The new economy moves with lightning speed. Those who would lead no
longer have the luxury of analyzing, planning, then implementing. They
must plan and implement simultaneously. Learning and performance must be
integrated into a continuous cycle: knowledge must be captured from
performance as it is happening and used to improve the next round of
performance.
In their new book, Lloyd Baird and John Henderson show how to produce
knowledge as part of the work process and quickly apply that learning
back to performance to create a "knowledge engine" that drives ongoing
performance improvement and adds value in every area of the
organization. Built on five years of research and application in leading
corporations, The Knowledge Engine details a five-step
knowledge-performance cycle, explaining how to:
Focus on exactly what is necessary to drive performance and create
competitive advantage
Acquire knowledge you can use as you go, performing and learning
simultaneously
Structure learning so that it can be shared and benefit the entire
organization
Target knowledge so that the organization applies it when and where it
is really needed
Reflect on the big picture the new knowledge presents, consolidate it,
and identify new areas of focus
The book includes a wealth of practical tools that organizations can use
to put each step of the knowledge-performance cycle into actual
practice-such as an "After Action Review, " that helps explore lessons
learned from performance and a "Peer Review, " that gets what others
know into the performance process quickly.
The Knowledge Engine not only explains the principles of creating and
leveraging knowledge as an asset that will provide competitive
advantage-it gives concrete examples of how to do it right now. The
authors provide extensive illustrations of how leading
organizations-including BP Amoco, Xerox, the U.S. Army, Merck, and
Lucent-are getting improved performance and bottom line results by
creating their own "knowledge engines, " and offer a framework to help
any organization implement systems and procedures for leveraging its
knowledge assets.
