“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest “ --. Benjamin Franklin
Knowledge,
Adaptability to newer Technologies, Learning new Skills, Innovation, and
Integration ensure Stability and Success
In
today’s era of fast-evolving #technologies, #knowledge is the master #key to #success.
You need to acquire multiple #skills and adapt newer technologies to stay in
demand and achieve success, in your chosen career. Remember that
knowledge
cannot be stolen, and rather it grows many folds when shared with others. Even
if others copy your idea, you are still ahead of them as a leader, since they
are just followers.
Good knowledge includes job-related subjects (#domain), #customers, #suppliers/vendors,
#business #partners, #rules and #regulations of the government, regulating
authorities as well as those of the organization in which you are serving. One
needs to look for #emerging #technologies and best business practices. Good
knowledge always helps you to be more confident, a good #decision-maker and
lead your team from the front, by demonstrating your knowledge/expertise. Knowledge
also helps in effectively dealing with regulating authorities, customers,
vendors and business partners. Knowledge of newer technologies and best
business practices will enhance your #competence and the overall #productivity
of the organization. You may be a doctor, nurse, engineer, school teacher,
professor in a university/college, research scholar in a laboratory, or manager/team
leader in any product/service industry. You could also be any other
professional in a company related to #agriculture, #health care, #construction,
#manufacturing, #transportation, real estate, IT/software, media, #design, #finance
or trading. You cannot afford to stay static with your basic degree
/certification or one–time acquired skills. You need #continuous #learning,
up-skilling and #sharing your knowledge with others through #networking.
With
today’s global #uncertainty, rapid advances in technologies, #turbulent work
environment and highly #competitive global market; every professional in every
field needs to find time for gaining newer knowledge. Knowledge can be acquired
by participating in #workshops, #webinars /seminars/conferences, #research work
or attending short-time online #courses to learn newer skills and stay updated.
Good
knowledge helps in being confident, making good decisions, and negotiating
better business deals, which paves the way for your growth and the growth of your
organization.
Indeed, knowledge is the master key to outshine in a team/organization/ global
events and, stay in demand. Although it is the responsibility of every
If you are a
project manager or a Head of Department (HOD) in an organization/institution,
you must facilitate and recommend your team members to participate in skill-building
events and stay updated on newer skills. Knowledge gained and literature
collected while participating in such events must be shared within the
department or team for the cumulative gain of the organization. Always remember that all knowledge gained by
all employees is the collective #intellectual #property / #assert of the
organization. By sharing knowledge resources; you can save time, effort and
cost, during the execution of any assigned project/ task and enhance the productivity
of the organization. This will provide
acceleration to your success and the growth of your organization.
Data, Information
and Knowledge.
·
Data. Data is an observation/measurement of events, objects
or environments.
·
Information. When data is classified, organised, processed and
stored for decision-making and use/reuse, becomes information.
·
Knowledge. Knowledge is the know-how about
various products, processes and information about own organisation, business
partners, and policies. rules and regulations. All these need to be properly
indexed, stored and organised in a central depository /indexed library. Knowledge should be easily available when needed
by the organisation, stakeholders, peers/teams
or by business partners.
·
Wealth. Knowledge related to the products,
processes, innovations and technology can be customised as a product /service
and sold as a commodity to create wealth.
Knowledge Levels. This relates to the structure of the organisation and available
communication channels. Generally, there
are two levels of knowledge:
·
Organisation Level. It relates to knowledge of Senior Management, Stakeholders, Team competency, Innovations, Patents,
Customs / Culture, Ethics, vendors/suppliers, customers, business partners,
Standing Operating procedures ( SOPs), rules and regulations and Digital Indexed Library (DIL).
·
Individual Level.
It relates to academic qualifications, Skills set, Professional Courses and Certifications of
all employees. It also includes the special skills/ expertise of each employee.
Types of Knowledge. There
are three types of knowledge:
- Tacit knowledge. This type of knowledge includes language,
facial recognition, or gesture. These skills are acquired through real-life
experience. It is quite difficult
to quantify, codify, and transfer to other individuals.
- Implicit knowledge.
It relates to
the know-how (Skill)/ expertise of a person. This may not be documented
and could be a part of a certain process. It is like expectations which are
beyond the Customer's Requirement (CR). It is assumed/understood that
customer expectations will be automatically catered for.
- Explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is well recorded
in various documents like Reports, User
Manuals, Charts, Standing Operating Procedures (SOP) and Files/ Tables. This
type of knowledge also includes databases, white papers, case- studies and
lessons learnt from various projects/ services delivered. This types of
knowledge sources facilitate organizations to easily share knowledge
across teams/work groups. Explicit knowledge is very important to retain
as Intellectual Property (IP) within an organization as well as facilitate
successful knowledge transfer to its employees and business partners.
Educated
or knowledgeable. There is a difference between an
educated person and a knowledgeable person. An educated individual may not
possess adequate knowledge. On the other hand, a knowledgeable person is well-educated.
The knowledge helps a person to understand the difference between right and wrong
activity and its outcome. When a knowledgeable person is stuck in any
situation, he/she can easily find a way out of that situation and come out
victorious. A good professional must
have sound knowledge to be an expert and reliable. It is true that “little
knowledge is a dangerous thing” because
such people do not know things properly.
They may damage the machinery or an instrument they use and even record
wrong findings while examining a patient. Such half-knowledgeable workers/ technicians
will waste a lot of material, effort and
time and still produce costly and wrong output. Therefore, organizations and
individuals should both invest time and money to regularly boost their
knowledge.
Importance of Knowledge. Knowledge
helps us to understand the difference between right and wrong product/ service.
It also helps us to overcome our present mistakes so that we do not repeat those
mistakes in the future. A person who possesses the knowledge, he/she is richer
than a person who has more money but less knowledge. Knowledge is a powerful
tool for the growth of an organization and nation-building. The development of
a nation doesn’t depend on its large stock of arms, highways/expressways, airports,
many high-rise buildings or metros. The real development of a country depends
on the knowledge/expertise of its knowledge workforce, quality education, research institutes and their activities, innovations
and patents.
Knowledge is a Success Factor. Knowledge impacts your ability for decision-making,
performance, actions and reactions. Lack of knowledge will make you hesitant to
speak in public and even during any meeting/discussion/negotiation. To perform well in any field you should have
good knowledge of the subject, related skills, available resources and rules
and regulations of the organization and those of the government. We all know
that ignorance of the law, rules, regulations and policies of the organization
/ government / regulating authorities is no excuse. Therefore, it is important
that you do self-analysis (SWOT) periodically and identify what more you need
to make up for your deficiencies. It is equally important to know about your
seniors, team members, customers, vendors/ suppliers, business partners and
others. If you know something well, you can be bold and confident while
speaking, writing and negotiating. After you join an organization, there will
be so much to learn on-the-job, for which you must have the right aptitude,
attitude and sharp grasping ability. A
knowledgeable person is always in demand and respected. Indeed, good knowledge is the master key to success.
Knowledge
Sharing is Power. Knowledge is the most valuable
asset for the growth of an individual, or an organization, or a society or a Nation. When you are
knowledgeable, you have the power to achieve many goals in your life. If you
lack knowledge, you will face many issues in your life and at times you may
feel frustrated/helpless. We all know that particular knowledge is required to
drive a car, solve a puzzle, negotiate an obstacle, operate various machinery/
instruments and do many more activities. They rightly say that the true power
of a nation is not judged by the weapons they have but by the knowledge/
expertise of its people. Knowledge is the most
powerful asset in the whole world because it can create and destroy life on our
earth. The knowledge of an employee is his/her ability/potential to use that
knowledge to help others and the organization he/she serves. A person is considered powerful/trustworthy and helpful by others
when he/she has good knowledge to work towards finding solutions to their
problems. When you use your knowledge/expertise
to support other people around you, it increases your popularity, your
knowledge as well as the knowledge of those persons.
Use
and Reuse of Knowledge. Knowledge will serve you throughout your whole
life. You need good knowledge to take timely
and right decisions, solve various problems efficiently and help/guide others
around you. When you don’t put your knowledge to good use, you will be wasting
your valuable asset by just keeping it locked in your head/ cupboard. We all know that unused machinery will keep depreciating
and even gets rusty and sticky. Likewise, unused knowledge gets outdated and
goes waste, since technology is continuously and rapidly evolving and
discovering new horizons. Therefore, if you know, about something, do not keep it
in your head or cupboard to deny others from copying your idea. Instead, you
should put your knowledge to good use and share it with others and see how it will
grow speedily.
Individuals gaining Knowledge. Knowledge is something that you can’t subtract, but you
can only add to the knowledge, you already have You can’t buy ready-made knowledge from
anywhere, but you can learn/earn or acquire it from anywhere. You can increase/acquire
knowledge by reading books/ebooks, blogs, journals, magazines, case studies, articles published in print
media and research papers of your interest. The more such literature you study,
apply and share with others, the more knowledgeable you become. You can also
participate in symposiums, seminars, webinars, conferences and workshops to
interact with other professionals and increase your knowledge as well as the knowledge
of other participants. This, is a win-win
situation, benefiting all participants.
Showcase your
Knowledge. It is good to know how much you know but equally important
to let others know how much you know. You should not assume that your boss
would know all about you because he/she has many other things to handle. It is
equally important to know how much you don’t know and from whom to know what
you don’t know. Then don’t hesitate or wait but quickly plan to reach the selected
source and learn what you did not know. If you now know what you did not know,
you are knowledgeable and start sharing with others. A few guidelines
/action points to achieve the above are
given below:
·
Measuring own competency. This can be achieved by taking
exams, certification test and participating in knowledge competitions.
·
Finding the Gaps. This can be done by SWOT analysis. Look around for emerging job
opportunities and check their requirements. Compare these with your skill set
and list out the gaps related to your present job and future job opportunities.
·
Finding sources for acquiring Newer
Skills. Carry out a
Google search to find out on-lined/part-time and weekend courses by reputed
colleges/universities and training institutes. Find out their location, certification process
and the cost for the course.
·
Reaching out for filling gaps. Plan your timings of workplace/home
and adjust to fit into the timeslot available from the training institute.
·
Plan your
travelling mode and time and attend the program/ course with full commitment to
get good value for your time and money.
·
Do take permission from your boss to
participate in upcoming seminars/conferences/symposiums/webinars/workshops and
participate actively.
·
Showcase your knowledge. Once you are done with training/
certification, it is good to showcase your certificate of participation /
passing grade in the skill test. Showcase your achievements to your boss, and put
in on the Linkedin network and other public/private media networks. This can be
done by activly participating in group discussions/brain-storming/brain-sketching
sessions, presenting research work/ technical papers and conducting
seminars/webinars. writing blogs, assisting your boss and team members in
performing their roles.
·
Sharing and gaining more knowledge. Start sharing knowledge through
networking, presenting papers during seminars/ conferences and gaining more
knowledge.
Importance
of knowing Rules and Regulations. Good knowledge of
the Rules, Regulations and Policies of the country as well as those of your organization
is very important for business transactions and delivery of products/material
or services If you hold good cards in your hand, you should also have
good knowledge of the rules of the game, only then you can win the game. Say, you are umpiring a hockey or football
match, you must know all the rules of the game and even when to show a yellow
or red card to a defaulting player or award a penalty shot. Likewise, to have
speedy execution/delivery of products/ services, you should be thorough in all
rules, regulations and policies of the organization, government and regulating
authorities. When working with global teams of any MNC organization, you need
to know the customs duties, rules, regulations and policies of the participating
country. Ignorance of laws/rules is no excuse while dealing with customers,
vendors/ sub-contractors or business partners.
Important
Areas of Knowledge. There can be many kinds of knowledge
areas but we are considering those related to your chosen career. Some of the important
areas are:
·
Domain. It relates to the
subject of your chosen career which
could be healthcare, business, agriculture, engineering, journalism, sale/marketing,
HR, law, education, manufacturing, construction, design and many more.
·
Own Strength and
Limitations. It is important to know the strengths and limitations of yourself,
your team, your organization, your vendors and your business partners. It is
also important to know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.
·
Software Packages. You need good knowledge
of various software packages/ tools for enhancing your productivity in your
area of work. It could be as per your area /job - Programming languages, DBMS.
Cloud computing, Big Data, Data Analytics, Animation, Designing and Manufacturing,
Filming and Digital Photography or Mass communication.
·
Tools and Measuring
Instruments. Knowledge of these tools is required for quality testing and Quality Control
(QC).
·
Digital
marketing. This relates to compting competency in content writing, web advertising,
branding, networking, CRM, Marketing campaigns, customer response and feedback.
·
Vendors / sub-contractors.
The concept of having everything “under one roof “ is not valid in today’s
cut-throat market and rapidly changing technology environment. Your customers always want early delivery and
rush to the market to beat their competitors. Therefore it is better to subcontract part of the
project to a trustworthy vendor (Third Party)
and save time and cost. However, overall responsibility for quality, delivery
and cost remains with the main contractor (You). Therefore you must know the competence
and reliability of your vendors/sub-contractors.
·
Decision Support
System(DSS) These are software tools required .for simulation, analysis, data
projection and decision-making. As a manager, you should have hands-on
experience in using these tools efficiently.
·
Rules and Regulations. Standard Operating
Procedures (SOP), Recruitment/exit policy, Performance assessment and
promotion, career advancement, quality policy, security and safety of
information, discipline, ethos and any special instructions of the
organization.
·
Market Trends. Knowledge of
customer requirements, expectations and emerging trends in the market is very
useful for planning and executing marketing campaigns and innovation..
·
Government laws
and Policies. Import/ Exports, Rules, Regulations, Policies, Taxation and incentives
schemes.
·
Cyber security. It is most important to ensure secrecy and
privacy of information while sharing on the internet/electronic media.
·
Other nations’
policies on Import / Export. These relate to business partners from other countries.
This knowledge is very important when working with MNCs.
Acquiring
knowledge. Knowledge
can be acquired from open literature/websites, books, magazines, journals,
white papers, blogs, seminars/ webinars,
conference and visit to technical exhibitions/ Tech-fests. After you join a company/organization,
there will be so much to learn on the job for which you must have the right
aptitude and positive attitude to take maximum advantage of every available
learning opportunity. In addition, there
are a large number of online free and paid courses offered by COURSERA, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC),
Future-learning and by many lead universities like Stanford, Wharton, Princeton, Carnegie, Michigan, MIT in
the USA, IIT’s in India and many others academies and universities across the
world. MOOC and COURSERA are the most popular sources and many countries have adopted
or adapted their similar/near similar versions in their languages. You can
search the web and pick the right online course for which you can manage time
and cost. Some popular websites are :
https://www.coursera.org, https://www.mooc-list.com/ http://www.futurelearning.org/
Sharing
of knowledge.
Knowledge sharing is a multiplication factor to enhance your productivity, synergy
and popularity among participants. If
one team knows two skills and the other team knows five skills, collectively
both teams gain additional expertise which is more than the arithmetic total of
2+5 skills. On the other hand, keeping everything close in your cupboard shows
your complex or fear that others may take away your hard work/ research work. Such
apprehension will often lead to retardation of your professional growth. If as
a professor or research scholar, you are doing research work or innovation for some new product/process, sharing
your approach with others will help you to take advantage of other’s experience
and have a higher takeoff. This will help in avoiding re-inventing the wheel. A
good old saying is ever true- “Power is gained by sharing knowledge and not
by hoarding it”.
Summary. Knowledge is the
most powerful asset which helps in the growth of individuals as well as the
organization. Knowledge people/experts can help in the development and growth
of the infrastructure of their country. The
development of a nation doesn’t depend on its stockpile of weapon systems or aeroplanes
or ships. It rather depends on the knowledge that its citizens have and the way
they utilise it. Good knowledge/ expertise ensures higher productivity, good
quality and higher employability with a higher pay package. After you join an organization, there will be so much to
learn from the seniors, peers, case studies, Standing Operating procedures
(SOP), manuals and Indexed Digital Library. To quickly gain knowledge and be
more productive, one must have the right aptitude and positive attitude. You should
do a SWOT analysis periodically and identify what more you need to make up for your
deficiencies and grow further. It is equally important we know about knowledge
of own organization, seniors, peers, business partners and competitors. If you
know something well, you can be bold and confident while speaking, writing and
negotiating. Similarly, it is important to have good knowledge of the vision,
mission, quality standards, policies, rules and regulations of your
organization, It is equally important to have a good knowledge of government laws, policies,
incentives schemes, tax, import/export regulations, Ignorance of law/rules/policies
is no excuse. A knowledgeable person is always in demand and well respected.
Best wishes , Dr Sarbjit Singh
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