| Project Objectives / Summary:
The aim of this project was to develop, pilot and evaluate strategies for knowledge management in Divisions including:
- A process for producing an inventory of knowledge assets and needs;
- A web-based resource (also available on CD) summarising key general, local and experiential knowledge related to two issues of general applicability to the Divisions programs (eg supporting GP behaviour change; strategies for integration and collaboration; practice based health promotion);
- A multi pronged strategy for succession planning with a particular emphasis on GP leadership; and
- A manual for use by Division committees, staff and other Divisions.
The project applied the principles and approaches of the new discipline of "knowledge management" to address problems that are critical to the Central Bayside Division and many other divisions. These are:
- The need to pass on the experience gained by 'founding' GPs to a new cohort of leaders;
- The need to maintain a sense of continuity through programs that span several years, and
- The need to recover knowledge and experience that has been lost through staff turnover and prevent further losses;
- The need to ensure that experience gained with a few GPs benefits the largest possible number of members and through them the widest possible community.
Knowledge management is a concept that implies managing the intangible assets of an organisation (experience, intellectual products, personnel, contacts / networks) in a responsible and systematic way as more tangible assets. In knowledge organisations such as Divisions the management of these assets is considered to be the key to productivity, effectiveness and efficiency.
Project Outcomes:
The initial emphasis of the project was to protect the structures and processes of the past and ensure that they could continue into the future. However after reviewing literature, examining the knowledge flow within the Division and assessing the need of the Division it became quite obvious that this would not enable the Division to follow the new paths that it needed to take. The Division identified that future knowledge management needed to include:
- Achieving GP ownership of the Division's knowledge
- Moving from "pilots" to Division wide change processes
The Division developed an overall knowledge management plan by applying the three main approaches of Codification, Personal development and Structural to the seven critical knowledge flows identified by the Division. The seven knowledge flows being:
- Succession Planning
- Program expertise
- Peer to peer support and knowledge sharing
- Progression / GP development
- Disseminating learnings
- Identifying and using member expertise
- Member ownership of knowledge
The Division undertook the following activities:
- Needs assessment and conceptual development including the development of an overall knowledge management framework and plan;
- Activities designed to reform the way GPs and their skills, knowledge and experience were deployed within the Division and how GPs were given opportunities to develop their knowledge;
- Workshops that were held to develop a process whereby Divisions could better identify GP interests and strengths and match them with the functional needs of the Division in ways that enhanced both Division effectiveness and the ability of GPs to pursue diverse interests;
- Combined workshop with GPDV, "Creating new professional opportunities for GPs"
- CBDGP weekend retreat on professional role development within CBDGP.
- Strategies to disseminate knowledge more widely among members and facilitate knowledge sharing between GPs:
- Change management committee and peer change leaders;
- Small group education strategy.
Although the project officially ended in November 2001 many elements of the project should be considered in "progress". The Division is very committed to seeing the process it has commenced through to completion.
Project Collaboration:
In collaboration with the General Practice Division of Victoria.
Lessons / Assessment:
The planned overall evaluation of the project hit an intrinsic, major difficulty. The original plan was to assess committee decision-making function at the start and at the end of the project and to see if the committees functioned more effectively and if members felt better informed and more confident in their decision-making processes. The difficulty arose because one major result of the project was that all the existing program committees were disbanded. In some cases these were replaced by reference groups and work groups, in other cases just by work groups until such time as the new strategic plan was approved. The overall impact of the program will be impossible to assess until the new strategic plan has been operational for some time. It will be possible however to get some indication of the effect when the next Division annual satisfaction survey is sent out in July. The survey includes a special supplement to GPs who have direct roles with the Division. It will be possible to compare results with those obtained in July 2000.
More qualitatively the effects of the program have been substantial but difficult to separate from the effects of other major initiatives occurring within the Division, most notably Building on Quality. The way in which the Division operates and uses the GP expertise available has been substantially reformed -GPs are now working more closely and in more complementary roles with each other and with Division staff.
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