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Help Employees Create Knowledge — Not Just Share It
« Without diminishing the value of knowledge sharing, we would suggest that the most valuable form of learning today is actually creating new knowledge. Organizations are increasingly being confronted with new and unexpected situations that go beyond the textbooks and operating manuals and require leaders to improvise on the spot, coming up with new approaches that haven’t been tried before. »
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This tacit knowledge evolves as we confront new situations and it is often extremely valuable because it reflects our first-hand experience with the changes that are occurring around us, but it is much harder to access and spread. It typically can’t be written down and shared with others.
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In an organization focused on scalable efficiency, the focus of learning is on sharing explicit knowledge.
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But if leaders shift their focus to creating new tacit knowledge, then that kind of learning is best done in small workgroups that bring together people with diverse skills and perspectives and that help them to form deep, trust-based relationships with each other so that they can feel comfortable trying new things, even if they might not work, and reflecting collaboratively on what worked and what didn’t work.
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The Four Ways to Manage Digital Talent and Why Two of Them Don’t Work
« Digital has not only forced us to reimagine where and when work is done, but also who is going to do it. Digital leaders are experiencing new challenges as they compete for digital talent that is in high demand. They are dealing with three key shifts: (1) a shortage of talent with the requisite digital and social skills, (2) the need for flexibility to scale according to project requirements, and (3) skilled digital workers often choosing to work as freelancers. «
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We have been able to identify four distinct approaches to managing talent in this challenging environment (see Figure 1): Aligning, Orchestrating, Architecting, and Curating.
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Sixty-four percent of the companies we studied were in the lower quadrants of our framework, and often straining to manage a hybrid workforce with IT systems and HR capabilities designed around a more traditional full-time employment approach.
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Adapting to the expectations of the digital marketplace is critical to attracting and building a relationship with the value-adding talent.
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Test-and-learn environments are not just about new ways to approach how work is done, but also who is doing the work.
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When B2B buyers want to go digital–and when they don’t | McKinsey & Company
« New research puts that claim to rest, but it also makes clear that B2B suppliers cannot choose between a great sales force and great digital assets and capabilities. To drive growth, they need both. »
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As Exhibit 1 shows, 76 percent of B2B buyers find it helpful to speak to a salesperson when they are researching a new product or service. That figure falls to around 50 percent for repeat purchases of products with new or different specifications. And only 15 percent want to speak with a salesperson when repurchasing exactly the same product or service, no matter whether it’s the purchase of a router or, say, bulk commodity chemicals.
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The importance of an efficient service relates to the second finding: the way the experiences of B2B buyers in the online consumer world has influenced their expectations. Be they online or off, B2B buyers want an immediate response.
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Noteworthy too is how often they are dissatisfied with suppliers’ current level of digital and offline performance: some 46 percent of survey respondents said it was difficult to compare products online accurately.
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Some 30 percent of buyers of industrial technology, for example, said they preferred to buy from distributors because manufacturers’ sales representatives took too long to get back to them.
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There’s no sense having an e-chat function that I have to wait in a 15-minute queue to use,” one buyer told us. “I want it now, or I’m logging out and going elsewhere.”
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Investments in digital assets will indirectly help the sales force meet those needs, freeing them up from dealing with routine inquiries (when customers don’t want to talk to them anyway). Instead, they can devote time to helping customers with more complex buying needs, as well as seeking out new customers. However, a second set of digital investments will help the sales force directly.
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They can even feed sales representatives with real-time information on how to price an offer based on an analysis of deals other salespeople in the company have closed.
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