In my last blog post we talked about the backfire effect - how trying to persuade someone with strong views will actually strengthen their existing belief! If this is true, how can we KM practitioners convince our managers and peers of the benefits of our KM programme?
The answer in the last part of the You Are Not So Smart podcast series was, to me, a little underwhelming. It was about the volume of information received! When people start hearing 10-20% of opposite messages, the backfire effect takes place, but when over 30% of the information they receive is positive then they start changing their minds. So as KM practitioners and advocates, we must continuosly go out and talk about KM to management as well as to our colleagues. How to effectively bring accross the message is explained in this Change This manifesto. Simply put, your story must touch their hearts (an aspiring vision), appeal to their heads (with credible evidence) and give them a hand (how it is relevant to them). So what are you waiting for? Get out of your chair and talk to your co-workers about your KM vision!
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