Mentoring in knowledge management for development

Authors

  • Stuart Belle Personal Effectiveness and Organization Development Professional

Keywords:

knowledge management, mentoring, human resource development, organizational learning

Abstract

Mentoring can serve as a valuable professional enhancement resource for knowledge management practitioners, particularly for those who are early career and serving in developing country contexts. Opportunities for these individuals to connect with and learn from mentors remains overlooked and under-documented, however. In this piece, I reflect on my own experience as a mentor as I filled roles guiding knowledge management and organizational learning internationally. The article opens with a reflection on my discovery of what was needed to robustly support the knowledge management function, and the call to mentor in this same vein. The essence of mentoring is described, and broadly compared to training and coaching interventions. I share lessons learned and highlights of take-aways for organizations and those who wish to strengthen knowledge management capacity. I close my reflection by concluding that mentoring is important for nurturing a professional sense of belonging and unveiling the beauty of empathy.

References

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Belle, S (2016) ?Organizational learning? Look again?, The Learning Organization 23(5), 332-341

Haeckel, S. H. (1999) Adaptive Enterprise: Creating and Leading Sense-and-Respond Organizations, President and Fellows of Harvard College

Maitlis, S and Christianson, M (2014) ?Sensemaking in organizations: taking stock and moving forward?, The Academy of Management Annals 8(1), 57-125

Senge, P M (2003) ?Creating desired futures in a global economy?, Reflections 5(1), 1-12

Sonenshein, S (2010) ?We?re changing ? or are we? Untangling the role of progressive, regressive, and stability narratives during strategic change implementation? Academy of Management Journal 53(3), 477-512

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Published

2020-09-11