Digital White Papers

27 WWW.ILTANET.ORG | ILTA WHITE PAPER KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT products and practices." Rather than spending so much of our time working and sharing ideas with people very similar to ourselves, we need to create opportunities for people to break out of their silos and spend time with a range of people throughout the organization in order to foster innovation. Defining the Initiative The first step to developing an innovation (and likely any) initiative should be defining it. The organization's leadership must agree on the initiative's purpose and function and also what the organization hopes to accomplish by investing in it. Without this, deciding what to work on and seing priorities will be nearly impossible. Seing boundaries will focus the work to be done and make measuring success easier. A look at legal KM's emergence in law firms provides a striking example of what happens when initiatives do not begin with good definitions and clear boundaries. When law firms started thinking about KM, they knew they needed it but were not yet certain what it was. Firms began dabbling in KM by perhaps collecting and curating work product, disseminating practice advisories and current awareness, then possibly evolving to help IT evaluate and implement practice support solutions. KM soon grew into a mixed bag: depending on the firm, KM might include records management, professional development, libraries, research, risk management, conflicts, project management, pricing and any number of other functions that did not otherwise have a home. Without a clear definition of KM and good boundaries to support it, these departments soon found themselves understaffed, underbudgeted to observe their own and their clients' workplaces and industries and then to reflect on those observations. Even the most observant and creative among us will miss out on insights without enough time to take note, think and imagine – a truth oen overlooked by fast-paced law firms and legal departments used to dealing with urgent maers on tight deadlines. Equally important are naturally curious people comfortable asking questions about virtually everything. In her keynote address at ILTACON 2018, futurethink CEO and author Lisa Bodell underscored the importance of provocative questions, noting that "In the future, being able to ask the right questions will become more valuable than finding the answer…When you ask the right questions, people give disruptive answers." Many organizations do not create environments where people at all levels feel safe asking probing questions; highly hierarchical environments with small appetites for change may inadvertently (or intentionally) stifle questions that could fuel innovation and advance the business. Perhaps the single most important driver of innovation (and one that has received considerable aention) is diversity. Homogeneity of thought, perspective and background can lead to complacency; conversely, pulling together people from diverse backgrounds with divergent skills, experience and education tends to ignite novel solutions to tough problems. As the 2011 research study from Forbes Insight titled "Global Diversity and Inclusion: Fostering Innovation Through a Diverse Work Force" aptly observed, "The business case for diversity and inclusion is intrinsically linked to a company's innovation strategy. Multiple and varied voices have a range of experiences, and this can help generate new ideas about A Practical Guide to Disciplined Innovation and Other Oxymorons Highly hierarchical environments with small appetites for change may inadvertently (or intentionally) stifle questions that could fuel innovation and advance the business.

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