We Specialize in Multiple Industries:

Healthcare

We've noted that increasingly healthcare is focused on evidence-based practice. While the practices themselves can be drawn from the extensive research literature, implementation or "how-to" is most often invented locally. We assist healthcare systems to spread implementation knowledge across organizational boundaries.

We have a special interest in patient safety and have worked on several government sponsored projects. The complexity of healthcare increases the opportunity for inevitable human errors that cause harm to patients. We have worked both at the microsystem level and at the organizational level to implement practices such as patient safety executive walk-arounds, sensemaking, plan-do-study-act cycles, and event reporting. These practices reduce error as well as encourage a "just culture." Our approach to sensemaking, in particular, has made a significant difference in the openness and willingness of staff to speak up about errors and near misses in many hospital settings. These practices are integrated into an overall plan for becoming a high reliability organization (HRO). 

Our healthcare clients include:

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS)
• Childs Health Corporation of America (CHCA)
• CIMRO of Nebraska
• Delmarva Foundation
• Department of Veterans Affairs
• HealthInsight
• Health Resources and Services Association (HRSA)
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)
• Metastar Foundation
• Ohio KEPRO

Government

We see government, both in the US and Canada, facing two major difficulties with which knowledge sharing can effectively assist. One is the imminent loss of employees over the next five years due to retirement. The second is the clash of cultures between the generation X'ers and those who currently hold positions of responsibility within government.

We have worked extensively with both the US and Canadian government and find that although government work lacks the profit drivers that fuel knowledge sharing within industry, it has the advantage of a purpose driven mission, which can build strong communities and knowledge sharing. CompanyCommand provides an excellent example of a community that, without profit incentives or hierarchical demands, has made a difference to the U.S. Army. 

Our current and recent clients include:

• British Columbia Building Corporation (BCBC)
• Canadian Centre for Management Development (CCMD)
• Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
• Conference Board of Canada
• U.S. Department of Navy, Chief Information Office (DON CIO)
• U.S. Department of Energy, Idaho National Laboratory
• International Finance Corporation (IFC)
• Province of British Columbia
• United States Military Academy

Specializing in the Oil and Gas Industry

The oil industry was an early player in knowledge management. With companies like British Petroleum and Shell Oil, they lead the movement toward sharing knowledge across the globe. For that reason, much of the research for Nancy's book Common Knowledge: How Companies Thrive By Sharing What They Know was conducted with the cooperation of major players in this industry.

We have worked in this industry from those early days and gone through the subsequent mergers and acquisitions with several clients. Now we believe the oil industry is at a time of renewal, and we see many new opportunities for knowledge sharing.

Our current and recent Oil and Gas Industry clients include:

• Halliburton
• ChevronTexaco
• ConocoPhillips