CKO Summits TFPL’s CKO Summits are unique, practical, events where CKOs from organisations spend two days together sharing experiences, debating key knowledge management issues and working together to formulate new knowledge strategies. CKO Summits are a learning event for a community of people who are catalysts for change. Attendance offers a rare opportunity to spend quality time with peers wrestling with similar challenges. The invitation list is carefully prepared to achieve a balance in the group of backgrounds and experience. The CKO Summit programme is based on round table discussions and topics developed and agreed with the participants – thus reflecting the state of the art at each event. The key outcomes of past Summits are summarised as Executive Summaries. The 9th CKO Summit for the private sector 21st - 23rd October 2007 Cliveden House, Taplow, UK At this unique, highly practical event, the world's leading knowledge practitioners from different industry sectors and countries spent two days together sharing experiences, debating key issues and working together to formulate new strategies. In previous years the group has developed excellent executive reports from discussions including the highly regarded "Knowledge Proposition" in 2003, and "The Agenda for Growth" in 2005. An executive report of the outcomes and learnings of the Summit will be made freely available after the event. See our previous CKO Summit Executive Reports. We thank Dow Jones for their generous sponsorship of the Summit. CKO Summit Participants CKO Summit Participants can access participant information in the CKO Summit Participants' Area. Click on CKO Summit's title below to view Summary. The sixth Public Sector CKO Summit - April 2006 Connecting for value: knowledge and information based public services   CKO Summit 2006 TFPL’s sixth CKO Summit for the public sector April 2006, Bath Priory, Bath, UK Connecting for value: knowledge and information based public services The 2006 CKO Summit focused on the knowledge and information management (KIM) implications of current government initiatives, in particular the transformational government and shared services agenda. This report reflects that focus - starting with the review of public sector challenges and the KIM challenges which these present, followed by a review of the contribution of KIM to ‘public value’ - a crucial concept for today’s public sector - and the positive application of KIM skills. At the centre of discussions was the vision of a common framework for knowledge and information management - which was initially drafted at the 2005 Summit. The 2006 Summit developed the framework further, identifying the KIM elements essential to underpin an interconnected public sector. This report explores some of the need for, and benefits of, a common framework for knowledge and information management across the public sector, and examines the implementation of the framework within enterprise and information architectures. It is concluded by a summary of some of the ‘lessons learnt’ by participants. The full CKO Summit Executive Report is available for download free of charge from our web site. The eighth Private Sector CKO Summit - October 2005 The agenda for growth   CKO Summit 2005 TFPL’s eighth CKO Summit for the private sector, October 2005, Cliveden House, Taplow, UK The agenda for growth Participants in the CKO Summits are convinced that knowledge management contributes to the success of their companies and at the 2005 Summit they reviewed knowledge management developments, considered how best to maintain knowledge management momentum, and reflected on how knowledge management supports the CEO’s Growth Agenda. They concluded that the management of knowledge remains central to every company’s ability to grow and the following report is a summary of their conclusions based on discussions and workshops that drew on their collective experience. The report includes an overview of those discussions and provides the context for identifying the value of knowledge management in today’s organisations. We thank Factiva for their generous sponsorship of the Summit, and their help and support in organising the event and distributing this report. The full CKO Summit Executive Report is available for download free of charge from our web site. The fourth Public Sector CKO Summit - April 2005 Towards a common framework: delivering joined up services though better knowledge and information management   CKO Summit 2005 TFPL’s fourth CKO Summit for the public sector 24-26 April 2005, Bath Priory, Bath, UK Towards a common framework Over the last few years a combination of government initiatives, performance targets and information governance legislation, such as the data protection and freedom of information acts, has changed the approach to managing knowledge, information and records in all public sector organisations. Many of these changes have been the responsibility of particular divisions or units within an organisation, a few have been enterprise wide initiatives, virtually none have had been pan-government. Vast amounts of money have been spent on new technology and its implementation. But how much thought or investment has been given to the enterprise wide information strategies, models and architectures that are essential in achieving a return on investment from that technology and interoperability between organisations? Until there are some ‘joined-up knowledge and information strategies’ any benefits from new initiatives will be limited to the silos where the initiatives reside. One of the key challenges facing knowledge leaders, including our guests at the Summit, is to open up the silo thinking and to lead the development of standards, policies, procedures and good practice that will enable interoperability and the delivery of joined up services to the citizen. There is already some good experience and thinking in this area. To share and expand this learning we invited a group of the most experienced knowledge leaders in the public sector to spend two days in the Bath Priory to reflect, share their experiences, discuss their challenges, and identify future opportunities and new ideas. The full CKO Summit Executive Report is available for download free of charge from our web site. The seventh Private Sector CKO Summit - October 2004 'Sticky' knowledge strategies   CKO Summit 2004 TFPL’s seventh CKO Summit for the private sector 3-5 October 2004, Luttrellstown Castle, Dublin, Ireland 'Sticky' knowledge strategies At the 2003 Summit the participants focused on developing a statement – a value proposition – for senior executives explaining the value that knowledge conscious management could bring to a company. The outcomes of the two days of debate were collated by TFPL, further enhanced through electronic discussion and resulted in the publication of The Knowledge Proposition early in 2004. This proposition has been widely acknowledged as one of the most clearly articulated arguments for pursuing knowledge strategies and has been used by many organisations both in the private and public sector as a ‘talking point’ to stimulate discussion and the formulation of appropriate strategies. At the 2004 Summit, whilst we briefly returned to explore The Knowledge Proposition to check that it had stood the test of time, we also focused on many other corporate and knowledge issues. This report is a summary of some of the key learnings from the seventh CKO Summit. All the participants were keen to share this summary with a wider audience and we are grateful for their permission to publish this valuable report. We thank Factiva for their generous sponsorship of the Summit, and their help and support in organising the event and distributing this report. The full CKO Summit Executive Report is available for download free of charge from our web site. The third Public Sector CKO Summit - April 2004 Joined-up knowledge strategies   CKO Summit 2004 TFPL’s third CKO Summit for the public sector 25-27 April 2004, Bath Priory, Bath, UK Joined-up knowledge strategies In this third public sector CKO Summit we considered the Knowledge Proposition, developed by private sector knowledge practitioners at TFPL’s sixth annual private sector CKO summit. The Knowledge Proposition is that: significant additional stakeholder value and competitive advantage will be derived if the expertise, information and ideas of employees, partners and customers are continually developed and used in all business and decision-making processes. The consensus was that the Proposition would be valid and valuable in the public sector, with amendments necessary to make it more effective. The core Proposition for the public sector is: The pursuit of excellence in public services will be significantly enhanced if the expertise, information, ideas and networks of employees, partners and customers are continually developed and used in all business decision and policy making processes. The group also assessed the Knowledge Framework, contained within the Knowledge Proposition, which helps in aligning knowledge interventions to business objectives. The private sector group suggested focusing knowledge interventions on the three primary orientations of a company - customer intimacy, product leadership and operational excellence - where to be successful an organisation needs to perform well in each of these areas but is likely to need to excel in one. The public sector knowledge leaders agreed that policy innovation would be more appropriate than product innovation, that customer insight might be better than customer intimacy, and that it is vital to build corporate social responsibility into the model. We discussed the role and value of communities and networks, their differences and the purposes they serve, and whether they could be effective in exchanging experiences, sharing learning and building knowledge and expertise. The discussion led to the identification of how to sell their benefits to organisations, how to start and nurture them and pitfalls to be avoided. We agreed that without identifying objectives and goals it would be difficult to evaluate their benefits and success or failure. Common to all the participants is the reality that the public sector is facing a number of legislative requirements relating to information and data, and that these have considerable implications for their organisations. In terms of implementation there was agreement that there might be a temptation to do the “minimum required”. However, we considered that it would be advantageous to use the resources available to build them into a much more valuable enterprise wide approach to knowledge and information management. Knowledge management and compliance are perhaps not natural partners but if knowledge management is working well people will understand the implications of managing information. The full CKO Summit Executive Report is available for download free of charge from our web site. The sixth Private Sector CKO Summit - October 2003 The knowledge proposition   CKO Summit 2003 A report by participants of the sixth CKO Summit for the private sector 5-7 October 2003, Luttrellstown Castle, Dublin The Knowledge Proposition The Knowledge Economy has become a reality for many organisations and nation states. The wealth of a nation no longer depends on its ability to convert raw materials into tangible goods, but rather on its ability to develop and harness the abilities and knowledge of its citizens. The success of organisations in this economy depends on the ability of their leaders to create a culture and style where knowledge is valued, nurtured and used. Many organisations have realised significant benefits from developing a knowledge-conscious style of management and from specific knowledge actions. In others senior managers are still considering how the core principles and practices could deliver business benefit for their full range of stakeholders. To provide new insights, new perspectives and a new understanding into the dynamics of knowledge-conscious management and its potential for improving business performance and profitability, a group of twenty of the worlds leading knowledge practitioners developed this “Knowledge Proposition” during the sixth annual Chief Knowledge Officers (CKO) Summit. The Knowledge Proposition is addressed to Chief Executives and to all business leaders. As some people can find the term ‘knowledge’ unhelpful and poorly defined we have chosen to use the more widely understood terms ‘expertise, information and ideas’ in its place as a more accurate definition of what we are discussing. To explain the Proposition we have utilised and expanded the framework developed by Treacy & Weirsma to identify opportunities for every type of organisation – whether focused on customer intimacy, product leadership or operational excellence. In every case the critical success factors for the organisation include effective, imaginative and consistent application of expertise, information and ideas. We urge business leaders to take on the challenge that the Proposition presents and to stimulate changes in the core values, behaviours and actions within their organisation. As leaders they should ensure the development and effective utilisation of expertise, information and ideas in all actions and business decisions. In this Proposition we present a Knowledge Framework. It maps the focus of knowledge in terms of the three elements expertise, information and ideas, and the dimensions of intervention - people, processes and tools. Together this 3 by 3 matrix provides a map for planning, decisions and actions. We invite you to use this material to exploit the knowledge potential in your organisation. We recommend that the framework is used as a simple check-list for your change agents to ensure they harness all of the knowledge potential in your organisation that can be applied to the task in hand and we anticipate that your knowledge assets, unlike your physical assets, will appreciate substantially the more they are used. To develop the Proposition we utilised the Progressive Framework Methodology, a structured interactive contextual mapping process developed by Group Partners Ltd. The Knowledge Proposition is that: significant additional stakeholder value and competitive advantage will be derived if the expertise, information and ideas of employees, partners and customers are continually developed and used in all business and decision-making processes. The full CKO Summit Executive Report is available for download free of charge from our web site. The second Public Sector CKO Summit - April 2003 Knowledge strategies for the public sector   CKO Summit 2003 TFPL’s second CKO Summit for the public sector April 2003, Bath Priory, Bath, UK Knowledge strategies for the public sector "Once again, thank you for an excellent Bath Summit. I think the sense of enthusiasm and commitment from old and new faces alike really does demonstrate that the Bath Club is one of the most important developments in public sector knowledge management of the last few years." Sharon Jones, Strategy Unit, Cabinet Office The Government in the UK has developed an agenda to encourage and support a knowledge driven economy.  There are numerous initiatives within the UK public sector designed to stimulate efficiency and effectiveness through improved communication, and better knowledge and information sharing.  Targets and legislative requirements for cross-government working, e-government, Freedom of Information, Data Protection, and many other programmes are driving further change and the adoption of new and improved knowledge and information strategies.  There is a lot of activity - some successes, some failures - and considerable learning taking place across the public sector.  To capture, share and expand this learning, we invited a group of the most experienced knowledge leaders in the public sector to spend two days in the Bath Priory to reflect, share their experiences, discuss their challenges, identify future opportunities and incorporate some new ideas into their existing plans.  We carefully selected participants to represent a wide cross section of organisations and different approaches to knowledge management. This report is a distillation of the key learnings from the second CKO Summit for the public sector.  All the participants were keen to share this summary with a wider audience and we are grateful for their permission to publish this valuable report. We thank The Dialog Corporation for their generous sponsorship of the Summit, and their help and support in organising the event and distributing this report. Key Learnings from the 2003 Summit Context is key Knowledge management issues are the same in most organisations – but the context is different. There is considerable potential benefit from collaboration and sharing across the public sector – and a need to develop a knowledge base of resources and good practice. All of this needs to flow from business objectives, preferably high profile PSA targets. Only when we can show how knowledge management/information management delivers, we will engage Permanent Secretaries. Language is key – when engaging with a group of people, and in particular senior management, use language that they will understand – not ‘knowledge and information speak’. A focus on knowledge is, and must be, part of a bigger ‘change’ picture. Knowledge management is becoming more grounded – addressing real issues – rather than operating in “guru-land”. Critical success factors Linking and integrating the many separate initiatives related to developing a knowledge culture to achieve common objectives and real benefits is essential. Knowledge management is a management and leadership issue – not a knowledge issue. Senior managers must demonstrate vision, good knowledge management practice and be seen to notice whether others are following their example. Knowledge management requires the combination of many different disciplines.  It is more of a behaviour than a discipline. Don’t forget the customers – or perhaps they should be called the victims! Avoid ‘sandal wearing statements’. Routes to success Knowledge practitioners must demonstrate good knowledge behaviours – the power of “do what we do rather than do what we say”. Understanding the value of social networks and the role of trust. The value and power of storytelling. Information literacy should be higher up on our organisation agenda. Information governance should be higher up on our organisation agenda. IT is not an issue – the necessary IT tools are there – the real issues are around culture, people and content. It is important to provide different tools for different people – some will respond better to weblogs, others to EDRM systems – the challenge is to integrate the tools and content. Knowledge management strategy for government or, indeed, for the whole public sector – do we need one? There is a general acceptance, across the public sector, that the adoption of knowledge management principles has considerable potential value in supporting e-government, cross-government working and in providing improved services to the citizen.  There is not a general understanding at senior levels within organisations of what needs to be done and by whom, nor of the breadth of different disciplines that need to be involved and integrated in order to achieve the required cultural and behavioural changes. There is a need for a common vision of what the public sector should achieve through knowledge management – a vision that is articulated in a language that ministers and senior civil servants relate to. And a vision that could then be interpreted for different organisations – each of which will have different emphases. There is a need for a collaborative effort across the public sector to reflect on knowledge related issues, to develop good practice, standards, procedures and tools, and to provide a route of sharing experience and learning from each other. The role of the e-envoy has been in part to do this but the role has recently disappeared and was anyway seen by some as too prescriptive – ‘one size doesn’t fit all’. The full CKO Summit Executive Report is available for download free of charge from our web site. The fifth CKO Summit - October 2002 New directions for knowledge strategies   CKO Summit 2002 The fifth international CKO Summit, October 2002, held at Luttrellstown Castle, Dublin, Ireland New directions for knowledge strategies 2001 was a tough year for business, 2002 has been even tougher and 2003, according to most economists, is unlikely to be much better. During this time knowledge leaders have struggled with very real business issues, challenges and opportunities. They have had to re-position their strategies to reflect the changing requirements of their organisations and the availability of support and resources.   They have learnt from developing, testing and implementing strategies, processes and systems. They have moved their thinking forward.   To understand where knowledge management thinking is today – to understand how knowledge strategies have changed – and to gain insights into how knowledge strategies will develop in the coming months we invited a group of the most experienced knowledge leaders to spend two days in an Irish castle to reflect, share their experiences, discuss their challenges, identify future opportunities and review their plans. We selected guests carefully to represent a wide cross section of industry sectors, countries and different approaches to knowledge management. A summary of the key learnings from the fifth CKO Summit is freely available in our executive report, available for download from this website.  All the participants were keen to share this summary with a wider audience and we are grateful for their permission to publish this valuable report. Key Learnings from the 2002 Summit Knowledge informs and illuminates new strategies and initiatives which must always be ‘translated’ into the language of the business and be grounded in a pragmatic approach – the knowledge label is not important – the knowledge focus is.  Business strategies should be developed and illuminated  through ‘knowledge perspectives’ and supported by specific bespoke knowledge initiatives, processes and systems. New thought leadership in knowledge management is now overdue matching the progress made within the discipline. It needs regular refreshment and new blood. It is essential that knowledge thought leaders are practitioners and that they engage with areas and subjects considered today as on the fringe of “knowledge management” in order to identify new initiatives and opportunities. It is important that knowledge leaders have some responsibility for interactions with customers – perhaps in an areas where knowledge and information flows are a vital part of the relationship – for example in Alliance or Partnership Management. Knowledge can be seen as “future capability”.  As such there are options – different ways of harnessing and utilising this capability.  Options – future options – can be “traded” to establish which would bring the greatest returns.  One of the impacts of the economic downturn has been the loss of trust within and between companies – knowledge strategies need to help focus management attention on re-building that trust Grounding mentoring within the knowledge management portfolio should help the practice be reinvigorated and recognised as an invaluable mechanism for building trust, increasing capability and stimulating creativity and innovation. A more “relaxed” approach to knowledge management can pay dividends – the pressures and stresses of modern business together with the speed enabled by technology can mitigate the objectives and benefits of knowledge strategies. We need to find space for the people to match the scale and pace of the changes we are bringing about. There is a re-stated view – knowledge IS a valuable and continuous business unit currency. Communication and thought leadership discussions are essential between knowledge leaders to fuel their own passion and innovation, and to share good practice of translating concepts into business reality. Knowledge management has to be vital and flexible to adapt to the constantly changing requirements of the organisation. In developing capabilities knowledge leaders need to pay equal attention to both organisational capability and the capabilities of those individuals within it. Communities are increasingly recognised as highly valuable and there is a growing body of knowledge on world class practice relating to communities. Email has become the carrier of corporate history – it is the longest standing record of people, places and projects, and its value and its governance are of strategic importance. The full CKO Summit Executive Report is available for download free of charge from our web site. The first Public Sector CKO Summit - April 2002 Knowledge management in the public sector   CKO Summit 2002 TFPL’s first CKO Summit for the public sector April 2002, Bath Priory, Bath, UK Knowledge management in the public sector "If you can keep your head when everyone else is losing theirs - you may be missing the point!" The Government in the UK has developed an agenda to encourage and support a knowledge driven economy and public sector organisations have numerous initiatives designed to improve communication and knowledge and information sharing. Targets and legislative requirements for cross-government working, e-government, Freedom of Information, Data Protection, etc. are driving the development of knowledge and information strategies. There is a lot of activity, some successes and failures, and considerable learning taking place.  To capture, share and expand this learning, TFPL and Dialog collaborated to invite a group of the most experienced knowledge leaders in the public sector to spend two days in Bath Priory to reflect, share their experiences, discuss their challenges, identify future opportunities and incorporate some new ideas into their existing plans.  We carefully selected participants to represent a cross section of organisations and also different approaches to knowledge management. Key Learnings from the 2002 Summit Knowledge economy: the government's role and public sector priorities "Knowledge management should be like a three legged stool - supportive and stacking" It was agreed that whilst there was considerable talk about the knowledge economy we had only just started the journey along the road towards it. The government's role is essentially "hands off", while providing a framework which supports the growth of knowledge-based industries and enables individuals to participate at all levels in the knowledge economy. Within public sector organisations the priorities relate to building and sustaining an environment that attracts talent and enables people to work effectively and creatively. Encouraging knowledge management in a risk adverse environment "Risk can be like the mad relative in the attic - people don't like to mention it" While its was agreed that support from senior leaders - chief executives and/or ministers - is essential, a range of other tactics were identified to encourage buy-in to knowledge management initiatives. An understanding of acceptable and unacceptable risk, and identifying where potential benefits outweigh the negative outcomes, is key to risk management. Clear processes and guidelines and supportive working practices are needed if people are to take personal risk in the public sector. More emphasis should be put on the risk of not sharing knowledge effectively. Cultures and behaviour Organisational culture can be a powerful ally or adversary and the public sector culture provides many challenges to knowledge management.  Management styles need to change as technology affects the evolution of new organisational structures. To meet these challenges there is a need to focus on changing behaviour.  If behaviour changes culture change will follow. Leaders play a vital role by setting clear a vision, participating personally in knowledge sharing and demonstrating knowledge management friendly' behaviour. However, people generally want to change the behaviour of other people rather than themselves. Sharing knowledge - what are issues? "Six months in the lab can save you six hours in the library" People look for simple answers to complex questions. Many public sector issues are very complex and knowledge sharing is not simple. Where roles are well defined who needs to know what is clear. In complex situations who needs to share with whom is not obvious.   Information overload is perceived as a risk of knowledge sharing and can mitigate against knowledge creation.   But it can be avoided through good judgement, management and processes, and the development of appropriate skills within the workforce. Links between learning and knowledge management "Jump the knowledge gap - ask if you don't know" Knowledge and learning supports the improvement of products and services to customers. The challenge in the public sector is to find the drivers for improvement.  It is far more difficult to find and articulate the drivers where the 'customer' does not have a choice. The full CKO Summit Executive Report is available for download free of charge from our web site. The fourth CKO Summit - 2001 Knowledge strategies - corporate strategies   CKO Summit 2001 The fourth international CKO Summit, October 2001, Luttrellstown Castle, Dublin, Ireland Knowledge strategies - corporate strategies 2001 has been a tough year for business. Initially there was a significant downturn in the markets and then on September 11th the business world was thrown into more turmoil by the tragic events in the US. 2002 will potentially be an even tougher year for business. The continuing economic downturn and the uncertainty caused by the campaign against terrorism have already forced companies to reduce revenue targets and to cut budgets for next year. Investments in new initiatives and infrastructure will be under even closer scrutiny. So what will the impact be on knowledge management? Will it, as some journalists would have us believe, disappear along with many other previous fads or will it continue to grow in importance helping organisations maximise their capabilities and increase their competitive advantage? We invited a group of the most experienced knowledge leaders to spend two days in an Irish castle to reflect, share their experiences, discuss their challenges, identify future opportunities and review their plans. We carefully selected guests to represent a wide cross section of industry sectors, countries and different approaches to knowledge management. This report is a summary of some of the key learnings from the fourth CKO Summit. All the participants were keen to share this summary with a wider audience and we are grateful for their permission to publish this valuable report. We thank Factiva for their generous sponsorship of the Summit, and their help and support in organising the event and distributing this report. TFPL reflections 2000-2001 Reflecting on the discussions and outcomes of this Summit and the previous one in October 2000, there were a number of significant shifts in thinking and emphasis. We thought it would be useful to note our reflections as they may give insights into the progress and development of global knowledge management thinking: Last year we reflected that knowledge strategies should not just support business strategies but that they must also transcend them. This year the message was much stronger. Traditional methods of strategic planning are no longer appropriate - companies need to develop more intelligent ways of predicting future trends and environments and developing their strategic responses - and knowledge strategies will play a key role in achieving that change and formulating the new directions. In contrast to previous discussions the role of the CKO was not seen as transient but as a key role in the strategic leadership of an organisation. Tactical knowledge management initiatives should not only be integrated into the business and the business processes but should eventually become part of the way the business works - driven by "knowledge conscious management". More than ever knowledge leaders have a key role to play in enabling strategic business leadership to set high level strategies and in developing and embedding knowledge and information processes within the core business processes. Knowledge leaders must develop processes for sensing trends, issues, opportunities and challenges out in the business units, interpreting the impact, and enabling the organisation to respond quickly. Centralisation versus decentralisation. There is a fundamental shift - a reversal - what used to be centralised is now becoming decentralised and vice versa. For example, most corporate decisions used to be made centrally but these are now being pushed out to the operating units that are closer to their markets and customers. Conversely platforms and processes are being brought into the centre to provide the common framework that enables communications, effective information management, common business processes - thus leaving the business units to focus on using these tools to make local decisions. No longer will there be traditional "head-quarters" but a centralised services function facilitating the business processes, supported by a small strong strategic leadership setting corporate values and top level strategies. Taxonomies were, in previous years, not on the agenda. This year they were. They were seen as a valuable tool to enable the sharing and using of knowledge. They help to define the problem and the solution. They help to identify and define communities. Taxonomies need to be owned by the users, by the communities, but coordinated and facilitated. They need to be flexible. They are a challenge in themselves! Considerable focus in previous years has been on communications. Good knowledge flows need a balance between structure and communication - at the moment we have swung too far over to communication and need to swing back towards structure - otherwise will be consumed by communication and information overload. The full CKO Summit Executive Report is available for download free of charge from our web site. The third CKO Summit - 2000 Knowledge strategies in action   CKO Summit 2000 The third international CKO Summit, October 2000, Luttrellstown Castle, Dublin, Ireland Knowledge strategies in action The international business headlines now feature e-business and e-commerce rather than knowledge management but within many organisations around the world considerable energy and resource is being ploughed into the reality of implementing knowledge strategies. Indeed without sound knowledge and information strategies e-business is inefficient and e-commerce is potentially highly embarrassing! In October 2000 we invited eighteen of the most experienced knowledge leaders to spend two days in an Irish castle sharing their experiences, discussing their challenges and identifying future opportunities and plans. We carefully selected guests to represent a wide cross section of industry sectors, countries and different approaches to knowledge management.  Combined, these executives had over 100 years of practical experience of planning and implementing knowledge strategies. This report is a summary of some of the key learnings from this the third CKO Summit. All the participants were keen to share this summary with a wider audience and we are grateful for their permission to publish this valuable report. TFPL reflections 1999 - 2000 Reflecting on the discussions and outcomes of this Summit and the previous one in March 1999, there were a number of significant shifts in thinking and emphasis.  We thought it would be useful to make a note of our reflections as they may give a hint of the progress and development of global knowledge management thinking. They are summarised in the following bullet points: Knowledge strategies are increasingly seen as not only important to support business strategy but also to help formulate future business strategy direction.  This shift is significant and requires knowledge initiatives specifically targeted at senior executives – who themselves need to be receptive and inspired, and influential knowledge executives. Knowledge initiatives need to be integrated into business processes and embedded into workflows to reap the maximum benefits and advantages. They are no longer seen as stand-alone projects or processes. The central knowledge team are increasingly seen as the catalysts and facilitators – encouraging and enabling people in the business units to create, share and use knowledge as part of their core activities. To achieve this shift of responsibility to the people in the business the core competencies required throughout the company needs to be changed to reflect this new activity.  This issue is real now - there was considerable interest in defining the new competencies required at the Summit this year – far more than in 1999. There was also much more interest this year in discussing and defining the roles and skills required to develop and support a knowledge culture. The shift from employment to employability and portfolio careers was also seen as significant at the 2000 Summit – and it was acknowledged that some knowledge initiatives needed to specifically support this trend. There are new drivers and justifications emerging for knowledge strategies – to support other corporate initiatives such as e-business, e-commerce, and the project and team based working of a networked organisation. Information overload is seen by CKOs as more of an issue now than in 1999 – there is recognition of the need to identify tools and techniques that enable people to navigate through the vast and complex array of information available to them. Content management is a significant issue. This year there was a stronger recognition of the synergies between knowledge and learning initiatives, and also that there are benefits in integrating the two areas of activity. Measurement was a major issue in 1999 and is still a major issue! This summit was sponsored by Factiva. The full CKO Summit Executive Report is available for download free of charge from our web site. The second CKO Summit - 1999 Knowledge management in practice: 50 years of experience   CKO Summit 1999 The 2nd international CKO Summit, October 1999, Luttrellstown Castle, Dublin, Ireland Knowledge management in practice: 50 years of experience Thirteen of the world's most experienced knowledge leaders were selected from different industry sectors and invited to share their experiences and to discuss the challenges facing them. Combined, these executives had over 50 years of real practical experience of planning and implementing knowledge initiatives. They spent two days together sharing their experiences, learning from each other, discussing what had worked and what hadn’t, and reviewing strategies and plans for their next steps. They discussed key topics such as leadership, overcoming cultural barriers, metrics, creating and supporting communities, the impact of the physical environment and the integration of internal and external information. key learnings: The following are some of the key learnings from The Summit: Knowledge initiatives are about achieving the next level in the continuous process of improving the business. The ‘knowledge management’ label is not important but the concept and strategies behind the label are very important to future survival and growth. Knowledge management is about succeeding in business – the link to business strategy is key. Knowledge management is happening anyway – far better results can be achieved if it is co-ordinated and focused. Knowledge management is more about flows of knowledge rather than stocks of knowledge. Culture realignment is the key challenge. Functional silos such as IT, HR, Training, etc., present barriers to implementing knowledge management. They need to be more integrated together and into the main business processes with a focus on increasing the capabilities of the organisation and its people. It is important to define the knowledge management concepts for the organisation, but this is best achieved by developing them through experience and selling them through examples and stories. Start with the ‘low hanging fruit’ – quick wins – to achieve visibility, buy-in and to generate stories. A focus on customers, partners and collaborators is key – need to understand how they behave and change and then adapt your capabilities and business to meet their changing demands. Don’t let technology drive knowledge management, but also don’t forget that you are dependent on technology – harness it. Internal and external information needs to be integrated, organised, filtered and utilised to stimulate ideas and creativity, and to solve business problems. Knowledge is a validated platform for action. There is a role for ‘crazy’ people who think differently, who approach problems from deferent perspectives, and who challenge traditions and other people’s ideas. The invited guests at the Summit represented different industry sectors and were from North America and Europe. The full CKO Summit Executive Report is available for download free of charge from our web site. Full CKO Summit Executive Reports are available for download free of charge from our web site. More information about TFPL's knowledge management expertise can be found on our main knowledge management page. CKO Summit key contact: Derek Kusi-Prempeh, Marketing Assistant, TFPL email: derek.prempeh@tfpl.com Save as Outlook contact