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The Strategic Level: How The Navy's CIO Convinced Commanders That KM Is A War Strategy

Knowledge superiority accelerates commanders' decision-making processes, enabling them to effectively lock out a foe's intended actions and overcome his defenses.

- Alex Bennet2

Meaningful change always starts with a vision that inspires and motivates. That's why the CIO embarked on defining its vision with KM as a core component. The 2000 Information Manage­ment/Information Technology (IM/IT) strategic plan issued by the Secretary of the Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations, and the Commandant of the Marine Corps articulated the Navy's future vision as one in which the Navy would not only provide invisible technology but would also create a "knowledge-centric culture where trust and respect facilitate information sharing and organizational learning".

This vision informed the knowledge strategy of the Navy in which "knowledge superiority" was adopted as a core strategy along with the Navy's longtime maritime strategy of "forward pres­ence."4 According to the Navy's knowledge superiority strategy, KM enables the Navy to maintain a competitive advantage over adversaries by enhancing the Navy's knowledge of the battlefield. The transfer and sharing of explicit and tacit knowledge in real time enables effective strategic and tactical decisions to be made. Even after decisions have been made, sharing knowledge about them creates an appreciation of past decisions and enables future success through Lessons Learned.

To promote the vision of a knowledge-centric organization and get key players to buy in to the knowledge superiority strategy, the Naval Academy started the "knowledge superiority" dia­logue. This facilitated the emergence of KM champions among the commanders. Soon, KM champions appeared at the commander level in a number of Navy organizations. Commanders started communicating their success stories, leading to the establishment of the KM leadership network. This in turn fostered leadership commitment at the various organizational units of the Navy for KM. But leadership commitment did not stop here. In addition, the Navy created and defined the duties of the position of chief knowledge officer (CKO).

The CKO's position was elevated to the highest level by reporting directly to the Navy's CIO. The Navy CIO, with the KM Working Group sponsored by the Federal Chief Information Offi­cers Council,5 defined the responsibilities and credentials of CKOs, creating the first comprehen­sive guide on this new position.6 The guide makes clear that the CKO's role in the public sector is markedly different from that of the CIO in that the former focuses on changing organizational behaviors, processes, and technologies rather than focus on computers and IT networks. The strategic role of the CKO involves leading the organization to becoming knowledge-centric by forging knowledge strategies, defining best practices, fostering a knowledge-sharing culture, and developing knowledge bases and resources.

With KM objectives appearing on the strategic agenda of the Navy's organizations, the Navy was ready to take KM to the operational level. But first, the Navy needed to know if it had what it takes.

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