When the bank started its KM push, it opted for a commontechnology platform to launch all its KM systems--only tofind that there was little value in that approach. "A commonplatform wasn't the way people naturally worked," saysLivesley. The bank now minimises introducing new technologyplatforms for its KM systems, but puts the systems on top ofexisting technology, most of which is Lotus Notes-based. "Wealready have enough technologies within the organisationthat would support KM. The biggest issue we face is nottaking advantage of what we have. Our challenge is toleverage what we have to increase our value to theorganisation and take advantage of the work that people arealready doing, and make a minor change to have a bigimpact," he sums it up.

Instilling the need to share information wasn't a toughroadblock for Livesley's team, because for the most part,the people he works with want to share. "Companies need totake advantage of what people innately want and make iteasy, supportable and rewardable for them to do the rightthing. So in setting up our engagements, we look to takeadvantage of projects where that need is in place," hesays. This principle is never more apparent than in itsapplication of KM to its Branch Network Redesignproject. "People who were in transformation from doing workone way to another way, and had different-name jobs, rolesand accountabilities, needed to know and shareinformation. So KM added the pieces of information theyneeded, giving them a place to go to find out what theywanted to know."

A Learning Financial Organisation

The goal of Standard Chartered Bank to become a learningorganisation is a worthy one. After all, as KatherineTsang, its head of Organisational Learning, says, a bankwhere employees learn from one another continuouslyimproves. (She defines a Learning Organisation as "acollection of individuals who feel energised, enthused andwell-treated, and who live the values of the bank, continueto learn, and become more effective in their dailydelivery.")

But that was a difficult goal to achieve in a company withan Organisational Learning function that was decentralisedand spanned 57 countries, each of which had its own learningcurriculum. "Although we were close to our business teams,there wasn't any guarantee that what Africa was doing wasthe same as what Asia was doing. There was also no guaranteethat everyone had the same access to learning--and that wasimportant if everyone is to grow and learn," says Tsang.