CKO Competencies
Knowledge Leadership in the Fast Moving Goods Industry

By K.S. Srinivasa MurtHy
Head of Corporate Management
Hindustan Lever Limited, Mumbai, India

Note: These observations were first published as part of discussions on CKO competenices in the May, 2001 STAR SERIES. The entire discussion is
synthesized and available in the STAR SERIES Section of the AOK web site.

I have read with interest the discussions on the role of CKO, the competencies and culture change. I am relatively new to Knowledge Management, having been associated with it for just about a year. However, I have had an enriching experience in the Unilever group of companies in India, spanning over 30 years, in Marketing, Commercial and General Management areas.

Last year, I got involved in our company's knowledge management initiative, initially leading it together with my responsibility as the Head of Strategic Services (Marketing Services + Corporate Planning). In April this year, I was appointed Head of Corporate Knowledge Management, on a full time basis, to focus comprehensively on the implementation of KM in our company. Even though, I start with some advantages - my experience in our company provides me a deep understanding of the business processes, key strategic priorities, the organizational culture and a decent network - in spite of all these advantages, I do recognize that it is not easy to institutionalize knowledge management in an organization unless the KM strategy is carefully crafted and implemented.

Over the last few months, I have been thinking through some of the issues that came up in the various discussions with Dede. I thought I would share with you the approach we adopted in our Company and would welcome your comments and suggestions.

I believe the KM strategy, plans and organizational structure may vary depending on the industry type and organizational culture. The strategy, plans and KM organizational structure appropriate to consultancy or service industry, where knowledge is the main product, may be some what different as compared to an FMCG. My comments are based on my limited experience in progressing KM in an FMCG (fast moving consumer goods).

What is the role of CKO?

1. CKO will be the champion and evangelist for institutionalizing KM in the business as an integral part of the business processes and key business priorities. He is part of the senior management team of the company.

2. He will, in consultations with senior business and functional management, develop an appropriate knowledge management strategy and plans for the company and pilot the Board approval. The KM strategy must be fully aligned to the strategic priorities and business goals of the company.

3. He will coordinate with the internal IT team, HR team and external KM consultants, where appropriate, and plan and help build an enabling frame work to implement KM . Such an enabling frame work is likely to be comprised of :

- Information and communication systems for connecting people to people and people to information / knowledge repositories / best practices,

- Cultural enablers for strengthening Collaborative Team Working and knowledge sharing processes( networks, communities of practice, teams, events, reward and recognition systems etc.), and

- Knowledge mapping and structuring tools, techniques and processes.

4. He will identify and focus on the implementation of the initial KM projects which have potential for quick results / success, so as to quickly build credibility for KM in the company. He will actively participate in the facilitation process for these initial projects.

5. He will focus on communication, both with participants in the approved KM projects as well as other managers at various levels, to ensure that there is a common understanding among all on what KM is all about - "a deliberate and structured approach to leverage collective knowledge of the enterprise, in support of business excellence". The emphasis is on "deliberate and more structured approach" and "collaborative team working to create and share knowledge".

Our experience is that developing a common understanding among the management, on what KM stands for and how to implement it is not easy. Some of the reasons are:

a. The KM terminology is seen to be fuzzy and amorphous. Discussing concepts does not seem to help. Illustration of success stories is the best way. But these illustrations need careful choice, people must be able to relate to them as relevant to their business.

b. Even if there is no articulated comprehensive knowledge strategy, most companies practice knowledge management in some form or other. Often they may not refer to those activities / processes as KM. (For example most would practice both product and process ( business process) innovation, some internal and external benchmarking etc.). While there might be a definite scope for strengthening the knowledge creation and knowledge re-use in a company, through strengthening knowledge sharing culture of the organization and a more structured use of knowledge enablers ( tools, techniques and processes), the initial reaction could be that we are trying to start one more new initiative, which may divert the attention of our focus on business results.

c. The key to successful institutionalization of KM into the business processes in a company is - "culture change" to support and strengthen knowledge sharing and collaborative team working. This change management is not easy.

Given the above, the CKO has to persevere and build a consensus on steps to initiate culture change as well as build a common understanding on what KM stands for. Communication and training will play a key role in creating the necessary awareness and common understanding.

We have been at it for almost a year now. We have developed a KM strategy, developed some senior management consensus and initiated a few initial KM projects. We are yet to make a real start of the culture change programme. I am finding that institutionalizing KM in a company seems to be a slower process than one would like, where as quick wins / demonstrable results are critical for the credibility of KM.

Our experience is - Unless the teams involved in the KM initiatives develop a clear charter and commit direct contribution to business goals ( growth (innovation) and functional / operational excellence), they will not get the senior management attention. While capability building may well be an important objective of many KM initiatives, it is necessary to demonstrate how that capability will translate into superior business performance. The CKO should help the KM teams ( be a catalyst) develop appropriate charter for the KM initiatives, with mile stones and deliverables and participate along with the senior management in reviewing progress and results.

What are the key competencies required in a CKO?

To play this role effectively, the CKO must enjoy credibility with the Business Heads and the management committee of the company. I personally believe that some one from within the organization will have an advantage because of his understanding of the organizational culture, business processes, strengths as well as weaknesses. It would be useful if the CKO had worked in many of the divisions in the company and played general management roles - led cross functional teams and preferably had some experience in running a business unit.

While the CKO needs to have an appreciation of the role IT can play, as an important enabler, for collaborative working, capture, storage, easy retrieval, sharing and re-use of knowledge, he should not equate KM with IT. The CKO needs to demonstrate business and strategic perspective and an ability to integrate into KM all relevant types of enablers.

Strengthening knowledge sharing culture is the most important factor which will decide the fate of KM in a company. Therefore the CKO has to be good at Change management. He will need to work closely with the HR team to initiate events /processes, recognition and reward systems to help strengthen collaborative team working and knowledge sharing culture.

For the CKO to succeed, he needs to leverage the KM understanding and functional competence and credibility of a few colleagues in HR and IT. A virtual team comprising of the champions of the identified KM initiatives, and these IT & HR managers should collaborate to share knowledge, lessons learned and guide the implementation of KM in the company.

Is a CKO of the above profile required on a long term basis?

My view is - not necessary. Ultimately, once the company has made good progress through the initial stages and the culture change initiatives have taken roots in the organization ( say in 2 or 3 years) , the ownership and leadership of knowledge management should fully shift to the Business / Functional / Business Process leadership in the company. When the knowledge management is fully integrated into the business processes, the business process owners and concerned business heads should champion KM as well. KM should be integrated into the normal workflow and should not be seen as an additional initiative. At that stage KM should ideally be not an additional initiative but a way of working in our business.

At that stage the profile of the CKO could be different - his main role may be ownership of knowledge processes, KM tools and techniques and specifying company wide standards for the Information and communication technology to support KM, in collaboration with the IT team.

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