Know the Knows

When developing training programs and cultural initiative sit is useful to break down what we really want people to know. I find it useful to think in terms of the following:

• know-how: The technical skills to do the work
• know-what: The ability to perform functional problem-solving, to adapt the process and innovate
• know-who: networking and interpersonal skills, with social/emotional intelligence, for empathy or social network capacities
• know-where: institutional and system knowledge of how the work fits into a larger ecosystem
• know-who/how: strategic and leadership skills, for political ‘ nous’ in setting agendas, managing institutions, mobilizing resources;
• know-why: creation of meaning, significance, identity, morality, with practical intuition for creative arts, sports, everyday social exchange.

To build all six elements requires a learning culture and a recognition that knowledge and awareness do not start and end at initial training on a process. We need to build the mechanisms to:

• Communicate in a way to continually facilitate the assimilation of knowledge
• Incorporate ongoing uses of tools such as coaching and mentoring in our processes and systems
• Motivate the ongoing enhancement of learning
• Nurture the development and retention of knowledge

We are striving at building competence, to be able to grow and apply the knowledge and abilities of our workers to solve problems and innovate.

Training, Development, Knowledge Management, Problem-Solving – these are a continuum but too often we balkanize responsibility of these in our organizations when what we need is an ecosystem approach.