Turo Dexter turodexter January 9 2014 Opinions expressed

Turo Dexter @turodexter January 9, 2014 Opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent official positions or policies of the U. S. DOT or the Federal Transit Administration. @turodexter Knowledge Management and its practice at the Federal Transit Administration

What you are learning as you conduct your business is too valuable not to manage. @turodexter Knowledge Management 2 44

Knowledge is an asset. • Complex • Scarce • Costly • Strategic What is the value of what you have learned and will learn? Where is your knowledge? What would be the cost if you lost it? Are your people sharing knowledge with one another? How long do you expect to keep your experts? Are you prepared for when people leave? @turodexter Consider what your organization knows. 3 44

Manage your knowledge. • What do you know? What don’t you know? • Knowledge. . . • • Creation and discovery Buying and renting Giving and receiving Organizing Remembering Deriving Leveraging @turodexter • Since nobody knows everything, THAT’S OK. • But are you wasting knowledge and the capacity to do more? 4 44

• • • New knowledge Creativity Ideation Innovation Intuition Serendipity Spark it, facilitate it, socialize it, prototype it. Visualize & articulate goals. Transcend constraints. Combine the unlikely. Ask “Why not? ” Inspire an innovation culture. Make failure OK. Acknowledge and reward. Creation and discovery Buying and renting Giving and receiving @turodexter Creation and Discovery Organizing Remembering Deriving Leveraging 5 44

• • • Consultants Conferences Outside training Contractors working alongside you Knowledgeable new hires Creation and discovery What happens when it’s over? How much did you keep? Debrief one another after learning events. Include knowledge transfer in contracts. Buying and renting Giving and receiving @turodexter Buying and Renting Organizing Remembering Deriving Leveraging 6 44

Giving and Receiving • Internal training and cross training • Mentoring and job shadowing – up, down, peer • Communities of practice • Cross-organization and internal • Interviews, roundtables and town halls • Social events • Build trust and connection • Personality inventories, skills banks Inspire a knowledge sharing culture. Acknowledge and reward. Creation and discovery Buying and renting Giving and receiving @turodexter • Tacit and explicit knowledge Organizing Remembering Deriving Leveraging 7 44

• Tagging • Facets • Application • Relevance • Context • Related items You need to be able to find it when you need it. Organize for browsing – don’t rely on search. Agree on terms and conventions. Folders often defeat knowledge management. Acknowledge and reward great contributions to organization. Creation and discovery Buying and renting Giving and receiving @turodexter Organizing Remembering Deriving Leveraging 8 44

• • Case studies Keeping and sharing journals How discoveries were made How we did that thing • Flew to the moon? What worked best (in context) Persistent discussion boards FAQs, SOPs and process guides or maps Media, bookmarks and publication libraries • Share! Creation and discovery Buying and renting Giving and receiving @turodexter Remembering Organizing Remembering Decide what to document. Allow time for it. Some knowledge will stay in people’s heads. Deriving Leveraging 9 44

Deriving Be mindful of the context of knowledge: Best practices for identical situations. Good practices for similar situations. Use lessons learned in planning the next action. See Creation and discovery Buying and renting Giving and receiving @turodexter • During- and after-action reviews • Case study reviews • Team debriefs Organizing Remembering Deriving Leveraging 10 44

The payoff ! You have or are building: • A view of knowledge as an asset • Ways of catalyzing and gathering new ideas • Supportive culture, relationships and trust • Knowledge sharing among and across teams and organizations • Processes that keep knowledge from being lost • Experts with tacit and undocumented knowledge identified and mentoring others • Critical explicit knowledge and experience documented • Knowledge organized so you can find it and know when to use it • Lessons always being learned and applied Creation and discovery Buying and renting Giving and receiving @turodexter Leveraging Organizing Remembering Deriving Leveraging 11 44

@turodexter Knowledge Management at the FTA 12 44

Nine operating administrations supporting different modes of transportation Can you name them? @turodexter U. S. DOT 13 44

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Federal Aviation Administration – FAA (47, 500) Federal Highway Administration – FHWA (2, 850) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration – FMCSA (1, 100) Federal Railroad Administration – FRA (860) Maritime Administration – MARAD (700) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – NHTSA (580) Federal Transit Administration – FTA (520) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration – PHMSA (450) Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation - SLSDC (125) Office of the Secretary (650), Research & Innovative Technology Admin. (620), Inspector General (420), Surface Transportation Board (130) @turodexter U. S. DOT 14 44

FTA’s Mission Improving mass transportation systems for cities and communities nationwide Buses Rail vehicles Commuter ferryboats Trolleys Inclined railways Subways People movers Financial, technical and planning assistance Traffic reduction Economic development Access to employment *NEW* Establish and enforce a comprehensive framework to oversee the safety of public transportation throughout the United States (heavy rail, light rail, buses, and streetcars) @turodexter Grant programs to plan, build, and operate transit systems 15 44

• Approximately $9 billion per year in financial assistance to public transit agencies across the country – $17. 3 million per FTA employee • FTA’s administrative budget is about 1% of that. • Hurricane Sandy relief doubled FTA’s grant outlays with only minimal additional staff • Federal funding covers a small portion of local transit costs (e. g. , D. C. ’s WMATA gets $150 million from FTA for a 2013 operating budget of $1. 6 billion) @turodexter Budget 16 44

Almost half of FTA’s 520 employees work out of one of 10 regional offices where they perform direct oversight of transit construction and operations around the country. @turodexter Dispersed Workforce 17 44

@turodexter FTA’s CKO is a peer with the Director of IT and Director of HR 18 44

Gained L&D Team 2012 CKO Hired 2007 First staffer 2010 L&D + KM ------LKM Contract support 2012 @turodexter Evolution of the Learning and Knowledge Management Group 19 44

1. FTA Encourages a Culture of Knowledge and Experience Sharing 2. FTA Employs Efficient and Effective Business Processes 3. FTA Leverages its Knowledge and Experience for Decision Making and Strategic Planning LKM Group activities are tied to the organizational excellence objectives of the DOT Strategic Plan. @turodexter KM Goals 20 44

The mission of the FTA Learning and Knowledge Management (LKM) Group is to enhance individual, team and organizational effectiveness by providing tools, procedures and activities that: • Connect FTA’s people with what and whom they need to know • Facilitate learning and collaboration across the Agency • Promote professional and personal development @turodexter Mission Statement 21 44

• Enthusiastic marketing of LKM services • Achieve employee learning and development goals • Assistance through KM to make FTA’s work easier and more effective • Try to never say no to a request • Reputation of responsive service and a place to go for solutions • Relationships • Strong executive support @turodexter Succeed – if you Just Say Yes ! 22 44

Synergy with Learning & Dev’t It seems easier for people to understand what knowledge management is when it is discussed alongside learning and development activities. @turodexter • Knowledge Management • Learning & Development • Developing an integrated LKM Strategic Plan 23 44

• Leadership • Strategy • Management • Good political sense • Logistics and implementation • Design • Information management and IT • Communications • Org. development • Entrepreneurism • Can-do attitude @turodexter LKM Group Skills • Customer focus 24 44

L&D Activities • Learning needs assessments • Curriculum development and maintenance • Procurement and travel for training: Coordinating and advising • Learning management system: Managing and improving • Mandatory training: Improving quality and management • FTA’s job rotation program: Coordinating @turodexter • Centralized course procurement and delivery • Multifaceted mentoring program: Developing and coordinating • Knowledge cafés for group learning • Onboarding processes: Increasing involvement 25 44

KM Activities • Communities of Practice: Forming, facilitating and supporting • After-Action Reviews • Share. Point-based Trans. Port portal development and work with offices to employ it strategically • Intranet content management (future) • Legacy Capture sessions with video recording of private interviews, roundtables with peers, or town hall meetings with coworkers @turodexter • Business process improvement activities • DOT-wide Idea. Hub program: FTA’s liaison • Web conferencing: Supporting and evangelizing FTA’s use 26 44

Division of Responsibility : IT • Process analysis • Consultative approach • Communications and change management • Office of IT’s strengths • Depth of technical expertise • Responsive orientation • Capacity • Ongoing effort to develop smooth, effective collaboration @turodexter • Knowledge vs. Information/Content Management • LKM Group’s strengths 27 44

• 2009 audit focused on identifying capabilities, capacities and perceived problems rather than stores of knowledge itself • Business process and office function work will help to identify some structures of knowledge • Legacy capture activities, speaker programs in knowledge cafés, and mentoring programs also shine light on key human stores of knowledge @turodexter Identifying Knowledge 28 44

• Evangelism and word of mouth • FTA’s intranet functions will be rolled into Trans. Port over the coming six months • We will highlight the functions that illuminate and expose business processes, connect people to one another, and disseminate documented knowledge so people discover them when using the Intranet @turodexter Encouraging Adoption 29 44

• Satisfaction of office leadership with improvements in access to the information and expertise needed to make decisions • Easier communication • Smooth successions • Understanding and continuing improvement of FTA business processes • Faster employee development • Employee job satisfaction • Gauged by surveys and direct feedback @turodexter Measures of Success 30 44

• Much LKM Group effort into the design of new supervisor training • Training on KM, motivation, innovation and engagement will advance FTA’s culture • The ability to design training is yet another significant benefit of FTA’s having integrated its learning and development with KM functions @turodexter Supervisor Training 31 44

• FTA Administrator’s Awards & DOT Secretary’s Awards • Informal peer-to-peer recognition motivates employees to collaborate and contribute • Strong employee contributions to the Idea. Hub program are self-evident through peer ranking • Contributions to Idea. Hub that are accepted for implementation are brought to the attention of executives • Cash for awards is limited or nonexistent @turodexter Awards and Recognition 32 44

Communities • Special interest groups for users of specific technologies, or people performing the same function in different offices • Participants in a class together, like new supervisors • Any level from analysts to Associate Administrators • Heavy workloads impact participation • Distributed workforce creates additional needs for peer interactions @turodexter • LKM Group initiates and facilitates some communities itself; for others it offers KM support and a site on Trans. Port • Communities can be lifelines for information and mentoring along with friendship and even emotional support during difficult periods 33 44

• Principal content repositories are shared network drives • Individual offices manage their own file organization, and the quality of organization varies • Trans. Port is built on Share. Point, with document management functions that are beginning to be adopted • Offices are being given the option of whether and how to implement metadata • For many, starting with simple folder structures in a fashion similar to what they were used to with shared drives has eased adoption • We risk disorganization like on the shared drives if folders are allowed to proliferate in an unmanaged fashion. @turodexter Content Management 34 44

Trans. Port • Content managers • Security managers • Approvers • • Consistent web-like interface Sections for private and shared content Office input into Share. Point features enabled for their use Offices receive demonstrations and basic training from the LKM Group on content and document management @turodexter • Branded implementation of Share. Point 2010 • Some standardized governance and structure • Offices designate a single POC for Trans. Port implementation, plus: 35 44

Expertise Location • • Professional bio Short self-reported list of special skills Projects for which people are POCs Photo • Trans. Port’s search engine will include profile entries in search results where keywords match those used in profiles @turodexter • Trans. Port includes a personal profile page for each user 36 44

• Limited time of both LKM staff and the staff of offices who may wish to adopt Trans. Port or to better organize their files on shared drives • Difficulty enforcing governance • Familiarity and learning curve for a new platform • Bandwidth limitations between HQ and regional offices @turodexter Content Managemt Challenges 37 44

• LKM Group facilitates After-Action Reviews for FTA offices • They may rely on LKM or learn to facilitate their own • Offices manage the results of their reviews themselves • LKM has successfully conducted AARs with remote participants using interactive web conference technology, with a virtual flipchart to record participant input @turodexter After Action Reviews 38 44

• Some FTA offices have mature process documentation • FTA’s internal Grants A to Z database contains extensive information on grant application, review and oversight processes • The Office of IT continuously refines a set of Standard Operating Procedures documents on using technology tools @turodexter Process Documentation 39 44

• New LKM priority to help offices document, add visibility to, and improve their processes • Trans. Port’s standard office home page layouts will be modified to include lists of office functions with links to more information about each function • This will improve access but also cast valuable light on the processes themselves and facilitate thinking about how they can be improved @turodexter Process Improvement 40 44

• FTA is not yet mature in broad adoption of KM • Culture varies quite a bit from office to office • KM adoption seems proportional to employee engagement and inversely proportional to workload • Direct leadership advocacy for KM, where it is forthcoming, has a positive effect @turodexter Maturity 41 44

• Heavy day-to-day workloads are the principal barriers to greater knowledge sharing at FTA. • Initiatives to improve performance on grant review, project oversight and establishing the safety office take precedence over planning for knowledge transfer. @turodexter Challenges 42 44

• L&D integration is paying big dividends • Relationships and service are key • People and process focus • Employee workloads are challenging • Small, busy and growing @turodexter KM at the FTA 43 44

44 44 @turodexter