Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Knowledge Workers and the Business of Knowledge


Knowledge workers in today have to become managers of their knowledge. They need to determine what knowledge is needed next, what must be maintained, and what can be forgotten. They need to figure out how to organize their knowledge and the best ways to get and keep that knowledge.

But knowledge of your domain alone is not enough to be effective anymore. The fact is that to be effective there are many arenas you must be have at least competence in.

For example, each of us, in the current climate should be acting as an entrepreneur. Each individual should treat himself as a business. There are several reasons for this. One reason is that if you have a job in the private sector, you are likely an "at will" employee. That means your company can lay you off for any reason. And because investors like the effects layoffs have on the bottom line, in our economy, you can't count on keeping your job.

As an employee of a large organization, your livelihood is at a greater risk than a successful freelancer. If you are laid off, it can be a major crisis. Your one source of income is gone. As a freelance, you have a portfolio of customers.  Losing one may hurt, but shouldn't leave you out in th cold.

So how do we mitigate this risk? First by managing your knowledge; but also by treating yourself as a business. Your manager is one of your clients, but you can develop other ones both within and outside the company. You can cultivate relationships with any of your coworkers - sales, marketing, operations, etc. If you are in a customer facing position, then more directly, each customer is one of your clients.

What does this mean? It means that not only must your deliver the right expertise to the right client at the right time, but you are responsible for marketing your expertise and selling your expertise. You should also be looking at the market for your expertise and the competitors for your service. You should have your own business plan.

This makes lots of people uncomfortable since marketing and sales get a bad rap in our culture. Not all salespeople sell ice to Eskimos. A good marketer tells a true story, and a good salesperson sells a valuable service to someone who needs it or wants it.

Which brings us to the point: you have to play the business game, the marketing game, and the sales game. The alternative is to ignore it and that leads to playing badly. Which means that we should seek to become better in this vital set of skills.  Even if this makes some of us a bit squeamish.