Learning to Fly: Practical Lessons from one of the World's Leading Knowledge Companies (Paperback)

~ (Author), Geoff Parcell (Author) "Have a read of this chapter to set the context for the rest of the book..." (more)
Key Phrases: peer assist, knowledge directory, knowledge management team, Gulf of Mexico, Sir John Browne, Innovation Colloquium (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"the authors and publishers have done and excellent job...this is a very good, practical book, and an excellent read." (Knowledge Management, July 2001) "the author makes a compelling case." (Modern Management, August 2001) "...easily readable and practical introduction to the subject..." (Professional Marketing, November 2001)

Product Description

"The first generation of knowledge management has come and gone. The second generation, which promises both deeper insights and greater impact, will be less about data and more about the social nature of knowledge, less about ‘capture and retrieval’ and more about innovating and sharing, and ultimately more about know-how rather than know about — the only knowledge that ultimately matters in any pragmatic institution. BP’s dramatic ascent as an industry leader stems in no small part from its commitment to learning and knowledge. Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell show how new ideas and tools are making working and learning inseparable in one of the world’s most innovative large companies." Peter Senge. Senior Lecturer. MIT and Chair, SoL (Society for Organizational Learning) "Collison and Parcell compellingly demonstrate how the combination of sharing behaviors, smart processes and enabling technology have made BP a world leader in knowledge management." Steve Ballmer, President and Chief Executive Officer. Microsoft Corporation "A great story of a global company on the journey toward the Knowledge Driven World. From building networks across the organization to ‘having the time to halve the time’ it is a journey of constant change for the better." Robert H. Buckman, Chairman and CEO, Buckman Laborotories "Finally in the jungle of theoretical sources about knowledge management, a really practical, ‘hands-on’ book which gives useful insights in the practice: How to initiate knowledge management and even more important how to keep it alive-as normal part of everyday business." Cordula Söfftge, BMW Group Learning Concepts "With distinctive clarity and simplicity, Learning to Fly combines real practice with rich experience to meet the need to leverage know -how in a network-centric world. The authors have codified a set of proven tools and processes for teams and organizations to learn before, during and after, in order to dramatically improve their performance." Kent Greenes. Chief Knowledge Officer, SAIC:, "Here’s what we have been waiting for — a practical way to apply knowledge management for immediate and identifiable business success. The authors have extensive experience in doing that and we should listen to them carefully. Just in time too, as the challenges of the future — wireless Internet,e-Business, continuing mergers, de-mergers and globalization — demand that we get on with the business of KM and this book makes that possible. Well done, guys." Col. Ed Guthrie. US Army (retd.) "There are very few knowledge management books written by actual practitioners and this is one of them. BP has led the charge in KM and these authors were there. A fine place to start one’s KM education!" Larry Prusak, Executive Director, IBM Institute for Knowledge Management. "In the last five years few companies have implemented their knowledge management strategy as effectively as BP. Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell have used this compelling experience to provide a thoughtful and action oriented guide to knowledge management. It should be required reading for both students, practitioners and, perhaps most important, for those executives that have to deliver on the promise of leveraging knowledge assets as a mechanism for gaining competitive advantage." Dr. John C. Henderson. The Richard C. Shipley Professor of Management, Boston University

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Capstone; 1st edition (March 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 184112124X
• ISBN-13: 978-1841121246
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #949,691 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning to Fly soars among KM books, May 11, 2001

By	Claudia Earle (Hickory, NC) - See all my reviews

What enables a company to soar in the midst of mergers, reorganisations and technology change? In their book, Learning to Fly, BP Consultants, Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell, share their secret for delivering more with less and positioning the company for future success. What's more important than the company's size, holdings or product lines? It is the use of Knowledge Management (KM) to adapt what others have already learned and dynamically capture and share the explicit and tacit knowledge of your work force as it evolves.

Learning to Fly is both a reference book and a blueprint. Part One: Overview sets the context for and defines knowledge management.

Part Two: Tools and Techniques describes six very useful tools for managing knowledge. I found their inclusion of real-life examples like BP's "Connect" project tremendously helpful in understanding what is involved in building buy-in for a searchable intranet knowledge directory through which all staff can search for people with relevant knowledge and experience.

In Part Three: Today and Tomorrow, the authors share practical advice about embedding knowledge management in the organisation. Appendices guide the reader to resources for inspiration, people and technology. Internet style pages enable easy navigation through and between chapters.

The book has received critical acclaim from a number of industry leaders. It will undoubtedly be received by those of us in the trenches with the same enthusiasm!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making sense of knowledge work, August 5, 2001

By	Denham Grey "dgrey" (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Collison & Parcell have put together a very down to earth approach to knowledge management. I liked their simple wisdom:

1) talk to people with the T-shirt: been there, done that

2) learn, learn, learn: before, during and after

3) cultivate a community: for tacit transfer and to keep the repository alive and fresh

4) establish a network: to gather news and keep yourself aware

Way too may KM projects chase content, without community, technology without a strategy and compile best practices with no way to validate and refresh. Chris and Geoff have the right spirit and advice when it comes to starting - jump right in and avoid the gradual immersion, ask some key questions, "What are your critical issues?" listen deeply and go with the flow!. Readers will find their people centric views and emphasis on learning, a refreshing and effective way to make sense of knowledge.work.

In particular, I found their book easy to navigate, clearly organized and easy to absorb in small chunks - there is a deep lesson there for any aspiring knowledge manager. They certainly hit the high spots in my book: yellowpages so you can find people that know, communities of practice for continuous learning, practices for testing and validating captured content to avoid GIGO (garbage in garbage out) and strategies to embed knowledge in role structures, processes and company lore.

A key aspect of learning to fly is the use personal and 3rd party stories to convey meaning and change mindsets. This helps to center the prescriptive aspects and changes the tone from a fieldbook to a readable engaging text. Learning to fly is a handy way to get your KM projects up and away, showing clearly the sky is the limit when we really start to work with our knowledge.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Immediately Useful!, May 6, 2001

By	Jo Brennan (Australia) - See all my reviews

As a Knowledge Manager for a large organisation I come across a lot of books in the field. This has been one of the most helpful and practical KM books that I have seen for some time. We have been able to immediately utilise the advice from the authors to suit our situation.

We are just starting out with an implementation of a "corporate yellow pages". We have used references from the book to get signoff for the approach that we wanted to take (ie. a more casual approach rather than a HR-like listing), stolen ideas re the implementation!! and got fantastic support from the authors online. They do reply to your email! We are now well on track with the project, have high levels of buy-in across the organisation from Managing Director down and are keeping it simeple and therefore inside time and budget.

The book is well written with a good scattering of English humour to keep you interested! Highly recommended.