Today on Thanksgiving, it is a day of reflection for many people in the United States, which is always something I enjoy experiencing. Yet, I’m often left wondering why it cannot be a ritual that we hold on to firmly, as if it were secular, a food staple or a ritual.
Many people, groups and organizations suffer through this notion of building a culture of gratitude, a culture of giving that fosters knowledge sharing. To this end, we need to be thinking as leaders about how we hire, who we hire, what we look for in key attributes, as well as our internal people programs, processes and technologies. We have to do the necessary hard work to partner with HR, IT, Business Units, Geographies and to walk the talk around what that means. We need to walk the talk, show them the possibilities if we are to share, give and demonstrate gratitude in an authentic way so that people can realize new possibilities. It may sound simple, but it’s not. Many organizations have micro cultures, physical cultures, sub cultures, you name it. Therefore, I wanted to share a few tips that perhaps can become seeds for your own knowledge garden.
1.) Define key behavior
2.) Differentiate by level, function and geography
3.) Ensure there is one key core collaborative, social or KM competency
4.) Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivators – think about this as you define remuneration
5.) Tie into the Performance Management Programs
6.) Become a butterfly that pollinates KM & Community concepts across the globe
7.) Walk the Talk
8.) Build into the talent identification and sourcing process
9.) Empower leaders to walk the talk
10.) Revisit, refine and be grateful
Imagine if we were programmed to spend time being grateful as if it were a nutritional requirement how different our day to day lives could be?
