Knowledge, Poppies, Violets and Bliss

Back on the topic of knowledge and how to identify and share what we know with each other. A comment was made on the blog that, knowledge is great, but if it doesn’t translate into understanding it is useless. Absolutely! So lets look as ways we stifle the transfer of knowledge.

In Chris Collison’s ((Chris Collison is a KM consultant, author and KM Review editorial board member. Previously he has worked on BP’s ground-breaking KM program and then at Centrica, before setting up his own consultancy – Knowledgeable Ltd.)) article “Avoiding the Typical Barriers to Effective KM” (Chris you got to come up with better titles!), he states seven barriers to knowledge. I am not going to go over every one of them here, as not all of them are applicable. If you are interested you can download the pdf of his article HERE.

I will start off by saying, photographers tend to be isolated, we work alone often and this can lead to some dangerous habits. We generally don’t move in packs. Most of us are self employed and thus we tend to live in our own worlds. One of the best ways today that photographers gain information and knowledge is through the net. This is a great resource and a unparalleled library of knowledge. So we naturally fall into the “It’s on the web” syndrome. Want a to learn what people think of a new lens, go to the web. What to lean a new photoshop technique, go to the web. Want to …well, you get my point. Of course this is not a bad thing. But we have to keep in mind that the web is a library not a person. If we only go to the web we lose the full message.  Albert Mehrabian in his book Silent Messages says, that in any communication only around 7% of the message is in words, 38% is in the tone of the voice and 55% in the body language. Holy moly! We are missing 93% of the message if we only use the net to gain out knowledge. One way around this to a point, though not completely is all the social networking software we use. Blogs and forums are a huge help here. In fact if you are not a member of The Vision Collective you should be. But still, nothing can replace the face to face meeting between photographers. Go out and join a workshop. There is nothing like sitting with another photographer and going over some issue that is perplexing you. Sign up for a mentorship program and meet face to face or at the very least over the phone or SKYPE and talk about the images or your vision. Collison writes, captured information should not be an ends to itself, it should be an “advertisement for a conversation with the owner.” I love this. I am asking myself, “How can I bring my own information to life?”  “How can I give back to my audience some of the missing 93%?”

As I said, not all that Collision writes is applicable to us, but I will say that the “Tall Poppy” syndrome is one I suffer from. Apparently, when you grow poppies you cut off the tall one for some reason. The point is, when I feel like I have something to share on a forum or even on a workshop, often I am hesitant for fear I will be quickly shot down. I don’t want to risk being made a fool in front of others. It is safer to keep my mouth shut. The problem with this issue is there is no real answer to this dilemma. A company can ask, “How can you make it safer for the potential poppies in our organization?” but this is a question the photographic community needs to ask. And we are just too big to really do this seriously. But I still think we need to be aware of this tendency and fight against it in out own life and work.

Then related to the “Tall Poppy” is the “Shrinking Violet”. This is where people say, “Oh, I don’t have anything special to share,” or, “I’m different with what I do,” or even, “Let’s leave it to the real experts.” The reality is you more than likely have found a way to do something or relate to someone that the rest of us can benefit from. Collison writes “Interestingly, it’s often the business units who live with a sense of isolation that develop innovative practices that should be shared more widely.” I think that is the greatest bit of wisdom to come down the pike in a long time. He is talking about isolated business units, but the same goes for the photographer who is out there doing his or her own thing. These photographers will often come up with a great workaround, because they can’t afford the latest lighting, or software. Maybe they have been interacting with locals in their travel and have a natural since of relating with them that the rest of us can learn from. Yet, they feel what they have to offer is of no value because they are “nobody” or just a small operation. The rest of us need to know what you know, stop being a “Shrinking Violet” and let the rest of us benefit from your experience.

The last one I am going to talk about today is the “Ignorance is Bliss syndrome”. This is where the photographer thinks they are it! There is nothing else to learn. In fact this is kind of the opposite of the “Shrinking Violet”, in that where the “Shrinking Violet” felt they have nothing to offer, the “Ignorance is Bliss”, says, “No one else has anything I need. My situation is unique.” This is really nothing more than a kind of conceit. Another version of this syndrome is when the photographer thinks, “I don’t have time or the energy to go to a workshop or a class. For what I would learn, the value is not there.” Either take on this syndrome is dangerous. They both lead to a lack of growth and stagnation.

So how do we combat these syndromes? How do we learn that what we know is valuable and what others know can benefit us? I know you may not think this is a big deal. The fact is, if you are reading this, it is because you are a learner. The reality is, it is they guy or gal not reading this that needs to hear this message. Later this week (I hope) I will talk about one great tool that many people think they know about, yet seldom put into practice.