Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

All of this information provides the context of the best practice, which can make a significant
difference to other individuals or organizations trying to apply it.
Members are encouraged to call either the point of contact (originator of the best practice) or
other members to gain a deeper understanding of the topic.
Like lessons learned, best practices are of little value if they are not shared and used. See
the discussion on applying Lessons Learned.
APQC, a not-for-profit organization that has been promoting the use of best practices for
over 25 years, uses a facilitated best practice transfer approach. This approach includes
identifying best practices, capturing tacit and business process knowledge, reviewing and
validating the practice, assessing the benefits accruing to implementation of this practice,
communicating and sharing the practice (bringing people together), and supporting
implementation by the adopter. Key to their success is bringing people together and staying
involved as the best practice is implemented. APQC has contributed several of their best
practice research studies to this toolkit. See Resources.
The Collaborative Problem Solving Forum is an approach for creating and sharing
knowledge about best practices. In Project Study #25 the Utility has implemented procedures
for teams and individuals to submit Process and Operational Improvements. This continuous
search for best practices has resulted in significant dollar savings.
Effective transfer of best practice results in achieving high performance in a specific practice
with a minimum of time and resources. However, it is not always easy to transfer best practices
because of the subtle and often unrecognized aspects of implementation that even the
successful implementers are not aware of. Also, the context within which the best practice is
executed may affect its outcome in ways not easily recognized. The caution is to transfer best
practices with care and diligence, while understanding them thoroughly and learning carefully as
you begin your own implementation and evaluation of outcomes.
See the short discussion on Best Practices Celebration and Sharing Day in Knowledge
Sharing.
Expected Outcomes:
Efficient creation of good performance results when best practices are effectively
transferred to your organization.
Improved understanding of how to implement (and perhaps modify or upgrade) the
practice to meet special or additional needs within your Utility.
See:
Project Study #21 (City of Phoenix Water Service Department, AZ)
Project Study #25 (Louisville Water Company, KY)
Case Example #16 (Virginia Department of Transportation)
Tools: Collaborative Problem Solving Forum
Facilitation
Interviewing
Learning History
Lessons Learned
Success Stories
Ideas: Knowledge Sharing
Technology Related Tools
Additional Resource:
See the APQC best practice/benchmarking studies in Resources
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