denotes premium content | Aug 30 2008 Feature
posted 1 Nov 1999 in Volume 3 Issue 3
The Fourth Wave
If your company is hemmed in by
traditional barriers and you feel that the idea of introducing knowledge
gathering will only invoke apathetic reactions, then perhaps your company needs
a “fourth wave” to break the ice. Buckman Laboratories empowered their
employees’ confidence and willingness to share by inviting them to a retreat
called the “fourth wave”. In this article, Bob Buckman shows how pleasure and
business can be mixed for a successful result.
In the winter of 1996, I spent an
evening in Chicago to accept the Arthur Andersen Enterprise Award for Knowledge
Sharing for Buckman Laboratories. My close associates, Mark Koskiniemi and
Alison Tucker accompanied me. Relaxing over dinner and wine, and waiting for the
ceremony to begin, we discussed our labours over the past many years to realise
the dream of connecting the company’s far-flung global associates in order to
allow them to share their expertise and knowledge, in order to better serve
Buckman customers. Fifteen years ago, the technological barriers to global
connectivity were significant. There was no public access to the Internet and
there was only a clumsy and inefficient prototype of today’s e-mail. But, as we
were to find out, the technological barriers were nothing compared to the
cultural barriers between individuals, between countries, with different
languages and belief systems. As we talked over dinner, Alison Tucker
experienced a lightning bolt of inspiration and quickly wrote on the back of a
table napkin: “Communication is human nature; knowledge sharing is human
nurture”. Alison’s words aptly described one of the toughest obstacles the
company had worked so hard to overcome. It had been a long and difficult road to
travel before arriving at receiving Arthur Andersen’s award for knowledge
sharing. Communication is human nature but real knowledge sharing does not come
naturally - it is not human nature - it can exist only after the barriers
preventing knowledge sharing have been eliminated.
The barriers to knowledge sharing and
the ensuing ‘human nurture’ are so numerous that much of everyone’s time and
effort over the past fifteen years has been devoted to identifying and
eliminating those barriers. As barriers were eliminated one by one, the company
began to work toward the highest level of communication possible. To achieve
this, all participants had to enthusiastically share all they knew with one
another, without reservation, all the time. The company has been working for a
long time to address the dual issues of:
Today, technology is the easy part.
However, human reluctance to give up the advantage of private, individual
knowledge is rooted in the enduring belief that knowledge is power. The feeling
that knowledge should be hoarded to maintain personal influence is much more
difficult to overcome than any technological barrier. It is a human problem, not
a technological one.
Barriers
Barriers inherent in an organisation
must be identified and addressed in order to eliminate them. While departments,
divisions, managers, and corporate cultures are in place to facilitate
productivity, they can also discourage knowledge sharing. Competition between
departments and divisions drives many individuals to try and stockpile their
personal knowledge and expertise and use it to succeed. Sales regions strive to
outsell all other regions. And in international companies, there is often
intense competition between operating companies around the world. If the office
in Europe, for example, has found a way to successfully apply new chemistries
and technologies that have drastically improved their bottom line, they might
decide to try and keep their methods secret in order to be the company’s top
performer for the next year as well.
In the early days of Buckman’s
knowledge sharing efforts, in the mid 1980’s, (when e-mail was rudimentary, the
Internet was largely unknown and there was no world wide web) the field sales
force, some 50% of the company’s associates, were strongly opposed to the idea
of sharing knowledge. They feared giving away their sales secrets to others
because their salary was to some degree determined by their sales. They feared
sharing technological information with people online whose names they did not
know, who were possibly from other countries. They feared taking advice from
people they had never met who were giving them information about processes and
products they thought could have no bearing on their own particular situations.
They thought that spending time online was a waste of time and that the idea of
maintaining electronic communications was just another business fad that would
fade away like others before it. So many of the sales force were strongly
resistant to sharing knowledge that some of them resigned rather than align
themselves with the company’s new policy of knowledge sharing.
Some barriers to
knowledge sharing are subtle. The cultures in some countries are more open with
regard to worker communication and teamwork, while others are more guarded and
reserved. It is important to recognise and acknowledge when a barrier is
cultural in nature because it can usually be easily resolved with respect and
understanding on the part of both parties. Trying to force a Western culture on
Eastern people, for instance, will likely make the barriers stronger. Respecting
and learning as much as possible about those differences will lead to increased
empathy, understanding, and enhanced communication.
Language differences are powerful
barriers as well. Even with the best translations from one language to another,
substance as well as nuance can be lost. Even when the majority of the message
is well understood by both parties, certain subtleties in meaning will almost
certainly be lost. In any serious attempt at knowledge sharing in an
international company, constantly evolving efforts to make information available
in each person’s native language is vitally important. Though more international
business today is conducted in English, the ability to have information
available in multiple languages makes conducting business much friendlier for
those who do not speak English as their first language. As online translation
services continue to improve in quality and decrease in price, communication in
the native language of all involved becomes easier to achieve.
Electronic communication
has arguably provided the business and academic world with the tools to share
information as never before in the history of man. The Internet is providing the
world with facts on any subject imaginable - furnishing the best, most
appropriate education, made up of completely timely information - available to
anyone willing to take part. Within companies, individuals share their
specialised knowledge through communities of practice, teams, outside expert
individuals, articles, databases, electronic libraries, and at-work
communities.
Buckman’s Code of Ethics
How can a company develop a culture
that will result in sufficient trust among colleagues to promote open knowledge
sharing? The first step is to develop a code of ethics that guides the behaviour
of all associates at every level of the organisation and in every country of the
world. The code guides all associates and creates an atmosphere of confidence
and cooperation. Through this code and the culture changes within the company -
and through the creation of K’Netix(r), the Buckman Knowledge Network - Buckman
associates are involved in continuous knowledge sharing, across all boundaries,
time zones, languages, and technical specialities. The Code of Ethics is as
follows below.
Because many miles - separate us - through diversity of cultures and
languages - we at Buckman need a clear understanding of the basic principles by
which we will operate our company. These are:
As individuals
and as a corporate body, we must endeavour to uphold these standards so that we
may be respected as persons and as an organisation.
Trust
We have found that trust
is the essential pre-requisite to any successful knowledge sharing effort.
Building that trust is vital. Trusting each associate is vital. Associates’
trust in management is vital. Giving everyone equal access to the comprehensive
knowledge base of the company is vital. Sharing all knowledge with every
associate at every level - from bookkeepers to the C.E.O. - is vital. Trust has
to go both ways in equal measure: the associates must trust management and
management must trust the associates. All the above ingredients are required in
order for confidence to grow amongst all individuals in the organisation.
Obviously, this goal is not easily achieved.
We have also found that the span of
communications must be unlimited for every associate of the company. There can
be no boundaries - real or perceived. Any and all associates are empowered to
speak with any other associate at any level of the organisation. We’ve also
discovered that trust is essential to ensure the speed of response to requests
for information. To increase the speed of response, Buckman’s knowledge sharing
system, K’Netix(r) has removed the mechanical boundaries to communication and
has provided instant connectivity. Such access allows every individual to not
only reap information and knowledge but to share it at will.
As communication at
Buckman has increased in quality and volume, knowledge sharing has also
increased and those who contribute most through sharing their knowledge and
expertise are easily identifiable to all. Those who contribute most are
perceived as most influential among others in the organisation. This perception
of the influence knowledge sharing bestows on an individual is a powerful
motivator and drives others to participate as well. As the power of each
individual grows through expanding their span of influence, their collective
power causes the organisation to realise unprecedented success for itself and
its customers.
At
Buckman, we are continually looking for new windows of opportunity to support
our front-line associates, (technical representatives on-site with our
customers). Many of our technical representatives are dedicated to a single
customer, working within their physical plant every day to optimise their
processes. They are there to ‘close the gap’ - to solve customer questions
before they become problems.
Culture change &
incentives
At 5:00 p.m. on a Friday in early 1994, I made a call to one of the
sysops (Systems Operator), telling her I was coming down to her office to
discuss a request. I asked if she could compile a list of the top 150 people who
were contributing most to the forums or sharing knowledge in a significant way.
I wouldn’t tell her why I wanted the list, only that I wanted this list of 150
(compiled from all associates, all over the world) as fast as possible. The
sysop included the top 50 people, then another 50 who were very high users of
the system as well along with all sysops in all countries. In a few days time, I
sent her an e-mail to tell her that she, and the 150 people on her list, were
invited to a company retreat at a resort in Arizona. The retreat would celebrate
the achievements in ‘sharing knowledge’ of those 150 associates - and would also
serve as an incentive to all other associates to increase their activity online.
The retreat would be called ‘the fourth wave’.
At the resort, the participants held
formal meetings and shared ideas about how to further the advancements already
made in knowledge sharing. There were also breakout meetings concerning such
subjects as better customer service, improved delivery times, product
development and other miscellaneous subjects. Mark Koskiniemi (Vice President of
Human resources) sat at the rear of the room during these meetings, transcribing
events as they took place so that Buckman associates all over the world who
weren’t there could read about events as they transpired. His reports from the
meeting did more than any other one thing to boost the morale of all associates,
and to bring them into ‘the fourth wave’.
There were also many non-formal
gatherings, designed for fun, during which the participants were able to forge
strong relationships - helping them to communicate even better when they
returned to their offices. One evening the entire group, composed of associates
from more than 20 countries was packed into two large transcontinental buses and
transported deep into the Arizona desert. They arrived at an old barn that had
been transformed into a restaurant set up for a western barbecue. There were
activities such as roping mechanical cows, archery, and riding a mechanical
bull. Every member of the group was met by a welcoming committee and given a
huge yellow cowboy hat emblazoned with the fourth wave logo!
The attendees also
received a new laptop computer and a leather computer bag. All the participants
brought feelings of accomplishment and excitement over the remarkable changes in
Buckman’s culture back to the organisation. Culture changes were made to support
customers, associates on the front line, managers, and associates, in any
capacity, in the various offices around the world. Changes as broad and deep as
these are the most difficult part of the process of implementing knowledge
sharing. Various kinds of incentives were built into the plan to help motivate
people to accept enthusiastically something many of them initially saw as a
waste of valuable time resources and effort.
Of course, the first and best
incentive is the respect associates receive from co-workers when their knowledge
and expertise is shared publically with everyone over the forums. The respect of
one’s peers is a powerful motivator. As associates gain power, they begin to see
their influence grow - as well as their opportunities for advancement within the
company.
Today,
more than ever, more company associates worldwide are effectively engaged on the
front line with the customer through their participation in online knowledge
sharing. Allowing everyone the opportunity to interface with the associates in
the field and with the customers provides them with an intensely positive
experience. Individuals who, before, had limited impact on customer
relationships could now interface with customers directly. They receive
recognition from the whole company because the global company can see their
experience, knowledge, and contributions, online.
“With everything else dropping out of
the competitive equation, knowledge has become the only source of long run,
sustainable competitive advantage. But knowledge can only be employed through
the skills of individuals. The value of an individual’s knowledge depends upon
the intelligence with which it is used in the entire system.” Lester Thurow1
To recap, effective incentives in
persuading individuals to share their knowledge are:
Learning centre
Buckman’s most recent step in
creating incentives for knowledge sharing is the creation of the Buckman
Laboratories Learning Centre. Many companies have created similar programmes
called, among other things, on-line universities or colleges or training
centres. Through the Buckman Learning Centre, the classroom can be delivered
to any associate, in any subject, at any time, anywhere in the world. The
Learning Centre offers Buckman Laboratories internal training, credit from
over twenty universities around the world; degree programmes to the Ph.D.
level for its associates - without appreciable out-of-service cost for those
associates while they accomplish their selected programmes.
There are other
savings for the company as well: travel cost to the classroom is eliminated,
housing cost at the site where the education is conducted is eliminated, and
the cost of the classroom is much less; all of which allows the company to
direct funds toward hiring superior professors. The company also benefits when
their associates continue to receive the most advanced technical training,
without leaving the worksite, and with the ultimate benefit going to the
customer.
The
Buckman Learning Centre has been successful in decreasing the cost of
educating our associates to less than $50.00 per hour of learning delivered.
But, more importantly, it has helped make continuous learning a reality at
Buckman. Since knowledge becomes devalued over time unless continually
renewed, it is essential that associates renew their expertise, adding to it
with every new development, so that their knowledge base remains optimally
current.
We
continually promote the establishment of a new cultural paradigm - that of
creating unlimited opportunities for associates to become the best they can
be, over time, for their lifetime at work. The benefit of the Learning Centre
to the customer is that Buckman customers can be sure that employees will
always remain the best-educated, best-informed and most technically proficient
specialty-chemical suppliers available.
Conclusion
It is vital to focus
on satisfying associate needs. Make knowledge easier and faster to obtain.
Work toward reaching instantaneous knowledge transfer - from individuals to
the company, from individuals to the customers, and from individuals to
individuals. Everyone wins.
Robert Buckman is Chairman and CEO
of Buckman Laboratories International Inc. He can be contacted at: rhbuckman@buckman.com
| 1 Lester Thrurow is a world renowned authority in economics and knowledge management |
