The Tacit Knowledge of Team Leadership

Posted by Sam Marshall @ Intellectual Capital Punishment

Don't let the title of
Towards an Ecological Theory of Sustainable Knowledge Networks by Jeff Conklin, et al put you off. Its full of insight about project teams (rather than knowledge networks in general). One thing caught my eye:

"The process of team formation is complex. Leaders have tacit knowledge about how to move a team through a process, and they access that knowledge in face to face meetings. When in virtual collaborations, they don't have that, e.g. they may not recognize that they don't have alignment about team goals"

Note that the barrier isn’t lack of knowledge, but the absence of the stimulus needed to retrieve it. The dynamic of the face-to-face interaction is what triggers the intuitive manager to take the right course. He may only sense subliminally the lack of alignment, but he'll intuitively do what it takes to correct that. Few managers would explicitly have a process with a "check alignment" gate, but they all know it must be done. Even bumping into a team member and subsequent chit chat can lead to an explicit awareness that they need information you hadn't thought to pass on. continue reading

Librarians as Knowledge Managers - Profiles of emerging leaders

NB. This page will be continuously updated (last update Dec 13, 2011). Bookmark it. And, if you know a KM Librarain, send me his / her profile, and it will be posted here.

Who's in this room:
Prasannna Mnazhiyil Kesavan; Vandana Ranjan; ; Uma Narayan ; Vijaya C. Menon; Deb Rash; Bhojaraju D Gunjal; Susan Braun; Ben Skinner; Ginny Browne, Karen Huffman Dennie Heye.

Prasannna Manazhiyil Kesavan: INFORMATION OFFICER- Motorola India Electronics, Ltd. (MIEL) Hyderabad. (April 2000 to the present).

"My strength lies in maintaining a fine balance between being a user friendly support based on sound professional foundations. I am known for conceptualizing library & non-library initiatives and cultivating a holisitic work culture; as well as leveraging maximum knowledge and support from varied resources to help make informed decisions and implementing initiatives with maximum efficiency. I am interested in contributing to Elearning / Training Management, Enterprise Information Management, Facilities Management, Team building and corporate social commitments. My other interests are in the fields of Digital Library, Content Management and Knowledge Management."

Bhojaraju D Gunjal lives in Bangalore, India and serves as the Assistant Consultant (KM Practice) at TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) - one of the world’s leading information technology companies. He has more than eight years of professional experience in Knowledge/Content Management & Library Administration in IT Sector. [source]

Vandana Ranjan is Knowledge Management Specialist at Bates WorldWide. Prior to that she worked at the Brooklyn Public Library's fast paced Telephone Reference Center.
Vandy has several years of experience in reference and library management. She worked as a solo librarian in India and built, from the ground, up, two successful libraries -- one academic library and one special library.
She came to the United States in pursuit of online information retrieval skills and received her second Master's in Library Science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania.
In her spare time she enjoys nature-gazing, biking, photography and classical music. [source: sla.org]

Mrs. Uma Narayan, Currently: Board of Directors, International Association of Law Libraries (2007- to date); Chief Librarian, Honourable Judges Library, Bombay High Court, India (1998- to date)
Previously: Knowledge Manager, Nishith Desai Associates: Legal and Tax Counselling Worldwide, India (2007).
Was invited by the U.S. Department of State to participate in the Individual International Visitor Programme in June-July 2003. Was awarded Professional Development Bursary by International Association of Law Libraries to attend their 23rd Annual Course in International Law Librarianship in August, 2004 at Helsinki, Finland. Was awarded Commonwealth Professional Development Fellowship tenable at Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London between January 6, 2006 and April 5, 2006. Was also awarded Visiting Fellowship in Law Librarianship by Institute of Advanced Legal studies, University of London for the period of Commonwealth Fellowship.

Ben Skinner: After a first degree in mathematics Ben moved into librarianship, working in the universities at Bath and Salford and gaining his Masters at MMU.

Moving to Brighton in 2004, Ben took up the post of Evidence-Based Knowledge Management Librarian at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. This role focuses on the running of a unique information service aimed at supporting evidence-based practice (EBP) throughout the local trusts.

As part of this service Ben has taught both critical appraisal skills and literature searching for EBP, initially to NHS staff and more recently for the Brighton & Sussex Medical School. [source]

Vijaya C. Menon is the Knowledge Management Head - Grey South Asia at Grey Global Group, Mumbai, India. An experience spanning 15 years, Vijaya started her career with University & College libraries and changed streams to manage corporate libraries. Her previous work experience includes positions at J. Walter Thompson, & Arthur Andersen (now Ernst & Young) where she worked as a solo librarian.
Vijaya holds a B.A. in Economics, Bachelor in Library Science and a Diploma in Marketing & Advertising Communications from the University of Mumbai. She is currently pursuing her MLIS degree from the University of Aberystwyth, Wales via Distance Learning. Vijaya has been a member of SLA for the last 6 months.
Leading a team of two, her work at Grey includes overseeing collection development at all branches in South Asia, handling industry information queries & disseminating advertising & marketing data. Currently she is involved in setting up the library intranet at Grey.
Outside of work Vijaya enjoys gardening, exercising, traveling and watching movies. [source: SLA.ORG] see also Award

Deb Rash joined Iconoculture as their Knowledge Manager in May 2006.

Previously, Deb was the Knowledge Manager at Carmichael Lynch. Her prior advertising career included working as a media planner at several agencies in Minneapolis.

She graduated in May 2004 with an MLIS from Dominican University/College of St. Catherine where she has returned as an Adjunct Instructor to team teach the class "Issues in Special Libraries." Deb has held the Membership Chair position for the Advertising & Marketing Division and Secretary and Continuing Education Chair positions for the Minnesota Chapter. She was a recipient of the MN Chapter�s Quality in Action Award in 2004.

Deb earned her BA in English from Carleton College. Outside of work, her passions are baseball and running. source]

Susan Braun, Manager, Lauritsen Library Research Services, The Aerospace Institute

{picture/ details awaited}
see also: [il2007] Librarians as Knowledge Managers

Ginny Browne is OCLC's Knowledge Management librarian. She runs OCLC's internal website, called C-Web, and manages internal knowledge transfer. Ginny also is one of the three editors of this nifty little glossary that we have behind our firewall (sorry) that defines library jargon, acronyms, initialisms, and, especially, OCLC-speak. (...) For her day job, Ginny works in our Library and Information Center, and serves as the recorder for the Members Council's State Academic Libraries group. [source]

Karen Huffman,
Vice President, KMPro DC Chapter; SLA member since 1999. Currently a member of the Washington, DC/SLA Chapter and Knowledge Management division

National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C., 1985 to Present. Information Systems & Technology: Senior Applications & Database Administrator (June 2008 to Present); Libraries & Information Services: Manager of Knowledge Initiatives (March 2005 to May 2008); Senior Librarian (April 2002 to March 2005); and Systems Specialist (April 1998 to March 2002). Administrative Services division: Administrative Assistant with managerial responsibilities (September 1994 to April 1998);

Dennie Heye is global knowledge manager for the Human Resources IT division at Royal Dutch Shell in the Netherlands. He has a LIS degree and a university degree in marketing, which he thinks makes a strong combination of skills to succeed in an organisation. He has worked in different library roles in Deloitte & Touche and Royal Dutch Shell, most recently as library portfolio manager for scientific & technical electronic sources and library innovator.
As knowledge manager for the Human Resources IT division he is responsible to define and implement a strategy covering the technical, content and organizational aspects of knowledge management.
He has written two books: "Characteristics of the Successful Twenty-First Century Information Professional" and "obnoxious librarian from hades". You can read more about him at his website.

Thought for the day - Managers administer, leaders inspire

Info courtesy: Michael Y @ A Techno-Theologian
See also:

Managers have a short-term perspective, leaders have a longer-term perspective
Managers have an eye on the bottom line, leaders have an eye on the horizon
Managers administer, leaders innovate
Managers imitate, leaders originate
Managers emulate the classic good soldier, leaders are their own person
Managers ask how and when, leaders ask what and why
Managers do things right, leaders do the right things
Managers accept the status-quo, leaders challenge the status-quo [anon., @ Passionate leadership- Excitement begets Excitement Source]

Book of the Year by Stan Skrzeszewski

The book of the Year is not a slogan. Nor this blog is about rocket science fiction. The title of this post simply recognizes the fact that there are Librarians who serve as Knowledge Managers. And there is no dearth of leadership in this evolving professional genre. Stanislaw (Stan) Skrzeszewski is one such leading expert, I believe

Stan Skrzeszewski is a librarian by training and a knowledge entrepreneur by inclination. He is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from cosmopolitanism to the animate nature of information. Stan founded Advanced Strategic Management in 1992, where he continues as a consultant specializing in bringing people and technology together.

The Knowledge Entrepreneur by Stan Skrzeszewski. (Scarecrow Press, 2006. 151pp ISBN 0810852918).
Book Description
The Knowledge Entrepreneur introduces the principles, skills, and knowledge required to be a knowledge entrepreneur or intrapreneur. It outlines the process for developing and implementing business plans and proposals for knowledge-based initiatives. It also offers insight into the nature of knowledge, innovation, and entrepreneurship. For the individual entrepreneur who is just starting to develop a business concept, employees who want to become employers, and for entrepreneurially-minded people working in larger information-related organizations (e.g. libraries and information, technology, and software businesses), this book will be an invaluable tool.
Book Review, By Maggie Weaver:

Stan is a library leader turned philosopher, and this book clearly indicates that the philosopher was always there under the librarian. In fact, Stan runs a series of Philosopher's Cafes, of which the latest is “A Conversation on the Knowledge Entrepreneur as Cosmopolitan, Nomadic Barbarian." continue reading from CASLIS Special Issues – April 2006 Edition

Table of Contents
1 An introduction to entrepreneurship 1
2 Traits and skills of knowledge entrepreneurs 13
3 Trends : a source of entrepreneurial opportunity 27
4 The knowledge entrepreneur and innovation 47
5 Developing a knowledge venture 65
6 Knowledge business structures and financing 71
7 Developing proposals : planning for an entrepreneurial project 81
8 Marketing for the knowledge entrepreneur 87
9 Knowledge entrepreneurs 97
10 Exporting knowledge services and products 131

Another review @ Info Career Trends by Elizabeth Shankle is Director of Research for Aretao.

Punchline:
I strongly recommend this book to every one interested in inforstrucure (I mean, this as: in addition to infrastructure).

For more info. reviews, sample readings, etc. See the Scarecrow Press Web site
See also:
Reviews From My Desktop--This is designed to be a Reviews and Reviewers Portal.