Sep 20, 2023 | Growing Business, Learning

Susan Blog – Knowledge Worker

Growing Business, Learning

Written by Susan Gugliotta

In

The knowledge worker cannot be supervised closely or in detail. He can only be helped. But he must direct himself, and he must direct himself toward performance and contribution, that is, toward effectiveness.
Effectiveness — the degree to which someone is successful in producing a desired result
The knowledge worker does not produce something that is effective by itself. He does not produce a physical product, such as a ditch, a pair of shoes, or a machine part. He produces knowledge, ideas and information. By themselves these products are useless. Somebody else, another man of knowledge, has to take them as his input and convert them into his output before they have any reality. The greatest wisdom not applied to action and behavior is meaningless data. (This is where communication, harmony, and cooperation is so important; everyone must be on the same page, moving with the same purpose)

Every knowledge worker today is an executive, if by virtue of his position or knowledge. He is responsible for a contribution that materially affects the capacity of the organization to perform and to obtain results. This may be the capacity of a business to bring out a new product or to obtain a larger share of a given market. It may be the capacity of a hospital to provide bedside care to its patients.
Knowledge work is not defined by quantity. Neither is knowledge work defined by its costs. Knowledge work is defined by its results — the consequences, effects, or outcome of something.

We keep talented people by treating them differently; by treating them as talented people. J. Donald Walters, author of The Art of Supportive Leadership, states it this way: People are more important than things. Today, we have transitioned into a new way of business called knowledge industries and knowledge work. Therefore we now have knowledge workers. Knowledge workers are associates. And knowledge has become the key resource.
Keeping people means how do we work with them and through them. The old assumptions that people are employees and depended on the organization for their livelihood and careers. Another was that people are subordinates. Both theories are weak in working with knowledge workers today. Hiring a knowledge worker, he or she must know and usually does know more about their job than the business owner. In fact, they know more about their job then anybody else in the organization. This is part of the definition a knowledge worker.

So how do we keep talented people? Simply by learning how to treat them as associates and learning how to share the purpose of the business with them. Seek their input in the growth and development of the business and how they are going to contribute their talent and skills to move the business ahead. They are partners in the business and have the skills to make a difference. But as Peter Drucker points out to us, most knowledge workers will have to learn to develop themselves. So one the roles of the business owner is to support and help them learn how to work cooperatively and harmony in working with others.

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