[No Comment] The importance of transferring knowledge and skills

I was discussing knowledge management and capacity building in organisations the other day with colleagues in the industry. I’ve always felt that those of us who have racked up a couple of decades of work experience in our chosen fields should ‘give back’ in transferring knowledge and skills to build capacity in organisations/industry. The point was made that many either don’t pass their skills on because they are not empowered to do so; don’t know how, ie, no suitable vehicle or mechanism’ or don’t want to, to protect their positions. Apart from individual knowledge transfer, it is also up to industry associations/professional bodies to facilitate this process, many of which have an appalling track record in this regard. Two organisations, with which Bizcommunity has already partnered to launch, hope to change this by establishing true communities of practice: the global Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and the Trade, Association and Business Publications International (TABPI) Editor’s Chapter in South Africa. TABPI SA was launched earlier this year and will be holding its first series of seminars to B2B editors in September 2008, reporting back on the American Society of Business Publications Editors (ASBPE) annual conference in the States last month; and CMO Africa held its first board meeting last week with South Africa’s marketing leaders on the continent. In the words of US founder Donovon Neale-May, who is visiting SA and opened the first CMO Africa board meeting: “We bring a different perspective, global best practice. Our programme is all about intellectual capacity. We capture knowledge and insight and work with senior members of the industry to define best practice, create models, build advocacy programmes…”

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Louise Marsland, editor@bizcommunity.com
Marketing news: marketingnews@bizcommunity.com

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This column originally published 18 August 2008.