Becoming a Knowledge-Sharing Organization
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BECOMING A KNOWLEDGE-SHARING ORGANIZATION World Bank companion guides to this book: The Art of Knowledge Exchange (2015) Capturing Solutions for Learning and Scaling Up (2016) BECOMING A KNOWLEDGE-SHARING ORGANIZATION A Handbook for Scaling Up Solutions through Knowledge Capturing and Sharing Steffen Soulejman Janus © 2016 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved 1 2 3 4 19 18 17 16 This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. 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CONTENTS About This Handbook vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. Leadership and Culture 11 2. Governance Structures and Systems 23 3. Budgets and Financing 39 4. Partnerships 45 5. Preserving Knowledge: From Identifying to Formatting 53 6. Using Knowledge for Learning and Scaling Up 75 7. The How-To of Knowledge Sharing 91 8. Monitoring and Evaluation 111 9. Summing Up: Becoming a Knowledge-Sharing Organization 127 Appendixes 137 Glossary 179 References 185 vii ABOUT THIS HANDBOOK This volume offers a simple, systematic guide to creating a knowledge-sharing practice in your organization. It shows how to build the enabling environment and develop the skills needed to capture and share knowledge gained from operational experiences to improve performance and scale up successes. Its recommendations are grounded on the insights gained from the past seven years of collaboration between the World Bank and its clients around the world—ministries and national agencies operating in various sectors—that are working to strengthen their opera- tions through robust knowledge sharing. While this handbook has been informed by the academic literature on knowledge man- agement and organizational learning, its operational background and many real-world examples and tips also provide a practical foundation for public sector officials in devel- oping countries and for development practitioners. Moreover, the overall concepts and approaches will also hold true for most organizations in the private sector and the devel- oped world. Chapters 1–4 address the enabling environment needed by an organization to sys- tematically identify, capture, and share relevant operational experiences. Chapters 5–8 detail the technical skills required to execute the program. These eight topic areas, or pillars, represent the capacities organizations need, and the actions they can take to develop them. Chapter 9 summarizes the essential points; an extensive appendix includes templates, checklists, a sample knowledge asset, and sample job descriptions. Public sector organizations around the world have found that using the framework presented here has moved them strongly ahead in their quest to capture, use, share, and scale up their experiences and knowledge. The chapters are in some respects sequential, but they are also modular. Feel free to browse and apply them in any sequence that suits you. The World Bank’s two companion guides to this book can take you more deeply into the subjects covered here: » The Art of Knowledge Exchange (2015) » Capturing Solutions for Learning and Scaling Up (2016) Although this is a handbook, it is not a cookbook. No manual can provide a one- size-fits-all prescription for organizational change or anticipate all the details and issues that will vary across organizations. But we hope that, by offering practical approaches that others have found useful, this guide will help your organization become more effective in systematically capturing and sharing knowledge and tak- ing solutions to scale. ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the many colleagues, partners, peers, and friends who have been instrumental in the creation of this book. First of all, I thank the government of the Republic of Korea and its Ministry of Strategy and Finance for making this publication possible. Korean institutions have long been at the forefront of knowledge sharing for development, and many of the examples of knowledge sharing in this book concern projects that benefited from Korea’s cooperation and financing. I am grateful for my colleagues in the Organizational Knowledge Sharing Program at the World Bank, who have shaped and fine-tuned the approaches and tools described in this handbook through their work with numerous country institutions across the globe. In particular, a big thank-you goes to Jeff Kwaterski and Oscar de Bruyn Kops for their input and guidance on the text, especially in the early stages of drafting. Abha Joshi-Ghani, Laurent Besançon, and Roby Senderowitsch have provided con- tinuous support and encouragement. It is thanks to them that this book became a reality. Deep appreciation goes to Gregg Forte for his editorial work in tightening and focusing the manuscript and brightening it with his quick grasp of the value and promise of knowledge sharing. A special thank you goes to the seasoned knowledge and learning specialists who graciously agreed to review the manuscript: Daan Boom, Manuel Contreras, Maria Gonzalez de Asis, Phil Karp, Vincent Ribiere, and Kelly Widelska. This handbook is the richer for their valuable insights and thoughtful comments. Finally, as my many hours of work away from home these past few years were the incubator for this book, I will be ever grateful to my loving wife Couro, and to Aisha and Ilias, for the understanding and support they so generously gave me. Steffen Soulejman Janus Program Manager, Organizational Knowledge Sharing Program Leadership, Learning, and Innovation Vice Presidency, The World Bank x Becoming a Knowledge-Sharing Organization 1 INTRODUCTION Many development challenges are common across the world, but the solutions to them usually remain localized—they never get adapted for replication, or the key element is forgotten. Yet some agencies and some localities are more effective at learning from success and applying it further over time and space. What is the difference between those who make progress and those who fall behind? The answer is as simple as it is complex: knowledge—captured knowledge acquired in a specific local context that is adapted, scaled up, and replicated so that fertilizers get to the farmer, chil- dren get enrolled in schools, communities are sheltered from natural disasters, and life-saving medicines reach their destination. Knowledge sharing is the conduit through which solutions travel from place A to place