Improving Organizational Learning In The Wildland Fire Community Learning Organizations and Knowledge Management.

Improving Organizational Learning In TheWildland Fire Community

Learning Organizations and Knowledge Management

Wildland FireLessons Learned Center (LLC)

Mission Objectives– Improve performance,

safety, and efficiency

– Improve organizational learning

– Share knowledge

– Promote organizational change

Learning Organizations

A learning organization is skilled in creating, acquiring, interpreting, transferring, and retaining knowledge, and at purposefully modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights.

Wildland Fire

The LLC goal is to bring multiple agencies together as a learning organization

Wildland Fire Learning Organization

A Litmus Test for Wildland Fire

Does our organization:– Pursue a defined learning agenda?– Avoid repeated mistakes?– Capture critical knowledge before key people

leave?– Act on what it knows?

Is our organization open to discordant information?

The Basis of the Learning Organization Strategy Transfer Knowledge, not just information. Knowledge leads to better, safer decisions.

Better-informed.

Knowledgeable.

Wiser decisions.

Knowledge Is TheCapacity To Act

Repositories of information (such as libraries) are necessary, but not sufficient.

Repositories themselves do not have the capacity to act.

Information becomes knowledge when it is learned well enough to be put into action.

Knowledge Leads to Safer Decisions

Timely access to knowledge is key.

Proactive knowledge transfer is another key.

Proactive Knowledge Transfer Requires networks of

key people– Subject Matter Experts– Knowledge Activists– Opinion Leaders

How does it get done? – The key people

introduce specific practices that promote learning in the organization.

Communities of Practice

Informal groups of people with similar work-related activities and interests

Can belong to multiple agencies or reporting structures

Community members transfer and retain knowledge naturally, organically

Communities of Practice, cont’d.

Can be defined at many levels.

Wildland Fire Examples (In order of Increasing specificity):

– Incident management

– Operations management

– Air operations

– Helibase operations

How Organizations Promote Learning

6 critical tasks* that successful learning organizations do:1. Collecting intelligence2. Benchmarking3. Examine past experiences and learn from them4. Experiment with new knowledge applications5. Solve problems in a systematic way, through

Communities of Practice (CoPs)6. Transfer knowledge through multiple venues

*Each task is a process, containing a sequence of steps. See Backup slides for details.

The Role of the LLC

Providing an effective way to identify, preserve, and distribute the existing knowledge is an important step toward the Center’s objectives.

The LLC’s KMS Project Part 1. Begin by creating a Knowledge

Management System prototype in a pilot area

Part 2. Extend the pilot to other geographic areas and communities of practice

Knowledge Management System

A successful Knowledge Management System (KMS) must focus on people and enabling technology– a hybrid approach.– Build Community of Practice (CoP) networks – Build infrastructure to facilitate knowledge

collection and sharing

Part 1: KMS Pilot Project

Focus is on an area with a high probability of success:– Rx Fire Community of

Practice (CoP)– Working in hazardous fuels

reduction– Benefiting the

Wildland/Urban Interface (WUI)

– In the Great Basin.

Components of a Successful KMS1. Content Creation: What do we know?

– Collecting the explicit and tacit knowledge that already exists in the community

2. Content Management: Who needs to know it, and how can we deliver it?– Using people and technology to facilitate knowledge transfer

through all possible avenues • documents, videos, formal & informal meetings, etc.

3. Success Measures: Have we made a difference?– Taking benchmark measurements and tracking continued progress

Creating the KMS

1. Content Creation.– Identify CoP leaders and

Subject Matter Experts.– Apply content creation

tools• After Action Review (AAR)• SME interviews, advice, &

reviews• CoP surveys• Incident Report Analysis• Data mining software• AAR Rollups

Creating the KMS, cont’d.

2. Content Management.

Develop the technology that supports the communities of practice and content creation

Creating the KMS, cont’d.

How do you go from content creation to content management? – Knowledge maps

• Show how knowledge moves through the community

• Identify sources, barriers, gaps

– Process maps• Ideally, how should LLC fit into the flow?

• What can the technology support?

• Strike a balance

Creating the KMS, cont’d.

3. Success Measures Across agencies, observe changes in:

– Consistency of Process•Pre- and post-program surveys about consistency in applying practices.

– A Better Safety Record•In the long-term, a learning organization will develop best practices, leading to standardization and ultimately, a better safety record.

Beyond the pilot project

Part 1, pilot project – first half of 2004 Part 2, expansion -- after 2004

– 1st step: Replicate in another geographic area (still Rx fire)

– 2nd step: Replicate in another CoP– And beyond…

Summary A learning organization recognizes inherent

knowledge and uses it to improve The LLC wants to help interagency wildland fire

become a learning organization Effective knowledge management can help us

reach that goal LLC is kicking off a new knowledge management

project, focusing on both people and technology– Part 1, in 2004: Great Basin, Rx fuels reduction, WUI– Part 2: Expand to another area, another CoP

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