Why would a Database of Lessons Learned not exist?

In my experience it is not common practice to have a Database of Lesson Learned.

I have identified a number of reasons why this could be –

People do not share information as they fear losing their job as knowledge is power

Project managers are knowledge workers and not manual workers. Our output is not marked in terms of the number of units we make and ship but in terms of our effectiveness. While it would be great to be paid per email we send, project managers are paid for the results they achieve.

The effectiveness of a project manager can be measured by the number of projects delivered on time and on budget plus if these projects achieved their business case.

If a project manager is evaluated by their effectiveness, then a way of being seen as being more effective than others is to hoard knowledge.

By being the only person who knows how to do something or how to navigate through the bureaucracy of an organization you create a bottle neck where you control how effective other people can be.

This sounds, and it is very devious, but I am sure you have seen this in your organization or past jobs as it is a common approach.

We are knowledge workers, so we sell our time and knowledge to our employer so why share what we are paid for. This approach is a risk as knowledge can become out of date and people will find ways to bypass you if you are a bottle neck. So your effectiveness and value to the organization will reduce over time.

Before only the IT specialist knew how to send email, create project plans, find information online, book flights, contract resources etc and now anyone can do these activities.

Knowledge is power but the some knowledge does not always retain its value.

Division between insiders and outsiders, or us and them attitude

Team, department and company culture is important and powerful. It defines the atmosphere and conditions that we work in.

If there is a culture of working in silos and no reward and recognition for working across teams and departments then there will be little to no collaboration.

If there is a culture of working together and reward and recognition for collaboration across teams to achieve a common aim, then there will be a collaborative environment.

Culture starts at all levels of the organization but the culture that last is the one that is sustained by management. If managers see collaboration as good for themselves then it will be encouraged. If managers see it as a threat to themselves then they will maintain a siloed culture and discourage sharing of knowledge and collaboration.

Absence of a prompt reward

Gratification and recognition are important so if there is no pay rise or promotion or bonus for helping others in the company or introducing improvements in usual practices then there is no incentive to share knowledge.

Humans like to be rewarded. In life we work out what we must do to get a reward.

As children we are rewarded when we get good marks at school, do well in sports and keep our bedrooms tidy. This desire for recognition continues throughout our lives.

In sports the best players get picked for the team first, they are the most popular people in the school and town, they can earn millions in salary, they are viewed as leaders and people of importance. So, to maintain this recognition athletes train and work hard as they know the behavior they have to follow so achieve the rewards they want.

At university the better the grade for your papers, assignments and exams the better the job you will get after graduation. As we have seen that a good education results in a well-paid job and career. So, we study hard, find out the assessment criteria and deliver our work to satisfy he teachers so we get the highest grade we can.

At work we observe what our colleagues do to get praised, promoted and pay rises. Then we copy it, so we can get rewarded as well. If knowledge sharing is rewarded, then people will do it. If knowledge sharing is not rewarded, then we will not help other people get the promotion by giving them the results of our hard work.

The more complicated a task seems the more prestige a person can receive

Once everyone knows how to solve a problem the solution losses value.

Chefs talk about their secret recipe to delicious food, sports coaches have their secrets for winning the big game, IT companies talk about their algorithms that allow them to do things no one else can and magicians amaze and fool us with their illusions.

We are all impressed by something we do not understand. If the secret was revealed maybe we would no longer be as impressed.

How special would the food be if the secret ingredient was something we had in our cupboard at home that made the dish taste so wonderful.

How special would the sports coach be if their secret was to focus on the basics of the game and not worry about complicated tactics.

How special would the IT company’s algorithm be if in fact it was not an algorithm just 100s of people working in the background to manually manipulate the data.

How special would the magician’s illusion be if box where they sawed their assistant in half had fake legs in the box so there was no real danger or magic.

One cannot build an empire if everything is more simple and clear

Loss of prestige or a title of a problem solver.  Management of complex and hard to understand tasks bring prestige and the title of a problem solver.

If the complex task that requires a special person to do it becomes simple and as a result anyone can do it then it is no longer special and the performance of the task losses all prestige.

Lack of initiative and unwillingness to carry out extra unpaid work that would be needed to create a Database of Lessons Learned

If there is no reward and recognition or culture of collaboration and no one is paid to record and share knowledge, then no one will do it. For a Database of Lessons Learned to exist and survive, people must add to it and have a reason to do so. Otherwise it starts of as a good idea that everyone agrees with and then slowly dies a death from being ignored.

Concern and fear to disturb the established order

If the company does not have a culture of sharing knowledge then it is a risk to an employee’s career to try and introduce it.

If the boss got to where they are by hoarding knowledge, being a bottle neck, solving complex tasks that no one understands then the chances of them promoting someone who is the opposite to them is zero.

They would not let someone share knowledge, promote collaboration and simplify complex tasks while sharing the answer for how to do it as this would be a threat to everything they have created and their person identity and career.

Summary

In summary, many of these reasons are based on personal insecurities and the organizations culture and yes, they all sound very negative.