The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/21494
BEST sponsoring organizations, the end of a conference marks only the beginning of some important work. A ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER OPENS The attendee and the organization must now determine how to capitalize on the knowledge that was acquired at the conference and determine the return on investment (ROI). The benefits of attending a particular conference, as well as the need to attend future events, are often determined by the amount of knowledge the organization gains as a result. To that end, one of the major challenges that organizations face when they send someone to a conference is how to transfer the knowledge gained back to the organization, and how to integrate that new knowledge into operational activities. More specifically, organizations need to figure out how to “download” the information from the attendee, how to share the information internally and what changes to implement based on this information. The only way to address these challenges is to understand, from an organizational perspective, what encourages the transfer of knowledge, and perhaps more important, what inhibits it. CREATE A CULTURE TO SUPPORT KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER There are many variables that impact knowledge transfer at both the individual and organizational levels. From the individual perspective, a person’s motivation, intellect and ability to link subject material to real world experiences and applications are absolutely critical. With the assumption that conference attendees have this motivation, intellect and ability, the issue of what encourages or inhibits knowledge transfer becomes an organizational one. 14 www.iltanet.org Peer to Peer PRACTICES Knowledge Transfer: An Investment in Learning Paid Forward few months ago, we saw the wrap-up of ILTA 2010, an event that provided its attendees a very rich educational and networking experience. Was the close of that conference an ending or a beginning? The fact is that for attendees and What we can conclude from ample research on this subject is that an organization’s culture, leadership and structure play a very important role in setting the stage for transferring knowledge back to the organization. Leaders in the area of knowledge (skill) transfer have successfully identified organizational attributes that encourage it. Kurt Lewin, Edgar Schein, Christopher Argyris and Donald Schön, all leaders in formulating the concept of a learning “An organization’s culture, leadership and structure play a very important role in setting the stage for transferring knowledge back to the organization.” organization, conclude that in order for organizations to survive, they must have an open culture that encourages transfer of knowledge and skills. This “open culture” is best described as one that embraces change, encourages creativity and innovation, and operates with a no-blame philosophy. This type of culture is needed to fully optimize the information gained by conference attendees and subsequently put it to work in the organization.