Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Guerilla KM
Christian Young explains how to be a knowledge management revolutionary
I
f there’s one thing you can say about knowledge Through the lens of KM, guerrilla warfare offers
management (KM) professionals, it’s that we’re a flexible an appealing, out of the box approach to rendering
lot. We wear many hats as we endeavour to facilitate organisational change:
change – often in uncooperative and, perhaps even, adversarial
environments. Being successful necessitates pushing the limits Guerrilla warfare – a small contingent attempts to undermine
of our flexibility and, true to the multi-disciplinary nature of a larger military force, usually in pursuit of a political agenda;
our field, drawing inspiration from unlikely sources. Guerrilla KM – a small contingent (maybe even a party of
During my first KM ‘tour of duty’, when I was a wet one) attempts to ‘influence’ the larger organisation, usually
behind the ears, ambitious, but ever-frustrated knowledge in pursuit of a politically or culturally charged objective.
analyst in search of ways to promote KM, I conceived
a strategy that I affectionately called ‘guerrilla KM’. The Organisational change is inherently political and the more
objective: to increase knowledge sharing by any means KM (or any functional area) attempts to influence (or create
necessary. Yeah, I was feelin’ all ‘knowledge analyst X’ at change in) behaviours, strategies, and policies, the more
the time. likely it is to arouse the ire of any number of people. This
Reflecting my adult education and policy analysis studies, makes the use of guerrilla tactics an intelligent and savvy (if
my initial approach focused on building an army of ‘KM unconventional) methodology to explore.
champions’ across the organisation. However, as I continued For those of you intrepid enough to add a guerrilleros’
to study guerrilla warfare and the teachings of Mao Tse-tung sombrero to your, no doubt, already extensive collection of
in his treatise On Guerrilla Warfare, my strategy evolved to hats in order to go underground from time to time, I offer the
evoke more traditional guerilla tactics – minus the less savoury following eight principles of guerrilla KM.
elements, mind you. I prefer to rely on positive, lasting tools
as a means of facilitating positive, lasting change, which One: (Intel)ligence
takes tactics like ambush, deception, sabotage, and espionage Being revolutionary isn’t just about fighting passionately; it’s
entirely off the table. Yes, even if Sun Tzu says it okay. also about acting thoughtfully and with deliberation. Whether
Of course, that’s just me – feel free to be as janky [tricksy, you’re planning a long-term offensive or a strategic ‘hit’,
dubious] as you please. having the right intel is vital:
February 2010
COMMENT 7
www.ikmagazine.com