KM is not only setting up and managing knowledge bases. While technology is a piece of KM, when done right, technology is just a part of the overall program. The other critical pieces are processes and people. The people part means that knowledge must be transferred or taught to people by people. Actual back and forth real time conversations must happen in order to fully understand the information being passed along. David Gurteen and John Hovell are two highly esteemed KM experts and authors who have co-developed a framework around conversational leadership. They define it as “a practice where we appreciate the transformative power of conversation, practice leadership, and adopt a conversational approach to how we work with others in a complex world.” Humans must be involved in AI, especially at this stage when learning models are being taught and sent on their way. AI does not have the same sound judgement as human leaders. We've seen enterprises replace entire business units with AI, often without adequate pilot testing to ensure the right tools are implemented correctly, and without fully considering the risk to the business. In his blog "Conversational Leadership in the Age of AI", David argues that AI is not the new KM. David makes two points I keep coming back to:
John and David regularly host virtual Knowledge Cafés focused on Conversational Leadership. They begin with presenting a topic, such as “Conversational Leadership - Beyond Knowledge Management”. Then they’ll pose a question like “What's the conversation we should be having right now with the relationship between KM and conversational leadership?” This is for a breakout session in which four or five people per group discuss the question. We’ll come back to the main room for sharing and then another round with a different question and different group. In part, what makes these discussions interesting is the wide variety of experiences, with people joining in from around the world. In one of the breakouts I attended we discussed leaders who create spaces where people are allowed to disagree. Good leaders understand that diversity in viewpoints brings in different perspectives, which can make strategy stronger. When looking for leaders, we want them to have high emotional intelligence. It’s important to be able to have candid conversations. Strong leaders value what their team thinks, and bring them into decision making. AI is changing how we access and process information faster than most organizations can keep up with. But that efficiency doesn't make AI a knowledge management strategy. Information is not knowledge, and AI bears no responsibility for the decisions we make with it. As AI becomes more embedded in how we think and work, the real challenge becomes human: how do we question it, interpret it, and act on it wisely together? That's exactly where conversational leadership comes in. Join me for the next Knowledge Café hosted by John and David. Conversational Leadership in the Age of AI will be held online Wednesday, April 15th at 9:00 am Eastern. If you attend, I’d love to compare notes afterwards. 💻 Comments are closed.
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