denotes premium content | May 25 2013 Feature
posted 1 Feb 2000 in Volume 3 Issue 5
NAI Gooch Webster, Icebergs, Pubs and The
Wheel World ...
Mergers create a perfect opportunity for knowledge management to
rebuild the corporate neural network, and even forge new knowledge sharing
connections across teams, IT infrastructure and informal meetings. Here, Colin
Manders outlines the journey towards discovering the rest of the knowledge below
the tip of the iceberg.
The UK property market is fiercely
competitive. Clients are more discerning and demanding. The trend is towards
regional, cross-border and global provision of client service. To compete and
survive we have to share knowledge and experience in a diverse and multicultural
network. The only way to retain clients, to build the business and to increase
profits is to improve continuously the quality and delivery of the company's
services.
The
strategic merger of two practices 18 months ago was a reaction to the changing
market. A doubling of size and increased diversity presented many issues. The
major goal has been to make the merger work and so the challenge for Gooch
Webster, presently, is more internal than external.
Culture is the principal determinant
of the success of knowledge management. Therefore, solving the cultural
differences and adopting a unified approach to change management is of vital
importance for the future success of the company.
Our participation in the European
sponsored Know-Net project embarked us on a journey to resolve these issues and
to place the company firmly at the head of our competition.
NAI Gooch
Webster
Gooch & Wagstaff (G&W) and J Trevor & Webster (JTW) were two
respected general surveying practices both of which had a long and distinguished
history dating back well into the last century. JTW had a strong reputation in
retail and building consultancy, while G&W made its name primarily in
investment, asset management and business space. G&W had an established City
presence, while JTW had a powerful regional network of offices. In May 1998 the
two firms merged and today Gooch Webster is amongst the top 20 surveying
practices in the UK with over 170 fee earners and a support staff of 100 who
between them generate over £17m worth of billings.
In November of this year the second
strategic objective was achieved when the merged firm joined New America
International (NAI) and rebranded as NAI Gooch Webster. Although still
independently owned, the company is now part of a global partnership of 230
offices practising in 33 countries.
Icebergs
When Gooch Webster was
formed, its size and the location of its offices in the City and West End of
London together with Bristol, Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and
Edinburgh created management and client service issues. A short history without
the creation or rebuilding of relationships added to the difficulties in
locating existing knowledge and moving it to where it is most effective. We knew
that somewhere in the company we knew the answer but we needed to find out
where. The mere existence of knowledge somewhere in the organisation is of
little benefit to our clients. It becomes a valuable corporate asset only if it
is accessible and applied for our clients' benefit. Solving this was one of the
key challenges of the merger.
Soon after the merger took place, I
was given the task of leading a knowledge management initiative. A chance
encounter by the firm's Chairman with Ron Young of Knowledge Associates led to a
constructive dialogue and ultimately to sponsorship by Knowledge Associates to
become one of the user companies participating in a European funded ESPRIT
project called Know-Net.
We could see the tip of the iceberg - we knew that we had a vast array
of knowledge. Our hope in participating in the project was to learn how to
uncover the rest of the iceberg and leverage this for our clients' benefit and
ultimately our profit.
Know-Net
Know-Net is an ESPRIT
programme (European Scientific Programme for Research into Information Technology -
Project Number EP28928). It is partly funded by the EEC with a budget of
1.9MECU.
The Know-Net Consortium partners are:-
 |
Planet - A Greek management consultancy firm and co-ordinator of the project. |
| |
Knowledge Associates Limited (KNAS) - International Knowledge Management & Technology Consulting Organisation. |
| |
FHBB - A research department of a Swiss university based in Basel. |
| |
ICCS - The Institute of Communications & Computer Systems of the National Technical University of Athens. |
| |
INSEAD - The Centre for Advanced Learning Technologies of the top European business school. |
| |
DFKI - A German research centre for artificial intelligence. |
| |
UBS - The credit risk valuation department of one of the world's leading financial services groups. |
| |
NAI Gooch Webster - A UK based company providing commercial property services world-wide. |
Know-Net's objectives are to create and commercially exploit an innovative solution for knowledge management within medium sized business organisations. The project will develop, apply, test and evaluate:-
| |
A set of business methods and processes for knowledge management. |
| |
A software tool that supports knowledge management. |
The intention is that Know-Net will enable the creation, retention, sharing and leveraging of knowledge assets in an organisation. This should improve and enhance the organisation s performance and lead to increased profitability. The longer-term aim is to enable the measurement and valuation of intellectual capital which will then appear on company balance sheets.
The tentative First Steps
A series of initiatives were undertaken to introduce and create awareness of knowledge management across the company and to secure the buy-in of the new Management Board. The Board enthusiastically adopted the concept of knowledge management but it soon became clear that other issues arising from the merger would take priority. In the months following the merger, the Board defined their vision, strategy and objectives for the new company. We realised that by adopting a pilot study in the company we would obtain more support and more rapid and demonstrable benefits. The Building Consultancy Group (BCG) was chosen to participate in the testing and implementation of the Know-Net project. The reasons for this choice were:
| |
They were enthusiastic supporters of the awareness initiatives. |
| |
The Group is geographically diverse, operating in 6 out of 7 of the company's offices. This was considered to be vital in validating the audit and diagnosis frameworks for Know-Net as well as the testing of the tools. |
| |
The Group had formed a business association with the Building Research Establishment (BRE), the UK's leading centre of expertise on building and construction. BRE are keen supporters of knowledge management. |
The Board endorsed the choice and recognised the commitment in time and effort that would be required by reducing the profit threshold for the allocations of the Group's bonus. This was a key factor to achieve the co-operation and buy-in of the BCG personnel. Workshops were organised with BCG personnel to identify the Group's strategic aims. These were established as:-
| |
Develop mobility and freedom from operating from a static base |
| |
Expand and enhance IT and IT capabilities |
| |
Explore homeworking |
| |
Use technology and knowledge management as a unique selling proposition for the group. |
| |
Create added value and leverage knowledge across the group to enhance profitability. |
Further workshops and interviews of BCG personnel were undertaken in conjunction with INSEAD to better understand and review the existing business processes. This resulted in:-
| |
The BCG service range being categorised and stratified into bands of potential profitability to ensure efficient matching of staff capability. |
| |
A systematic approach for knowledge reuse and transfer of best practices and knowledge. This was decided to be a key factor as is the transfer of knowledge and best practices across all of the offices. |
| |
Identifying BCG's markets. |
| |
The need to seek opportunities to cross sell the services of the company's other specialist groups to BCG clients. |
IT & Pubs
Both companies had differing IT structures, strategies and objectives. The merger brought a degree of chaos and the need for further heavy investment in IT infrastructure and training. The company standardised on a wide area network using a mixture of Novell, NT and Lotus Domino servers with Lotus Notes as the enabling groupware system. All personnel were given access to the Internet from their desk-top.
It was tempting to pursue a strategy to recover and make available existing legacy data but we believe that technology, although important, is only one enabler of knowledge management. More importantly, it can be detrimental to fostering a particular culture. Effective knowledge management cannot take place without extensive behavioural, cultural and organisational change. The installation of Notes, the Web or case based reasoning software will not in itself bring about that change. Technology alone will not make a person with expertise share it with others, nor will it coerce an employee, who is uninterested in seeking knowledge, to start searching or browsing. We identified a resilient and functioning IT system as a push element towards cultural change. We felt a cultural change could be fostered better by meetings and events allied to a gradual change in support infrastructure.
In conjunction with the main Board we created and published a cultural statement. The intention was to set a tone and then live up to that announcement in all other actions and deeds:
'NAI Gooch Webster is currently a business of some 280 individuals but what is NAI Gooch Webster and what does it means to be part of the company. Firstly we are a TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More). Why? Because we all contribute to a tremendous pool of knowledge, we like working together and we admire and respect the qualities and skills of our colleagues. We appreciate that in a team, different roles need to be performed and we value the whole range of input necessary to our business, from basic administration through to fee earning. As a TEAM we realise the importance of communication. Everyone at NAI Gooch Webster has opinions and they are encouraged to make them known. More importantly people are urged to suggest solutions to issues that concern them. We do, however, demand high standards and in deeds excellence is our watchword. We realise that the competition is strong and that being second best is not good enough. The business world changes rapidly and we must seek continuous improvement. As part of this philosophy we innovate and encourage initiative in every area of our business. We are dynamic and we enjoy success and sharing the success with our colleagues.'
The commitment to this culture was reinforced by a company event held on a river cruise on the Thames, at Group and sub-Group meetings, in relationships with colleagues, in publicity through Lotus Notes and in formal presentations.
Informal presentations are the most vital contribution to cultural change, being also the best places for socialisation and the exchange of knowledge and ideas. This occurs in the nearby pubs and winebars, and at the coffee machines and water-coolers in our offices.
We are not there yet but we are a long way down the right road to achieve the right culture for fostering knowledge management.
The Wheel World
The results of the interviews and workshops undertaken by INSEAD were fed back to Knowledge Associates, Planet, DFKI and the other members of the consortium. BCG personnel started testing and evaluating both the methodologies and the software tools. Know-Net's aim is to help companies move from determining the value of knowledge management activities to defining an integrated solution path that builds capability.
Stage 1 of the method determined:-
| |
The vision and readiness for a knowledge management initiative. |
| |
The scope and feasibility of the project. |
The first stage of the method has been implemented in NAI Gooch Webster. It has helped BCG identify the key business areas where the KM initiative should begin; to identify the key knowledge assets; to address the knowledge support processes, the organisational structures and roles and most importantly to assess the change readiness of the Group and the firm for a KM initiative.
Phase II of the Know-Net method iteratively develops, tests and reviews the structure and the design of a holistic solution (that covers processes, people and technology). NAI Gooch Webster is still undergoing this phase. The results of this audit and diagnosis are relayed to the consultants and to the software developers who use the input to define and refine both the method and the software tools. In this respect the process is slightly different, being a research project rather than pure consultancy. Both processes are proceeding in parallel which would not happen in a normal engagement.
A vital aspect is the development of business metrics to measure the creation, sharing and use of knowledge assets within the company. The project will fail if at the end of the pilot phase we cannot demonstrate to the Board that there have been measurable successes and an actual or anticipated return on our investment.
We have recently undertaken two workshop sessions, with the aim of identifying both key and critical success factors. The results of these sessions are currently being analysed with the intention that a measurement system will be in place soon.
The Know-Net Software
The merger raised IT issues which are still being resolved. It was therefore a key criteria that the piloting of the Know-Net software was ring-fenced from the firm's mission critical systems. This in turn created issues. We felt it was vital for the system to be tested and validated using actual data for real business. There is a resulting overhead in using two systems but at present we consider there is no viable alternative.
The company has invested heavily in a new data and telecomms system, and this went live during the first week of December. This will support video conferencing, whiteboarding, real time communication and the direct and simultaneous sharing of documents. BCG identified all of these facilities as being vital to the company. They will reduce travel time, increase fee earning capabilities and the velocity at which clients' instructions can be serviced.
A separate Know-Net server was purchased to run Lotus Notes Release 5 and the Know-Net tool. Knowledge Associates, who are based in Cambridge, and DFKI, who are based in Germany have visited us on many occasions and now have datacomms links directly to the server. This increases the power of the validating and feedback loop so that there can be a swift reaction to users' identified suggestions and problems.
Switching On
We anticipated that achieving buy-in alone would not be sufficient to ensure the use of the Know-Net tool. Personnel were enthusiastic but always too busy. For this reason two projects were identified from the BCG business plan and the Know-Net tool was used to achieve results. There were a number of existing systems, documents and processes from the two firms and protagonists for each. Using the Know-Net tool the documents, systems and processes were loaded and a live debate was conducted for a month. This had the dual aim of resolving part of the BCG business plan and ensured willing and active participation by members of the group, all of whom wanted to have their say!
We are currently experimenting with the loading of legacy data into the system to reduce the overhead of running parallel systems. The fact that the Know-Net server remains ring-fenced from our main systems is presenting other challenges which we are currently trying to resolve.
Progress
During the final phases of the project we are working hard to ensure that the piloting of the software is used to maximum effect. It is a very powerful message for developers to respond directly and quickly to users' suggestions. It is vital that we maximise the use of the tool so that there is sufficient data both to validate the metrics and to obtain results which will help speed up changes for the better. By this means we can present a cogent argument to widen the scope of the project with the ultimate aim of rolling out a full knowledge management capability across the company. This aspiration extends beyond the life of the ESPRIT project and we shall be looking to our sponsors to help us develop and expand our tentative steps in the world of knowledge management.
Conclusion & The Wheel World
Through our participation in the project we have learned much about theoretical definitions and the concept of knowledge. Although these may be interesting, from a user's perspective they are largely irrelevant. Our aims are to improve the service to our clients and our profitability. Knowledge management must deliver these aims in a tangible form or its life in the company will be short.
Our initial expectations from participating in Know-Net were limited to a better understanding of our business processes, systems and teamwork. We rapidly realised the commercial power and benefits which could result from leveraging what we know now and what we do now. The application of the Know-Net method and the installation of the Know-Net tool has been exciting. We are in the early stages of implementation and use but already we have seen direct tangible business benefits in what we produce and the way we work together.
We know that in the rapidly changing business environment knowledge is the key resource. The management of organisational knowledge is the priority. Despite initial resistance and difficulties, NAI Gooch Webster have crossed the bridge of reluctance and embraced a KM initiative. We have learned a lot but we know there is much more to learn, to improve and to change. We also know there is no turning back ...
Colin Manders FRICS MCIArb is a Director of NAI Gooch Webster, and is also a participant in the Business Space Group. He can be contacted at: c.manders@naigoochwebster.co.uk
Ermina Topintzi is an assistant on the KnowNet project. She is a liaises between NAI Gooch Webster and Planet - the Greek Management Consulting Company that is leading the project. She can be contacted at: e.topintzi@naigoochwebster.co.uk
For further information the consortium has a web site at http://www.know-net.org/
General References
1 Davenport, T. and L. Prusak (1998) Working Knowledge: How Organisations Manage What They Know, Harvard Business School Press.
2. Nonaka, I. (1991) The Knowledge-Creating Company, Harvard Business Review, November-December, pp. 96-104.
