“What is knowledge utilization? How does one use information, ideas, and concepts in meaningful ways?”
Turning Information into Intelligence
This is a loaded question. There is so much information out there; it can seem daunting to sift through it all sometimes. The idea is to look at the big picture and touch on key points. Only use and study closely what you'll need. That will help you cut down on costs and make you more effective. There are several things you can focus on to make the most of what you have, reach for the bigger picture, and new heights:
To see a full explanation, view the attachment at the bottom of the page.
Information, Information, & More Information
Just as in The Basics of Competitive Intelligence by Larry Kahaner (http://www.kahaner.com/ci-buy-book/), there's a difference between information & intelligence.
"Information is factual. Intelligence is a collection of information pieces, which have been filtered, distilled, and analyzed. Intelligence is what managers need to make decisions, not information. Another term for intelligence is knowledge" (Kahaner 3).
For example, Scott York works for the Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department-District 6. He is an Equipment Maintenance Supervisor. He was gracious enough to give me an interview to complete an assignment. Scott illustrated an excellent example of using data (information) that helps mold the decisions he makes (intelligence). He is an equipment maintenance supervisor; this means he gets to make tough decisions. With the highway department being a government entity, they have a strict budget to follow. He might have 28 mechanics in his shop. He reads from the report he received back Computer Services that they have a slight surplus in their budget, so only two mechanics can be issued a raise. This means a hard decision; Scott needs accurate data to mold his decision for the best mechanics, while maintaining their strict budget and effectiveness. Half his decision will come from his experience, 12 years management experience with the highway department (intelligence), the other half will come from the report he has (data), and his ability to turn that data into intelligence, adding it to his experience to make an informed decision.
What, How, & Why
It's like what Simon Sinek said in one of his videos, Dell has all the same accessibility to talent, resources, market, & information, but why don't they use it like Apple does? What's the difference? It's the difference in turning that information into intelligence.
I turned information into intelligence, using Simon's model-What>How>Why, for Vermeer Mid-South. The illustration below is a sampling of some of my consulting and scripting. It shows the evolution from What Vermeer Mid-South does, to Why they do what they do. That steers back to JBU's true essence of Head, Heart, & Hand. It's not just textbook learning, it's applying the information we're given into real, usable concepts that can be applied into today's business.
View my partial list of suggestions for Vermeer Mid-South through the attachment at the bottom of this page.
Another example of the What, How, & Why transition comes from my Modeling Giveback Program, Faith Like Daniel. Check out more details on the Christian Worldview section.
Another good place to start organizing your What, How, & Why would be with your Vision, transiting to your Mission, then your Strategies, Tactics, and finally even sub-tactics, if you want to get that focused.
For a final example, check out this JBU alumni success story, James+James, that is creating quite a ripple in NWA. Check out their story.
ROI
To be meaningful and actionable, it's important to recognize your ROI. Anything can be thought of as an investment; one's time, relationship building, and charitable donations. You'd want to measure that. Come up with Outputs and Outcomes for each area you're focused on. An output can be thought of as the work done. An outcome would be the effect of the output; what can to be because of the work done? Use quantitative targets, how much, when, how many? Budgets can also tell quite a bit about a company. What their goals are, where they're going, and their performance. For a deeper understanding of ROI, Performance Measures, Outputs, Outcomes, & quantitative targets watch The Walton Family Foundation's video.
To further explain the example of The Walton Family Foundation, their Evaluation Unit plays a major role in determining the effectiveness of the grant making. The Evaluation Unit also employs key takeaways from the course including: analyzing outputs & outcomes, using best practices, competitive evaluation metrics, using quantitative targets, forecasting, being actionable, objective, and utilizing data rigorously and cost-effectively as explained in the video.
Just as in The Basics of Competitive Intelligence by Larry Kahaner, there's a difference between information & intelligence. The Evaluation Unit focuses on using the right data and the most important data to make the best decisions.
Grantee Reporting
Grantee's report on the investment dollars they've been granted. Grantee's work with Program Officers to come up with their Theory of Change, 'a good theory of change makes explicit the assumptions that need to be satisfied for Foundation investments to have their intended impacts'(Carr, Holley, Minkel, & Recchia 2011). Grantees report on stated outputs and outcomes that come from the grant letter (an agreement to receive funds). Outputs & Outcomes serve as a quantitative metric. Grantees also must provide a financial report, which resembles a balance sheet, with income & expenses.
The grantee reporting and the function of the evaluation unit closely align with key takeaways from http://www.thegenerositynetwork.com/resources/making-metrics-meaningful/ and Business Metrics: You Can't Manage It If You Can't Measure It, by Michael Alter. It's not just the accounting department and for-profit businesses that need to measure and gauge how effective the organization is being. It seems it needs to flow throughout the organization.
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