Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

Learning History
A structured process for gathering information related to a project, strategy or initiative.
Supports: knowledge sharing, knowledge retention, assessment, organizational learning
LEVEL OF EFFORT
SIZE OF UTILITY
MED
SCALABLE
SCOPE OF WORK C 2
C 2 = CONTEXT/CONTENT DEPENDENT
A learning history is a very useful tool to capture knowledge resident in the minds of
individuals. It is a retrospective history of significant events in an organization's recent past
described in the voices of people who took part in those events. Researched through a series of
debriefings or reflective interviews, the learning history uses feedback from employees at all
levels to help an organization evaluate its progress. A learning history goes beyond simply
gathering best practices and other lessons learned. It
(1) provides the time and space for participants to openly reflect on the learning from an
initiative or event;
(2) enhances the reflection process so that team or project members begin to make new
connections and see how their actions ultimately produce final outcomes;
(3) gathers information from a variety of perspectives to reduce bias in the assessment
process;
(4) analyzes data to draw out key themes;
(5) contains accurate, validated information;
(6) is written in the words of those involved, not paraphrased in the words of consultants;
and
(7) provides a vehicle to promote discussion among participants in the initiative.
In debriefings, interviewees recall their experience, in their own words, in a way that reflects
their collective learning experience. While this technique captures knowledge resident in
individual minds, it is then transcribed into a question/answer format with all interview results
considered together in a collective format. An alternative approach would be videoing the
interviews and cutting and splicing responses into a collective format. Regardless of the
medium, what is important is to ensure the interview occurs while events are still fresh in
participant’s minds.
Using this approach, utilities can learn by reviewing both successes and failures, assessing
them systematically, and recording the lessons learned in a form that employees find open and
accessible. Recording employee’s experience with technical projects, special response teams,
change programs, stakeholder groups, technical conferences or symposia, leadership
conferences, workshops, site visits, and so forth, helps to ensure that useful knowledge is
shared and that mistakes are not repeated.
A six-step approach to creating a learning history is outlined below.
C-90
©2011 Water Research Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.