There are four barriers to knowledge management (KM) that can affect both the knowledge supplier, and the knowledge user. Any combination of these is a block to Knowledge management. Here’s a great Boston Square article that looks at the four barriers and how to overcome them in a generic way.
The User is Unwilling to learn
The unwilling user is afflicted by Not Invented Here (NIH).
The Supplier is Unable to Share
The unable supplier suffers from the Stranger problem – “I don’t know who to share this with”.
User is Unable to find knowledge
The unable user suffers from “needle in a haystack” – they don’t know where to look
- Here we need the knowledge assets, that synthesized knowledge that creates the faucet rather than the firehose
- We need the expertise locator
- Good search, and the places to ask – the community forums described above
