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Learning from Experience
Toolkit credits
Development DBA
Gardiner & Theobald
Testing Amicus Group
BAA
BP-Bovis Lend Lease Global Alliance
Buro Happold
National Grid Transco
SecondSite Property
Publishing BSRIAConstruction Best Practice Programme
Funding DTI and project partners
Learning from Experience Credits© 2003
Toolkit credits
Development
Testing
Publishing
Funding
Learning from Experience Credits© 2003
Contacts
David Bartholomew
Gardiner & Theobald
Marion Weatherhead
Learning from Experience Contacts© 2003
Knowledge and learning
© 2003
Learning from Experience
“I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand”
(Confucius, 551-479 BC)
“Our ability to apply the best available knowledge is a key point of difference for us in the marketplace”
(Bovis Lend Lease, c. 2000 AD)
Knowledge and learning© 2003
What is knowledge?
Data The bricks arrived on Friday
Information The bricks which arrived on Friday shouldhave arrived on Wednesday
Explicit knowledge Procedure manual: ‘Bricks must be ordered at least 3 months before required on site’
Tacit knowledge I need to order bricks next Monday
Learning from Experience Knowledge and learning© 2003
What is Knowledge
Management?
tools (IT or process) and behaviour
explicit and tacit
create, make accessible, share, internalise
Learning from Experience Knowledge and learning© 2003
Learning from Experience
Knowledge you don’t know you
know
Knowledge and learning© 2003
Learning from Experience
Hidden treasure
Bus
ines
s va
lue
of ta
cit k
now
ledg
e
Difficulty of access
Conscious individual knowledge
Unconscious individual knowledge
Unconscious team knowledge
Knowledge and learning© 2003
Learning from Experience
The learning review cycle
Knowledge and learning© 2003
A litmus test for the learning organisation
Does the organisation understand what kinds of knowledge contribute to its business success, what it needs to learn, and how to learn it?
Is the organisation open to challenging ideas?
Does the organisation avoid repeating mistakes?
Does the organisation lose critical skills when key people leave?
Does the organisation act on what it knows?
Learning from Experience Knowledge and learning© 2003
Learning Histories
© 2003
Learning from Experience
Learning Histories
aft
er
Re
flect
ion
Le
arn
ing
Ass
oci
ate
s
Learning Histories© 2003
LH pedigree
developed by George Roth & Art Kleiner at the Sloan School of Management, MIT from 1992
designed for big business and big events
15 carried out by 1997
extensive academic literature including 2 detailed case studies (‘Car Launch’, ‘Oil Change’)
widely cited in the organisational learning literature
Learning from Experience Learning Histories© 2003
Data gathering
planning and training
insider and outsider interviewers
individual interviews
people at all levels and in all roles
reflective, conversational, focus on ‘notable results’
verbatim record + collected documents
‘Car Launch’: 5 interviewers, 45 interviews over 3 months (~20% of the staff involved in the project)
Learning from Experience Learning Histories© 2003
Distilling
sift through transcripts and documents for:
themesimplicationskey pointstelling quotessupporting evidence
‘Car Launch’: thousands of pages of transcript, 3 months’ effort
Learning from Experience Learning Histories© 2003
Documenting
construct a relevant narrative story line
document the ‘jointly-told tale’ in 2 columns with:
verbatim quotes in the right-hand columncommentary in the left-hand column - questions,
analysis, generalisations, implications
maintain multiple perspectives and anonymity
add background information in boxed ‘sidebars’
get interviewees to validate the text
aim for a powerful story, told briefly
‘Car Launch’: 89 page ‘book’
Learning from Experience Learning Histories© 2003
Learning from Experience
The Learning History format
The Learning History is organised in ‘chapters’ discussing particular episodes, each divided into ‘segments’ focusing on particular dilemmas, questions or anecdotes
The single-column prologue is based on notable facts and events that everyone agrees happened, and explains the business significance of the segment
In the right-hand column, verbatim quotations from interviewees tell the story from their various points of view, identified only by their position
The left-hand column gives the learning historians’ commentary, insights, questions, reflections and perspective to provoke readers into deeper thoughts
Learning Histories© 2003
Disseminating the results
the Learning History becomes the basis for facilitated workshops of 6-12 people in which they develop a collective understanding of:
what happenedwhat lessons have been learntthe business value of the LH exercisehow future working practice could be improved
it is also distributed for a wider audience in the company to read
the Learning History team review the LH exercise to learn lessons about future learning
‘Car Launch’: dozens of small workshops, involving hundreds of people in total
Learning from Experience Learning Histories© 2003
Business benefits
Oil refinery Learning History exercise mounted to ‘get tothe bottom’ of a chronic reliability problem
produced new maintenance strategy thatsolved this and other problems
saved $1.5 million
20 page Learning History distributed to all 600 employees
stimulated new learning habits which led to 50more innovations over following year
Learning from Experience Learning Histories© 2003
More free information
about Learning Histories
Learning Histories: A new tool for turning organisational experience into action
Art Kleiner and George Roth, 1997
http://ccs.mit.edu/lh/21cwp002.html
Creating Conversations for Change: Lessons from Learning History projects
George Roth, Sloan School of Management 1999
http://www.aom.pace.edu/odc/papers.html#1999
Learning Histories: Using documentation to assess and facilitate organisational learning
George Roth, Sloan School of Management
http://www.solonline.org/static/research/workingpapers/18004.html
Learning from Experience Learning Histories© 2003
After Action Reviews
© 2003
Learning from Experience
After Action Reviews
© C
an
ad
ian
Arm
y
After Action Reviews© 2003
AAR process
Planning eg review the training and evaluation plan,choose a time and venue, decide who will attend
Preparation eg review training objectives, observe the training and take notes, reconnoitre and prepare the AAR site, conduct rehearsal
Conduct “seek maximum participation, maintain focus on training objectives, constantly review teaching points, record key points”
Follow-up eg “identify tasks requiring retraining, fix the problem - retrain immediately”
Learning from Experience After Action Reviews© 2003
AAR pedigree
developed from 1992
originally designed for the military, but principles now widely used in business
used routinely from platoon level upwards
many thousands carried out
smaller, less academic literature
widely cited
basis of BP’s approach
Learning from Experience After Action Reviews© 2003
AARs - BP Amoco style
Basic questions what were the planned outcomes?
what were the actual outcomes?
what were the differences, why did they occur?
what can be learnt?
New concepts Learn Before: talking to managers of similar previous projects import tacit knowledge from them
Learn During: regular AARs during a project
Learn After: a larger, more formal AAR looking back at the end of a project
Learning from Experience After Action Reviews© 2003
More free information about AARs
A Leader’s Guide to After Action Reviews
US Army Centre for Army Lessons Learned (CALL), 1993
http://call.army.mil/products/spc_prod/tc25-20/table.htm
Learning from Experience After Action Reviews© 2003
Learning Histories and
AARs: differences
Learning Histories AARs(mostly)
individual group
private (anonymous) public
4 stage 1 stage
internal + external linefacilitators managers
retrospective immediate
long short
large projects small actions
occasional routine
Learning from Experience Learning Histories vs After Action Reviews© 2003
The Learning Toolkit
© 2003
The Learning Toolkit
Contents map (1pp)
The business case in a nutshell (1pp)
The Learning Manual (17pp)
6 case studies (2pp each)
Workshop Leader’s Guide (5pp)
LfE slide set (50+ Slides)
Learning from Experience The Learning Toolkit© 2003
Business benefits
© 2003
Business benefits
reduce risk
reduce cost
reduce waste
improve quality
increase customer satisfaction
fix problems
innovate
increase capability
improve teamwork
make partnering work better . . . etc
Learning from Experience Business benefits© 2003
Some business
benefits at BP Amoco
Average time to drill deepwater well cut from 100 to 42 days
Cost of oil refinery refurbishment cut by 20%, time cut by 9 days, interval to next refurbishment extended by 6 months
Cost of building petrol service stations cut by 26% in 2 years in 1996-8 - and another 30% in 2002
BP estimate cumulative savings from learning and knowledge sharing add up to $4 billion in 5 years
Learning from Experience Business benefits© 2003
Savings in BP Amocoservice
stations - first 2 years
Learning from Experience Business benefits
© B
ovi
s L
en
d L
ea
se
© 2003
Valuing your business benefits
Learning from Experience
Change value How much would a 10% reduction in manhours, build time, defects or waste save oncosts?
Opportunity value How much would a lower cost base, morepredictable build times or lower defects beworth in extra business?
Avoided cost How much would it cost to hire and trainreplacements for staff whose tacitknowledge you rely on?
Avoided liability How much would it be worth to reduce thechange of overlooking an avoidable risk by50%?
Business benefits© 2003
A litmus test for the learning organisation
Does the organisation understand what kinds of knowledge contribute to its business success, what it needs to learn, and how to learn it?
Is the organisation open to challenging ideas?
Does the organisation avoid repeating mistakes?
Does the organisation lose critical skills when key people leave?
Does the organisation act on what it knows?
Learning from Experience Learning programme© 2003
Learning from Experience
The learning review cycle
Learning programme© 2003
Planning issues
Review timing Foresight, Insight or Hindsight?
Programme scale Every project, or just some?
Information gathering Workshops, interviews, or a mixture?
Knowledge creation During workshops or separately?
Knowledge sharing By workshop or written report? How widely?
Staffing Project staff or in-house independents (eg HR)?
Training Taught course, self-teaching package, mentoring?
Review leaders Project staff, in-house independents or externalconsultants?
Participation Only in-house staff, or business partners too?
Resources From project budgets or separately?
Incentives What incentives to encourage learning?
Learning from Experience Learning programme© 2003
Programme scale
options
a one-off (or occasional) review
a finite series of reviews
a routine part of management
a combination
Learning from Experience Learning programme© 2003
Review timing options
Foresight Shortly before a project starts, to bring inknowledge from previous work
Insight During a project, typically after a key milestone
Hindsight Soon after a project has finished, to capture
lessons learned
Learning from Experience Learning programme© 2003
Information gathering
A review workshop is a candid, non-
judgmental discussion of what went well
and what went less well in a project,
intended to help everyone present - and
other colleagues - to do better in the future.
Interviews are essentially the same, with
the difference that only interviewer and
interviewee are present.
Learning from Experience Information gathering© 2003
Workshop or interview? Interview Workshop
individual group
private (can be anonymous) public
large input from each small input from each
independent inputs one can spark another
more learning staff time more project staff time
separates review stages can be all in one
good for busy staff harder for busy staff
good for dispersed staff harder if dispersed
any number practical limit ~15
Learning from Experience Information gathering© 2003
Reviews, not management
meetings Take place ‘offline’ to encourage reflective
discussion
Take no decisions, give no instructions
Focus first on understanding the past, and only then on the future
Focus on significant events and issues - routine progress is ignored
Have no hierarchy - all participants are equal
Are ego-free zones: about the truth as participants see it, not about making an impression
There is no criticism, no blameLearning from Experience Workshops
© 2003
Preparing for a workshop
Appoint a workshop leader and a recorder
Decide who to invite
Brief new participants on aims and ‘rules of procedure’
Arrange time and venue
Arrange facilities, eg catering, audio recording, flip chart
Review factual material on project; possibly, interview 1 or 2 key staff
Decide theme, focus and aims based on review
Plan structure
Learning from Experience Workshops© 2003
Structuring workshops or
interviews
Chronologically, through the project, or
Around measurable aspects of performance, such as KPIs, or
Around significant events and issues identified beforehand from study records or preliminary interviews
Learning from Experience Information gathering© 2003
Insight and Hindsight: focus and
timing
25% What happened?
25% Why did it happen?
50% How can we do better?
Learning from Experience Workshops© 2003
Foresight: focus and
timing
25% Who’s done this before?
25% How was it done?
50% How can we do better?
Learning from Experience Workshops© 2003
Workshop Rules of
Procedure
Nobody is required to speak, but everyone is encouraged to do so
All participants have equal status during the event
Everybody speaks only about their person experience in the information gathering phase
Everybody recognises that subjective truth can differ from person to person
Nobody criticises anybody else - the focus is on past truth and future improvement
Management guarantees no recriminations
Learning from Experience Workshops© 2003
Leader / interviewer
responsibilities Introduce the topic
Move the dialogue from each point to the next
Keep dialogue focused on important issues
Pace the dialogue to stay on schedule
Listen
Encourage
Prompt
Summarise
Enforce the Rules of Procedure
Set the tone
Learning from Experience Information gathering© 2003
Knowledge creation options
By participants during a review workshop, or
By learning team staff after interviews or a workshop - unavoidable when information is gathered in interviews
Learning from Experience Creating knowledge© 2003
Knowledge sharing options
During a review workshop
In one or more later dissemination workshops
Through written reports such as Learning Histories
Learning from Experience Sharing knowledge© 2003
Learning from Experience
The Learning History format
The Learning History is organised in ‘chapters’ recounting particular episodes, each divided into ‘segments’ focussing on particular dilemmas, questions or anecdotes
The single-column prologue is based on notable facts and events that everyone agrees happened, and explains the business significance of the segment
In the right-hand column, verbatim quotations from interviewees tell the story from their various points of view, identified only by their position
The left-hand column gives the learning historians’ commentary, insights, questions, reflections and perspective to provoke readers into deeper thoughts
Sharing knowledge© 2003
Learning from Experience
“That was the most productive meeting we’ve had in 3 years of
partnering”
(a Director of Partnerships First, after a Hindsight workshop, 2002)
“If it’s that easy, why aren’t we doing it already?”
(a Transco engineer, after a Hindsight workshop, 2002)
© 2003
Case studies: testing the Learning Toolkit
© 2003
Case study:Amicus Group
Housing development at Hoystings Close, Canterbury
Amicus, a large housing association, were acting as developers
Difficult project history
Hindsight review, based on a workshop
Client, contractor, managment consultant and legal adviser all participated
Followed Learning Manual techniques closely
Review process has since been adopted as standard practice in all Amicus projects and recommended practice in 16 other housing associations
Learning from Experience Case study
© Amicus
© 2003
Case study:Buro Happold
The Darwin Centre, Natural History Museum
Buro Happold were structure, fire and services engineers
New museum building
Technically challenging (houses 22 million specimens in 450,000 glass jars of inflammable alcohol)
Hindsight review, using interviews
Only Buro Happold staff participated
Documented in Learning History format
Followed Learning Manual techniques closely
Six more reviews carried out since the trial
Learning from Experience Case study
© Buro Happold
© 2003
Case study:SecondSite
Property
Site remediation of former gasworks in Plymouth
SecondSite property were the client
Technically novel - used bio-remediation
Hindsight review based on a workshop
Client, contractor and specialist consultants all participated
Followed Learning Manual techniques closely
Review process likely to become standard practice for projects with special technical or other interest
Learning from Experience Case study
© SecondSite Property
© 2003
Case study:BAA
New check-in at Gatwick Airport
BAA were the client for the development
Part newbuild, part adaptation of existing space
Demanding timetable, with completion after check-in brought into use
Hindsight review based on interviews
Used Learning Manual techniques
Lessons learnt disseminated to other BAA staff in a knowledge-sharing workshop
Learning from Experience Case study
© BAA
© 2003
Case study:BP-Bovis Lend
Lease The BP-Bovis Lend Lease Global Alliance is
responsible for building and maintaining BP service stations worldwide under a partnering agreement
The Global Alliance’s remuneration is linked to the extent by which it beats targets agreed annually with BP
2002 target was to reduce total costs by 25%
Foresight review, based on several workshops
Only Global Alliance staff participated
Used techniques the Global Alliance has developed over several years based on BP methods
Actual savings projected to be around 30%
Learning from Experience Case study
© BP-Bovis Lend Lease Global Alliance
© 2003
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