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Preparing
for Conversations with Simon Lelic
Communities
and Organizations: Future of KM Practitioners
Simon Lelic
Managing
Editor, Ark Group
 Biography
Simon Lelic is managing
editor at Ark Group, publishers of Knowledge Management,
Content Management Focus, Intranet Strategist and
a number of other industry-leading magazines.
In addition to managing
the editorial content and production of these titles, Simon heads
up the reports division of the company. As well as commissioning
and editing a series of reports dealing with topics that include
taxonomies, KM in the public sector and KM in the legal sector,
he is currently researching and writing a practitioner's guide
to communities of practice, which will be published at the end
of the year.
Prior to taking
up his current role, Simon was editor of Knowledge Management
magazine for almost four years. Widely regarded as the leading
journal in its field, Knowledge Management is the only
industry publication to feature in-depth case studies from leading
blue-chip companies, together with interviews with KM luminaries,
industry news and analysis. The magazine is read by more than
20,000 KM professional and practitioners from both the public
and the private sector and in countries throughout the world.
Simon has interviewed
and profiled the likes of Tom Stewart, Dorothy Leonard, Karl-Erik
Sveiby, Leif Edvinsson, Bob Buckman, Warren Bennis, Fons Trompenaars
and Arie de Geus. His articles on knowledge-management issues
have also been translated and published in numerous publications
across Europe and Asia.
Prior to joining
Ark Group, Simon worked as a freelance journalist, writing on
a variety of topics, including business, finance and sports.
He studied history at the University of Exeter before taking
an MA in European History. He also has a Magistar (MA equivalent)
in Sociology from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.
Simon lives and works in London, England.
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Opening
Remarks: Telling the Stories of KM Practice
It is extremely
flattering to be invited to host a discussion series that has
had the likes of Hubert Saint-Onge, Leif Edvinsson, Karl-Erik
Sveiby and countless other KM luminaries at its helm over the
past three years. I have followed previous dialogues with interest
and, as editor (now managing editor) of a magazine that serves
a global audience of KM practitioners, have found AOK an invaluable
source of ideas and insight into the challenges KM practitioners
face on a day-to-day basis. I can only hope that this month's
dialogue proves as rewarding to others as the Star Series has
to me in the past.
First of all, I
would like to make one thing clear: I am not a knowledge-management
practitioner. Most of you will have far more experience than
I on the front line of KM implementation, and will have your
share of war stories that other AOKers would benefit enormously
from hearing. This is something I would certainly like to encourage
over the next two weeks -- after all, as a journalist I am all
too aware of the power such stories have in educating, and entertaining,
those who read them. As such, I hope that those of you who read
this will be able to make time to add your own two pennies' worth
to the discussion that follows. Another thing you learn as a
journalist is that everyone has a story worth telling.
As for my own contribution,
I can offer only the knowledge that I have accumulated over the
past four years working in the KM industry. Compared with many
of the others who have played host in this series, this doesn't
seem very long, but during those four years I have been fortunate
to have met and spoken to practitioners, vendors, consultants
and other journalists with various levels of experience and from
countries all around the world. At the very least, I hope to
be able to pass on the stories and insights that they were good
enough to share with me.
In addition (and
please excuse the inadvertent plug) Ark Group has been working
with the KM community for many years (KM Europe, the biggest
KM event in Europe, is about to get underway for the fourth consecutive
year as I write this, and Knowledge Management magazine
is now well into its seventh volume), so if I cannot answer your
questions, one of my colleagues will no doubt be able to.
In terms of specific
topics, past experience suggests conversations such as the one
that will follow tend to find their own direction. Personally,
though, the subject I am most interested in at the moment is
communities of practice; specifically, how organisations should
look to balance proactive intervention with a strategy that allows
communities to grow organically. Most importantly, I am interested
in what works in the real world. I am not after 'best' practice
(like many others, I feel this is a complete misnomer), but examples
of how some of the theory that surrounds CoPs translates into
real-life success or failure -- and why.
I am in the process
of writing a report on this very topic, so have a number of case
studies, surveys and research projects that suggest their own
conclusions, which I will be happy to share. At the same time,
I would love to hear your own take on the subject, and specifically
which issues relating to communities of practice are the most
important to you; at least, which issues you are struggling to
address or have cracked in your own organisation. As I say, I
don't believe there is such a thing as a definitive recipe for
success when it comes to CoPs, but I am certain many of you have
learnt lessons (the hard way) that others would delight in hearing.
I, for one, am very much looking forward to the conversation
ahead.
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Links
www.kmmagazine.com
www.kmeurope.com
http://www.knowledgeboard.com/community/zones/sig/cp.html
Recommended
Reading
Wenger, E., McDermott,
R. & Snyder, W., Cultivating
Communities of Practice (HBS Press, 2002)
Saint-Onge, H. &
Wallace, D., Leveraging Communities
of Practice for Strategic Advantage (BH, 2002)
Anklam, P., "KM and the social network" in
Knowledge Management (Ark Group, May 2003)
Lelic, S., "A sense of community: The role of CoPs
in knowledge management" in Knowledge Management
(Ark Group, October 2001)
Seely Brown, J.
& Soloman Gray, E., "The people are the company" in
FastCompany (November 1995)
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