Knowledge Management in Army, Essay Example

I am a huge believer in learning from others so interactions and discussions with my colleagues will be an important part of my knowledge management plan for the next five years. I realize that one can have only so much experiences in a given time period, thus, interacting with others exposes one to new insights and observations and is an effective way of maximizing learning and knowledge gain.I like to read books and am a news junkie. I am thinking of forming a book club with some of my colleagues who may be interested. We will read books on war history as well as those written by former and current U.S. as well as foreign military leaders and hold discussions on a regular basis. Everyone will present his/her views and then we will compare the information from the books to current military campaigns to develop a better understanding of military evolution.

I am also going to request my colleagues and friends to feel free to express their opinions on my thinking as they get to know me better over time. Sometimes, others recognize our personal bias that we miss on and help us become better at separating facts from personal opinions. Similarly, as we work with others we become better at understanding as well as communicating effectively with each other. Developing strong objective reasoning and investigative skills is an important part of my goals for the next five years because this will help me apply my knowledge more effectively to the data and information I may work with in the future. Thus, I hope that discussions with my colleagues will also help me understand myself better as well as my personal strengths and weaknesses.

I will also join military forums and visit them on regular basis to read views and opinions of everyone from field solders to senior military personals. This will help me understand how people at different military hierarchies think and perceive the current events and military strategies. Reading different views may not mean that I have to agree with all of them but it will help me become a better communicator tomorrow. If I understand how different people think, I will be able to communicate with them more effectively as well as fulfill their information and knowledge requirements.

I also plan to develop relationships with my seniors as well as instructors and persuade them to mentor me. They will have the luxury of real life experience and many of them may have been in sensitive situations that demanded quick thinking and planning. Reading materials are valuable sources of information but they can’t substitute the lessons learnt in real combat. Thus, mentoring will provide me with more realistic knowledge and picture of military strategies many of whom may have been recently formulated. Mentors will also help me discover my strengths and weaknesses.

I will also subscribe to military publications and follow news on a regular basis in order to remain up to date on latest happenings. One of the best things about U.S. military is that it has the most diversified force in terms of ethnic background and cultural composition. The success of international military campaigns also depends upon winning the hearts of people who often come from vastly different cultural background than the west. Thus, I plan to forge friendships with my colleagues from non-western cultural backgrounds to learn more about other cultures.