ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY: “Knowledge transfer is a broken process in local government,” stated Kim Stephens, Partnership for Water Sustainability (Winter 2024 issue of Asset Management BC Newsletter)
NOTE TO READER:
The Winter 2024 issue of the Asset Management BC Newsletter includes an article co-authored by Kim Stephens and Robert Hicks. They provide a water-centric perspective. Their 3-part essay builds on one published in the Fall 2023 edition of the AMBC Newsletter. Titled Context and History Do Matter, the takeaway message in the Fall 2023 article is that “the asset management community has lost sight of Sustainable Service Delivery strategies because it is lost in the details of Asset Management.” The solution is to actively work to transfer knowledge through mentoring.
Solutions to Complex Problems Require Deep Knowledge
“Organizational and intergenerational amnesia is real and has a downside. It results in unintended consequences. Superficial understandings do not yield solutions to complex problems. One needs deep knowledge,” states Kim Stephens.
“The ramifications of amnesia are cause for concern in an era when systems of all kinds are being subjected to repeated shocks that test their resiliency. At the same time, councils and boards are grappling with top-down decisions or directives by senior governments. But how effective can they be when knowledge transfer in local government is broken?”
“Councils and boards will be challenged to get it right with their decisions. Not making the right calls inevitably plays out as measurable impacts on quality of life,” concludes Kim Stephens.
The elephant in the room is organizational and intergenerational amnesia
“Without deep knowledge and an understanding of history, proposed courses of action may be ineffective or unimplementable. Loss of big picture thinking is reflected in the way larger organizations are siloed. This way of functioning focusses attention on immediate, narrower mandates and on managing program budgets and staffing,” continues Robert Hicks.
“When you talk to the right people, they do see the big picture and how everything connects. And yet, when it comes into the actual realm of application, it is so much easier for them to apply something when it is chopped up and put into silos. And in the process, they lose the ability to address big picture.”
“Local governments are dealing with complex problems needing complex solutions. Superficial understandings do not get you to the solutions for complex problems. To get to that complexity, you have to know the background, you have to know the history, you must have DEEP KNOWLEDGE,” concludes Robert Hicks.
TO LEARN MORE:
To read the complete article, download a copy of SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY: Solutions to Complex Problems Require Deep Knowledge as published in the Winter 2024 issue of the Asset Management BC Newsletter.
