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p. 7 of 15 BACK | NEXT I. Introduction II. Knowledge and Development III. Managing Knowledge at the Asian Development Bank Current Practice Recent Initiatives Challenges and Opportunities Lessons From Experience Elsewhere IV. Knowledge Management at the Asian Development Bank: The Framework V. Benefits, Organizational And Resource Implications VI. Conclusion Appendixes

Knowledge Management : III. Managing Knowledge at the Asian Development Bank

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D. Lessons From Experience Elsewhere

25. Important lessons are available from the experience of other organizations that have invested in improving knowledge processes.¹⁵ Key lessons that are relevant to ADB are summarized below:

1. Establish a clear vision and a mission to drive the process.
2. Demand leadership and commitment of top management to create an enabling culture for knowledge sharing and learning.
3. Create incentives to encourage staff support and commitment to knowledge sharing.
4. Measure and monitor the impact of knowledge creation and sharing on an organization to enable continuous improvements.
5. Encourage teamwork to improve knowledge sharing.
6. Introduce technology to maximize benefits and remove barriers to sharing.
7. Start small and demonstrate success in a limited number of initiatives before expanding.
8. Promote networks of professionals with common interests or communities of practice to bring people together, build trust, and facilitate information sharing. Properly provide resource, support, and empower such networks to ensure their effective functioning. Do not attempt to "bureaucratize" networks as their flexibility, independence, and enthusiasm of membership allow them to thrive.

26. The recent evaluation of the knowledge initiative of the World Bank, launched in 1996, confirmed that it has improved access to its knowledge and expertise by staff, clients, and partners.¹⁶ However, the evaluation highlighted that, to improve implementation, (i) links between the new knowledge-sharing activities and operations need to be strengthened; (ii) management must exercise strategic direction and oversight over knowledge processes; (iii) outcome objectives and supporting performance indicators for knowledge programs and activities should be defined, and procedures to monitor and evaluate World Bank's knowledgesharing programs and activities established; and (iv) quality control on "knowledge in the public domain" and the process of maintaining knowledge is critical.

27. A more detailed analysis of the knowledge management experience of other international agencies is in Appendix 1.

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