Cognitive Potential

Whenever somebody asks about my previous work experience and my educational background, I can’t help but mention that at some point in my life I was an aspiring teacher.  Summer camps, volunteering in elementary school classrooms, and even pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in education.

My colleague asked once, “How do you think those experiences influence the work that you’re doing now?” I answered bluntly, “I have no idea”.

Or at least I didn’t, until recently.

Lately, I’ve been thinking critically about the way individuals and teams in organizations create content, how that content serves to inform others and helps people communicate effectively, and the knowledge that’s shared and transfered.  At the root of the files, the documents, the reports, the presentations, the stories, the conversations, etc. are the individuals.

So I ask myself, to what extent can you realistically manage all of this information and knowledge thats created in an organization? The answer: to the same extent that you can manage children in a classroom.

A classroom is made of up diverse children with diverse working and learning styles. They’re given lessons on “How To..” and then asked to write reports, give presentations, tell stories, and create all sorts of content types. To help facilitate that creation they’re given tools to support them in their work: notebooks, computers, templates, books, a place to sit, and classmates to work with. They’re asked to be neat, tidy, organized, share and play well with others. Write legibly and present clearly. They’re given deadlines, rules and regulations to follow, and consequences for infractions. Codes of conduct and values to be adopted are postered all around them. Their security and safety and that of the classroom is taken very seriously. Sound familiar?

And yet all teachers will tell you that even with all the right tools, the right rules, the right lessons,  the classroom is a very organic place. Theirs is a  very realistic approach to management: strive for order, but anticipate and accept chaos and innovation. 

In a classroom, you have innovators, creators, and troublemakers. Not all children follow the rules to the letter, learn from their mistakes, want to share, or work well in a team environment. Not everyone uses the tools like they should, writes reports according to templates nor gives presentations in the same way. Notes aren’t always well organized, desks aren’t always tidy, and documents aren’t where they should be. All values aren’t adopted and sometimes, security and safety are at risk. And yet still,  learning does take place, work gets done, and children do become mature and self-actualized adults.

This comparison between the classroom and the modern knowledge workplace gives me a new perspective and helps me think more realistically about the expectations that I place on others when I encourage them to manage their information and knowledge. As much as we’d like to think that organizations can be run like well oiled industrial machines, organizations are a reflection of the knowledge workers who inhabit them.

Knowledge and information managers are teachers in a classroom. We need to promote order, provide useful tools and lessons on “How to..”, but we need to also allow for, anticipate, and accept a little chaos and innovation.