An old saying states that the road is just as important as the destination to which it leads. We at ROM believe that not only is the road important, so is the way one walks it. Partnership, the way we see it, is walking hand in hand and mutually sharing in order to attain actualization and empowerment.
We view this partnership as three circles contained in one another, woven together like ripples in a pool: intra-organizational partnership (between us and our co-workers), partnership with out customers, and finally partnership with the society for promotion of KM and BI in Israel.
The first circle is partnership inside ROM. We, the workers, act out of a shared motivation to attain our organization's goals. Since we come from different disciplines and since we work in an organization that professes Knowledge Management, it is only natural for our partnership and the attempt to meet ROM's business objectives to manifest as sharing.
How do we share at ROM?
There are several ways on which we share. Here are just a few examples:
Twice a month we meet in company headquarters and hold meetings that include lectures on various subjects related to Knowledge Management or similar fields, enhance our consultancy abilities, review case studies and discuss questions/dilemmas, present products, etc.
In ROM we distribute a Newsletter meant for colleagues to share projects, advancements, interesting products, lessons and insights in order to enrich one another.
We hold focused thinking teams aimed at developing new methodologies or overcoming challenges we face as Km consultants. A small group operates for a quarter of a year and the results it reaches are discussed in an organizational session to complete the process. These are just some of the tools we use to create a collective conversation, generate learning and ultimately improve as consultants.
Partnership is usually viewed as a relationship between groups of people that share a goal and together attempt to reach it. When we at ROM discuss partnership with our customers, we emphasize that these organizations' goals are now our goals, too. Since when we believe that Knowledge Management is not merely a "project" rather a way of life, reaching a Knowledge Management solution that best suits the organizations' needs and allows them to conducti itself effectively is an achievement shared by us and the implementing organization.
A series of learning and knowledge sharing meetings a decade for ROM is a celebration for both us and our workers! Therefore, besides our ongoing activities in our "knowing more" KM course, we are planning a series of professional meetings on KM issues directed by company managers. The meetings, free of charge, will include discussions by consultants and customers on "knowledge leader cultivation", "retiree knowledge retention", "KM and BI", " Knowledge and information management service center systems: challenges and solutions".
Publishing articles written by our customers in 2Know magazine: we occasionally dedicate a part of our monthly magazine to interviewing knowledge managers that share their experiences, insights and professional tips. Furthermore, we encourage our clients to share their professional knowledge with their colleagues via the magazine. There are many examples of customers that contributed to the magazine by sharing their experience as guest writers.
Mediating between KM organizations: we at ROM have a rich tradition of organizing meetings and clients paying visits to other clients to learn from each other's experience, to learn of different applications of KM methodologies, to experience together, discuss and share successes and consult one another regarding challenges. 2Know magazine therefore serves as a platform for customers to share inter-organizational professional knowledge usually unavailable to them.
When we set up knowledge communities in organizations we recommend creating a KM community on two levels: virtual and frontal, based on our understanding that sharing and creating a culture of sharing is achieved by combining these two aspects. Our attempt to promote partnership with a community is based on these two aspects:
The virtual aspect involves sharing knowledge, professional literature, tips and insights from our daily work via our professional magazines on the field of Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence distributed to the community by email. An impressive, updated website that includes the country's largest KM database and contributing hundreds of terms in the field of Knowledge Management to the WIKI-IT database are only part of the virtual journey towards sharing with the business community the vast knowledge we accumulate and develop in the field of KM and BI.
Yet like in intra-organizational knowledge communities, we view frontal meetings as an integral part of partnership: leading the biggest free annual Knowledge Management convention enables sharing and hearing about the latest news in the field of Knowledge Management, analyze case studies and present the field's innovations to the general public.
The KMI Club lead by Dr. Moria Levy and enables KM enthusiasts and professionals to share and brainstorm.
ROM also encourages partnership with the local academia and promotes academic discussion of KM issues by participating forums and conventions, writing essays, and sharing projects with practitioners. However, partnership is based on more than contributing to the KM and BI community; it requires paying attention to the business community's needs and aspirations and adapt their activity to it.
And so, through listening and giving, we believe that a dialect between ROM and the extended community that enables mutual fertilization. The three facets compliment each other and create a complete partnership that calls for mutual enrichment.
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