Have you ever questioned yourself about the assumptions that you’re normally caring around with you? This could be related to any opinion, or just about people you meet or situations. I would say that most of us are not aware of our own assumptions, and sometimes what can hinder us to change are actually not lack of will or resources but our unawareness of these assumptions!

It was actually from school that I learned the importance of assumptions; and how we take them for “granted” and thereby never question their existence: what they do to our understanding of the world! An example: I took a class in Humanitarian Operations which was mostly about dealing with emergency relief situations. I remembered particularly one model that provides an understanding of the factors (root causes, vulnerability of a country/regions, social conditions etc.) that turn a disaster (caused by e.g. earthquakes, landslide, flooding etc.) into a crisis. By using the model, you can get an understanding of the complexity of the situation. Hence, it allows you to get an overview of those factors that cause the disaster; those that affect the operation of relief etc. Thereby it will enhance your ability to make a decision – ASSUMING that those who are in charge of the operation can have substantial information available to discern the vulnerability factors and their complexity!

I remembered to have asked the professor a question: How can we assume that there will be sufficient information when this is exactly something that we cannot have in emergency situations? You may agree with me that when there is a disaster (caused by nature or not), the situation typically requires instant relief operation and it is almost impossible to get all neccessary information in the beginning in order to have a whole picture of the damages. The professor provided me an answer that I wasn’t satisfied with. Nevertheless, what I learned from that experience is that to have an assumption about something that does not hold true to the reality; perhaps we should consider other options!

It’s not my goal to disapprove different models that we teach the students in schools, universities etc. However, I think it is important to not forget that models are always a (very) simplified version of reality. Sometimes, models are good to help us understand what has happened and thereby we can learn from a situation afterwards. But it cannot always help us to solve a problem when we are IN the situation. We would need other skills, understandings, and the ability to make a decision and to act despite the uncertainty of the situation! So if you are a student, when you learn about a model, please always try to understand and be aware of the assumptions that the model is built upon!

Another assumption that also plays a very important role when working with Knowledge Management is “knowledge is power“! It is hard to disagree on this one, “proven” by the current economic situation: a manager will always keep the employees who possess the knowledge that is most valuable for the company. However, I still want to challenge this assumption! I believe that in a long run, it is more critical to build up an organization that is flexible and innovative by nurturing another assumption: “sharing knowledge IS power“! Why? Here are the reasons:

1) Sharing knowledge is never a one-way street, even to a person that you have always thought that he/she can never teach you anything. That would be your assumption and if you are not aware of that, you will never be open to embrace what the other person has of knowledge to share with you.

2) When you have developed an organization where the people are good of sharing their knowledge with each other, the new knowledge that will be generated from these kinds of sharing will always be tenfold of what one person is capable of holding or creating

3) Knowledge is just like everything else, it is NOT static! To know and to be able to use what you know is always a dynamic process. Hence, by keeping the knowledge for yourself in order to maintain your “power”, you may get surpassed in the near future before you’d know it!

4) Because we are living in a world that is totally dominated by knowledge, information, facts etc. it’s simply necessary for us to develop the collective knowledge that resides in each organization in order to make the organization less vulnerable in crisis situation.

Hence, the key is still related to the different perspectives of management. In short term, to possess knowledge individually is to possess power. But for long term, sharing knowledge is always the best way to keep the organization vibrant and develop sustainably. Thereby the organization will be in a better position to cope with whatever changes that may come.