FROM DILIP MUKERJEA'S ITINERANT TOOLBOX: THE LOTUS BLOSSOM MATRIX

[continued from the Last Post.]

KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY PRINCIPLES

The genesis of knowledge occurs in human minds. (This is different to information and data).

Sharing and dissemination of knowledge engenders trust, bonding, and openness.

Technopreneurs emerge from crucibles of knowledge ~ novel circumstances create interest and enable people to become able. A Knowledge Organisation also has a repository of
solutions to frequently encountered problems (FEPs).

Knowledge is a democratic commodity; its sharing is to be encouraged, inspired, and rewarded.

Across the board support from top management is vital for the release and proliferation of resources.

Knowledge moves, evolves, and grows via experiment-to experience pilot programmes. Dare to do!

Knowledge initiatives need to be constantly evaluated via quantitative and qualitative measurements. Creation of an Organisational Knowledge Map is invaluable for providing
better information about where exactly knowledge resides in the Organisation and how to access it. This can also be done elctronically, with on-line ‘Yellow Pages.’

Knowledge is a vital ingredient of creativity ~ it should be encouraged to evolve in unexpected ways. A collaborative learning organisation will inspire explosions of creativity.

The Lotus Blossom Matrix stimulated several insights for the Breakthrough Program as shown on p.148. Matching Knowledge Economy Principles show how thoughts can harmonise with actions for successful navigation towards breakthrough!

It is important to remember that Organisations today are differentiated by what they know. This knowledge is everevolving, never static. That is, they ‘never take know for an
answer’ but instead, keep on knowing, so that they remain relevant to the challenges of the Knowledge Economy.

A personal hard copy as well as communal on-line Knowledge Map keeps pace with growth in knowledge. Locations of expertise, inventories of resources, and the overall ingredients
of Intellectual Capital (brainpower), are invaluable entries in the Knowledge Map. This Map then serves as a strategic tool to maintain learning momentum, evaluate knowledge stock, and reveal strengths to be harnessed and gaps that need to be filled.

Note: This exercise was devised for the visionary staff at the Institute of Technical Education, Singapore.

[Excerpted from 'Surfing the Intellect: Building Intellectual Capital for a Knowledge Economy', by Dilip Mukerjea.]

FROM DILIP MUKERJEA'S ITINERANT TOOLBOX: THE LOTUS BLOSSOM MATRIX

[continued from the Last Post.]

BREAKTHROUGH PROGRAM

Establish a Knowledge Community, with ‘learning circles,’ and link them via technology.

Build and enhance relationships via ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ meetings (face-to-face, physical and videconferencing)

Fusion of software and hardware addressing wetware (brainware) leads to enhanced communication and collaboration. Training replaced by coaching; emphasis on
goals and vision, individual and collective.

Top management endorsement and involvement initiates leadership for inspiring change.

Resources in the guise of time, equipment, money, people, and skills are facilitated by top management.

Teamwork should be restructured from its cliched perception to ‘teams that work’ ~ small, compact, groups shaped into Action Teams.

Focus is placed on both quantitative as well as qualitative aspects of the program. Monitoring, measuring, and documenting must be counterbalanced by good fellowship, heightened enthusiasm, and synergy. (These observations should, as much as possible, be captured in hard copy, on a Knowledge Map).

Whilst staying on course towards achieving all goals and the overall vision, leave space for serendipitous discoveries, and unexpected developments. Creativity must be permitted to
erupt outside any pre-determined schedules.

[To be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from 'Surfing the Intellect: Building Intellectual Capital for a Knowledge Economy', by Dilip Mukerjea.]

FROM DILIP MUKERJEA'S ITINERANT TOOLBOX: THE LOTUS BLOSSOM MATRIX

[continued from the Last Post.]


[To be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from 'Surfing the Intellect: Building Intellectual Capital for a Knowledge Economy', by Dilip Mukerjea. All images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

FROM DILIP MUKERJEA'S ITINERANT TOOLBOX: THE LOTUS BLOSSOM MATRIX

[continued from the Last Post]

[To be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from 'Surfing the Intellect: Building Intellectual Capital for a Knowledge Economy', by Dilip Mukerjea. All images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

FROM DILIP MUKERJEA'S ITINERANT TOOLBOX: THE LOTUS BLOSSOM MATRIX

PURPOSE:

To brainstorm, either individually, or within a group, for solutions to problems, or simply to generate insights and ideas for conversion into products, services, or processes.

This is a springboard not only to creativity but also to innovation, with the technique often setting off a chain-reaction of diverse themes.

Start right in the centre of the 9 x 9 matrix (marked ‘start’ in the central box). Write down, as a key word, your issue under consideration (do this as a full sentence on the very top of the matrix sheet so that you articulate your complete intention). This is the main theme of the exercise.

■ Next, radiate outwards, and in each of the surrounding eight squares, coloured and marked A to H, write down an associated idea, or attribute, pertaining to the main theme. The main core of 8 squares that surround the starting square are colour coded to facilitate processing.

■ Having done this, transfer these eight associations to their respective squares (correspondingly colour coded) located outside the original eight boxes that surround the core. These outside boxes are also shaded for easy recognition.

■ Now repeat the original methodology, and surround each of these eight associations with eight of their own. These boxes are numbered 1 to 8, around each of the letters from A to H.

■ Once the matrix has been completed, see if you have enough material to arrive at a solution. If not, you can re-do the exercise, on a blank matrix, but this time, starting with any one of the original eight associations now in the centre.

NOTE :

Follow the rules of brainstorming; suspend judgment as you spin off associations in your quest for solutions.

In our specific example, ‘Breakthrough,’ one matrix was adequate for initiating an action plan, with insights available for subsequent fine tuning.

History

Yasuo Matsumura, president of Clover Management Research, originally developed this technique. The name comes from the way in which lotus petals radiate outwards from the centre, as of course, is the case with so much else in nature. Reflections of the central, starting, pattern subsequently act as the core of other similar patterns.

The range of possible associations is infinite wherein lies the beauty of all creativity.

I have modified the original matrix so that it is colour coded appropriately, and nine clearly demarcated boxes (one main and eight peripheral), with nine squares per box, make up the structure of the complete matrix. This is to facilitate processing and preclude any possibility of confusion, especially when working at speed.

Additional Notes:

■ The objective of the exercise is not just to make random associations. With the ‘issue under consideration’ clearly stated at the head of the page, we must at all times maintain the link between it and the associations being made within the one major and eight peripheral boxes.

The aim remains constant: strive for insights that are the seeds for solutions.

■ It is important to note that both the statement for ‘issue under consideration’ and the key word(s) in the centre serve the following purposes:

(a) the former represents complete articulation of the main theme

(b) the latter represents the distillation of this complete articulation

Both are necessary as they are twin pillars of powerful thought processing.

■ Any repetition of words at diverse locations of the matrix is perfectly normal and merely represents emphasis upon specific thoughts. These can have relevance in multiple areas of focus.



[To be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from 'Surfing the Intellect: Building Intellectual Capital for a Knowledge Economy', by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]