Following in the footsteps of corporations, law firms are recognising knowledge assets as a
necessary and sustainable source of competitive advantage. They understand that while they are certainly knowledge-intensive businesses, they are not yet as good at managing knowledge as they would like to be. Like many of their corporate predecessors, they believe the best way to bridge this gap is to create knowledge management programs and appoint an individual, a chief knowledge officer (CKO), to lead them.
As law firms consider this course of action, there are important lessons to be learned from their corporate
predecessors as well as from law firms that have been early adopters. What is a CKO and what does one do? What resources does a CKO need to succeed? Is the role
permanent or a passing fad? What approaches are law firms taking and how are they working?
Corporate approaches to the CKO role
What is the role of the CKO in the corporate world?
Tom Davenport, director of Strategic Change for Accenture, defines a mission for the CKO that has been widely adopted in practice: to create a knowledge management infrastructure (encompassing people, business processes and technology); to build a knowledge culture in an organisation; and to make knowledge management “pay off” for the business.
Corporate CKOs regard the pay-off element as crucial. They are not theoretical purists pursuing academic notions of knowledge management in the workplace. While they are passionate about their mission, they are, first and
foremost, pragmatic realists who focus on knowledge
management initiatives that deliver practical, measurable value to the business.
So what does a corporate CKO actually do? CKOs
commonly use the verbs ‘interact’, ‘design’, ‘influence’, ‘evangelise’, ‘facilitate’ and ‘create’ to describe their work. First, the CKO defines the corporation’s knowledge management strategy and articulates the programmes needed to achieve the strategy. Then they translate these plans into action. The CKO works within the organisation to find an active, empowered sponsor who has an idea for a knowledge management project that can deliver business value. The CKO assesses whether the idea fits with the knowledge management strategy and whether it represents an
achievable target within the constraints of the corporation’s technology, culture and business processes. If so, the CKO designs a solution and mobilises the resources necessary to implement the solution – including joining the sponsor in securing support and funding. Finally, the CKO measures progress, marks completion and celebrates success.
Beyond this general framework, the specific programmes and projects led by a CKO vary widely – each unique to the nature of his or her corporation’s business and knowledge management strategy. In a corporate setting, many CKOs report that they spend much of their time on projects that get people together to exchange and share knowledge.
They spend significant effort on video conferencing, meeting, planning and facilities-related work. They design and facilitate meetings and meeting spaces, formal and informal,
electronic and physical, that foster knowledge exchanges on both a planned and unplanned basis.
What kinds of individuals are most successful as corporate CKOs? One of the most comprehensive descriptions in literature can be found in the article ‘What is a chief knowledge officer?’, published in the 22 December, 1999 issue of Sloan Management Review. Michael J Earl and Ian A Scott of the London Business School’s Centre for Research in Information Management, report on a study they conducted of senior corporate executives who had been appointed to lead knowledge management programmes.
In summary, Earl and Scott assert that “…finding the right person is at least as important as deciding to create the role [of CKO]“. They describe professional and personal traits that corporate CKOs share. Their CKOs are entrepreneurs, self-starters and risk-takers who are driven to build something new and consultants, matching new ideas with business needs. They are “technologists” who understand where technology fits with knowledge management processes and they are “environmentalists” who create social environments that stimulate and facilitate knowledge creation and sharing. On a personal level, they are sociable and energetic yet tolerant and pragmatic. They are deeply committed to seeing their charter through to successful completion. While their career histories are eclectic, they are widely respected within their organisations and are deeply familiar with the organisation, its business, its culture and the business world within which it operates.
Interestingly, the CKOs displayed a high tolerance for ambiguity. They were undaunted by a lack of clear definition in their role and embraced the fact that the early days of knowledge management in an organisation are often marked by a “love-hate” relationship – the business “loves” the possibilities, but “hates” the changes needed to achieve them.
