Knowledge Worker

An interesting excerpt from an article
Recently I (author) was speaking to the senior cleaner (I followed her around while she carried out her duties) at a rather traditional institution (won't say where) and sought to explain to her that she is a knowledge-worker. She quickly said to me, almost before I finished my last word, "Of course I am, but no one here ever thinks of me as being a knowledge-worker. I have been hearing them with this talk of knowledge-workers and almost everything they say I can relate to myself, yet no one has ever suggested to me that I am a knowledge worker". I was taken aback at her prompt and decisive statement of fact, and not quite sure if I showed my astonishment. You see, I had expected this 'lowly' cleaning lady to first ask me what a knowledge-worker is and then I further expected that after a long and careful explanation (perhaps rather condescendingly, who knows), to go on to bemuse her with the fact that she was a valuable knowledge worker. So instead of my telling her or explaining to her why she qualified as a knowledge worker, I asked her to tell me in what way she was a knowledge worker. And told me she did, in no uncertain manner. To cut a long and interesting conversation very short indeed, my knowledge-cleaner, who had been working with the organisation for 14 years, pointed out that a knowledge-worker to her is anyone who has the responsibility of guarding and using effectively any important company knowledge. She said that she guarded, used and managed a lot of important knowledge of how to keep the office clean, when to clean where, when not to clean where, how to clean for what person, when not to move things on peoples desks, and how to replace things after they had been moved, what cleaning material was best for what surfaces, who was allergic to what cleaning substance, who liked what smell, and so on. She knew what suppliers were most reliable and what cleaning products offered best value. Further, she was able to tell me of the valuable knowledge she held> about who in the company seemed to have the organisation's best interest at heart and who did not. She knew who wasted the most paper, who was most careful, who did a lot of their own personal work in company time, who was lazy, who was frustrated, who had a lot of untapped talent so found their jobs boring and unchallenged. On a different scale, our cleaning lady knew who was most likely to have personal problems, and even fellow employees that did not feel a part of the organisation. During her time, she had observed a lot of changes, seen many people come and go and could tell me the impact of the changes on her role as a cleaner, and the level of service she could give efficiently. Much of our experienced senior cleaning lady's knowledge was acquired through observations over the many years and many hours on the job. She also became a reservoir of knowledge that was passed on to her from other employees who trusted her. In her own words, "I sometimes feel like an agony aunt, but without the fame and money to go with it". Our wise and trusted cleaning lady felt that her years of accumulated knowledge and experience, and the application of her knowledge was what allowed her to keep the office clean in the way that even new people liked and appreciated, and to make those she cleaned for happy to come to their office/desk each morning. Fascinated with this woman's knowledge of her knowledge and the importance to her company, I asked her if she had heard the term knowledge management and if she had, did she understand what it means and involves. "Of course I have and of course I do" she answered without hesitation, in a rather feisty manner I hasten to add. And once again she told me, yes told me. It is worth mentioning at this point that this lady had only the minimum basic high-school qualifications. Knowledge management, she said, was no different to cleaning management or housekeeping management. I quote her as follows: "I have to know what I need to know to do my job and learn what I know I don't know. I then have to make sure I use my knowledge to do my job in the easiest and quickest way possible, and of course watch the pennies". She told me that she manages her knowledge by making sure that what she knows is put to good use, and whenever she needs to, she lets others into her knowledge; but not always she quickly added with a mischievous smile. Our cleaning lady went on to relay a fascinating example of a fellow employee who was plagued with violent bouts of sneezing early in the> mornings, but that this would ease up or stop by late morning. Through careful observations and the harnessing of her tacit knowledge, our cleaning lady was able to deduce the likely cause of the attacks as being a particular substance that was used to freshen the room, at least half-and hour before the occupant arrived. The odour of the substance was not overbearing, so the possible deleterious effect was not evident to the room occupant. Our experienced and knowledgeable senior cleaner took the initiative to stop using the likely offending air-freshener in the affected employee's> room, and the sneezing bouts ceased within days. Our knowledge-cleaner revealed her experiment to the (senior) employee in question, who in> turn got the R&D department to carry out a survey to find out if other employees had experienced any possible adverse effects to the substance, and to further investigate the product. The end result was that the product was withdrawn from the procurement list. The grateful past sufferer bought her cleaning-lady saviour a delightful present, which our star-knowledge lady smilingly told me she was most touched to have received (the effects of knowledge sharing reward in action).