used in addition to the value network analysis to translate findings into actions, monitor them, and report on the outcomes. We demonstrated tools from network partners such as Sveiby Knowledge Associates’ KMAP, TangonetR, and the Intangible Assets Monitor and we talked about Intangibles Auditing and Certification. In general, we used the value network conversations to display additional aspects of our services portfolio.

Preparations

In preparing, we asked ourselves what participants could be encouraged to contribute beforehand to start to build a basic value network diagram. We decided to focus on the participants - and their supporting suppliers, partners, and customers - who together could identify opportunities in the environment and facilitate the projects and actions that are needed to support learning, growth, and knowledge sharing. We came up with a starting set as shown in Figure 2.

Real-time work in development

The first thing we discovered was that our somewhat rough and workman-like setup lowered the threshold for people to engage in conversation with us. Furthermore, the value network we put up on the wall aroused the interest of visitors. Soon the first stories of value creation began to unfold. Over the two days we had about 60 conversations. Many started with the basic and evolving value network on the wall and then led into discovering and discussing specific actions using some of our other tools.

Identity crisis

Most conversations started with asking what network role a delegate could identify with. This resulted in some identity crises, because many people related to a number of the roles put up by us. What helped here was to discuss the goal of the conference visit and the specific questions delegates asked themselves when participating in KC-UK. Or they could relate to a specific role they play in a project or function. Most people could then identify themselves with one of our participants.

Focus and story

Now the stories began to expand, involving different organizations, profit and not-for-profit - different projects, people, functions, roles, politics, ambitions, challenges - large organizations, small ones, difficult projects. The world highlighted by particular situations spread out over the two days. Once the story started, we began to have richer and richer dialogues based on the developing value network.

Many participants then continued the conversation with a focus on the tools and techniques that can enable delivery of identified opportunities. Graham Fernée would show people how to learn to manage intangibles in practice by means of Tangonet, or would take them through Karl Erik’s work on the KMAP or Intangible Assets Monitor. We found people interested in profiling the values perspective of individual nodes in the network based on Management Drives. We showed some of the early work being done to integrate Verna’s work with Karl-Erik’s. We had some dialogue around intangibles auditing and certification as delivered by network partner Paola de Piccoli from ICC.

Many local delegates were also interested in more background on The London Knowledge Network. Martyn Laycock, who was also facilitating the conference ‘knowledge’ stream would invite people over, hop in and continue to make introductions and initiate conversations here.

We had a number of guests from our network helping out on specific issues. David Peregrine Jones, LKN member via the European Knowledge Group, helped us on a number of occasions and so did his colleague John Curran. From their specific areas of expertise they would chip in when it came to strategic information management or strategic sales.

Two examples

Two examples of stories we shared with delegates help illustrate the questions at hand.

In a large UK bank a group of people is responsible, in the network role of internal consultants, to help new hires get up to speed quickly in the IT environment of that bank. If the bank would hire an IBM DB2 specialist for example, the IT manager of the bank would hire the internal consultants to transfer bank IT DB2 knowledge so the new hire can quickly grasp the context where his competencies will be applied.

In addition to these tangibles, several important intangibles were surfaced. New hires regularly feed back to the internal consultants that they appreciate the sense of community and the basic social network they can rely upon after the formal knowledge transfer has happened. This makes them feel comfortable and welcome in the organization.

In another example we conversed with an internal consultant, who as a result of the KM program he had facilitated for his customer, took on the additional job of managing the intranet team. After discussing the identity and question issue, we found that a next step should be taken in handing over the management role to a new hire.

In identifying what transactions and deliverables were at play here we found the obvious tangibles to be the job profile and curriculum vitae, as well as the exchange of knowledge around these in interviews. In addition, the internal consultant identified that he had implicit expectations that he needed to address during a job interview, when evaluating someone’s potential. Thinking about this intangible exchange beforehand made him realize how to balance between these in the upcoming procedures.

End-of-the-day reflection

At the end of the day, the London Knowledge Network hosted a session where several thought leaders, academics, and practitioners exchanged ideas and experiences. Before the event, we invited the participants to have a drink in our stand. Bob Buckman, founder of Buckman Laboratories, Dave Snowden of the Cynefin Centre, Geoff Parcell, formerly of BP and the United nations AIDS program, exchanged ideas around our work. In the end-of-day-atmosphere and reflections with participants, we were pleased to find the co-creation not only provided valuable insights but also helped people deepen their relationships by better understanding each other’s work.

Conclusions for the network present

Solution providers should team with consultants

After the first day, we tried to identify patterns that were story independent and maybe event dependent. We thought we should be able to identify commonalities in such a large number of stories from the same value network. One of the first things we saw was that both solution providers and internal consultants saw themselves in direct relationships with end-users. In itself this is a good outcome, since we also position customers and the market there. End-users are also the people best equipped and positioned to identify opportunities and challenges that create value directly. However, we found there were no identified transactions and deliverables between the solution providers and the consultants themselves. This suggests some opportunities here for tighter collaboration. Although we know this collaboration exists in practice we found it worthwhile to mention the identified pattern here, because none of the stories produced any connection in this area.

IT and business, not IT or business

A wider pattern that could be identified in the value network was the distance between IT and the business. Many thought leaders today focus on the human side of knowledge management. They have plenty of reason to do so because of the failure of many technology-focused projects to deliver on their promises over the years. Research, like Don Marchand's Information Orientation, also shows that technology is relatively more mature than the management of information itself and even more than the information behaviors and values that go with the people side of the equation. At the same time, we now also know that it is the interplay of technology, information/knowledge, and behavior that creates value. So tighter integration between the two areas, with less focus on one area in particular of the value network, would help in making KM more successful. If you are pressed to reduce complexity of only one factor, we do want to stress that the benefit of the doubt today should go to people- and organization-focused initiatives. One delegate commented that the IT – Business gap already manifests itself in nursery school.

“Business people and IT people at that age already watch different television shows, movies, date different girlfriends. Now all of a sudden we are supposed to understand each other. Such a value network exercise is a prerequisite to help here, to say the least.”

Everyone we talked with identified themselves as end-users too. Just as we ourselves decided to co-create this insight with our customers, partners, and stakeholders, we want to encourage everyone engaged in such a conference to co-create with their users next time. Bring in some enthusiastic user representatives or business managers and co-create the experience of the event with them. Maybe then you will have a start toward developing more cohesiveness in the projects you will do together later on.

Final thoughts

For us, as we hope it was for you, this was a very valuable event. During two days we had about sixty thought-provoking conversations. In the end we were in the position to present and discuss our findings with a large group of delegates. (Thanks Martyn for arranging with ARK to let Oliver make a ten-minute presentation to the full knowledge stream about what we had done and the outputs we had generated.) Due to our open approach we did deliver on our goal to co-create with customers. In really listening and facilitating the stories, we learned a lot about the value network and our own role in it. In exchange we were able to help a good number of people gain some fresh insights.

This encourages us to continue towards Knowledge and Content Europe in Amsterdam in the Fall. We will evaluate our findings and are very much looking forward to continuing our co-creation of value with all participants in our network.

Do not hesitate to explore your questions with us if you feel you would like to do so. Visit us on the online forum at the ARK Group or check out our websites at:

Forum
http://www.ikmagazine.com/kac

Proof of Value Network
http://www.proofofvaluenetwork.com

London Knowledge Network
http://www.londonknowledgenetwork.org.uk/