Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

Best Practices
A systematic process for transferring best practices between groups within the Utility or across
Utilities.
Supports: organization learning, Utility operations, Utility performance and sustainability
LEVEL OF EFFORT C 2
SIZE OF UTILITY C 2
SCOPE OF WORK C 2
C 2 = CONTEXT/CONTENT DEPENDENT
A best practice for recording best practices is to provide sufficient information to clearly
express the best practice. Based on information collected during an interview process, the
content of a best practice document will look something like this:
Part 1: In this section, describe the theme and any related practices
of successful organizations.
Part 2: In this section, present the quotes that describe the theme in the right
column. The quotes presented in the learning history are not inclusive of all the
quotes received; rather, the quotes selected are designed to be representative of
the various perspectives of interview candidates and representative of the
information gathered throughout the interview process. The left column of the
document does not list questions asked during the interview, but records
commentary and questions posed to the reader by the author for further
consideration when reading the document. The commentary on the left relates to
the adjacent quote or quotes. The commentary is presented to provide the reader
with ideas for reflection. The reader is encouraged to record their own thoughts
and questions as they read.
Part 3: The final section of the theme is a summary of the key points from the
quotes in Part 2. Questions for further consideration relating to the theme are
presented at the end of this topic.
The format of each section (following the theme title) is depicted below.
Part 1. Overview of the theme.
Part 2. Commentary, conclusions and potential questions to be
asked that relate to the adjacent quotes.
Part 3. Brief summary of quotes, as heard by the learning consultant.
Additional questions for the purpose of providing more clarity to the theme.
If additional materials such as models and business rules were developed, include them, and
consider how graphics could be used to enhance knowledge transfer. The best practice also
needs to include meta-knowledge (information about the knowledge). This would include: the
date prepared, point of contact (include name, organization, and contact information), members
who participated in development of the best practice and contact information, problem
statement, background (note any research that was conducted during the exploration phase and
a summary of significant findings. Include findings from root cause analysis), and alternatives
considered (list significant ideas that were considered and explain reasons for non-selection).
C-16
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