1. KM 2008 - Case Study
Andy Blunden Knowledge & HR Manager McCormick Rankin Cagney

2. Company & History
 McCormick Rankin Cagney Pty Ltd
 Transport Consultants South East Asia
 50% owned by Australian employees and 50% by McCormick
Rankin Corporation (Canada) www.mrc.ca
 Reputation for excellence in complex and unusual projects
 Business Improvement Division underpins Transport Reform
Agenda and Executive support
 Offices
 Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Auckland
 Operating 7 years
 Grown rapidly as niche Transport implementation partner
 International and National presence www.mrcagney.com

3. Andy Blunden
 MBA (Strategic Management, IT Management), Master
Information Systems
 Knowledge & HR Manager
 30+ years Training & Development, HR, IR, Organisation
Development experience
 Consulting in Strategic development, Quality &
Productivity Improvement, Business Process Re
engineering
 Specialising in Knowledge Management in Public and
Private sectors

4. The Traffic Management
Centre Project
 Review and modernise Traffic Management Centre Nerang (Gold
Coast District manages over 1000km of state controlled roads in
most densely populate area of Qld)
 Implement State of art Traffic Management Centre
 Move centre to a 24 hour shift operation
 Raise incident management quality & consistency in the district
 Implement best practice processes and technologies
 Standardise on road response to incidents
 Improve relationships with key stakeholders (police, ambulance,
fire, towing services and public)
 Implement new traffic management technologies and Motorway
management systems
 This project driven by addition of new Tugun motorway connecting
Qld and NSW with Tunnel under Gold Coast airport runway
 10 months work – 2 consultants, living and breathing Traffic
Management operations

5. What is a Traffic Management
Centre? – Background
 A Traffic Management Centre operates a CCTV
network and other smart incident detection
systems
 Responds to road incidents (Crashes, Breakdowns,
Abandoned vehicles, Congestion, Road rage)
 Provides Motorist information and warnings (Web,
Phone Radio traffic reports, Variable Message
Signs, SMS, Smart GPS – Road Angel)
 Adjusts the road network to (Traffic lights,
diversions)
 Supports ‘on road’ Traffic Management response
 Coordinates on road response (integrates Police,
Traffic Response Units, Fire, Ambulance, Towing)
 Level of risk significantly higher with Tunnels (i.e.
Burnley incident, Mont Blanc tunnel fire)

6. Project Goals
 Review the Nerang Traffic Management Centre operations for
efficiency/effectiveness toward best practice (Business process
review)
 Codify operational knowledge and best practices
 Improve culture
 Raise operator performance through improved knowledge, training
and knowledge culture to meet changed operating requirements
 Move to 24 hour shift operation
 Operate Tugan motorway (incorporating tunnel under Coolangatta
airport runway)
 Improve incident response, responder safety and service visibility
 Integrate new traffic management technologies with work process
 Provide consistent ‘look and feel’ of service as a model for Qld Dept
Main Roads across Qld
 Create a model approach for possible other TMC implementations.

7. Project KM Challenges
 Recruitment of 10 new staff
 Rapid technical knowledge and skill acquisition to meet
Tugun timetable
 Existing operational knowledge fragmented, inconsistently
applied and only partially documented
 New information technology – complexity and number
 Additional risk profile associated with tunnel management
(pressure to respond safely)
 Outsourcing of on road (Traffic Management) response
 While KM is a ‘Nice’ rather than ‘Nasty’ consulting process
there is still a need for change management in dealing with
Knowledge hoarders, Knowledge sellers and Knowledge
agents.
 KM brings into play all of the other usual cultural obstacles

8. Underpinning theories
applied
 Main Knowledge Management theories
applied
 Davenport & Prusak - 5 modes of Knowledge
Generation
 Hansen, Nohria and Teirney
 Katzenbach & Smith - Wisdom of teams
 Knowles – Androgogy
 O'Dell &Grayson - Value Disciplines
 Szulanski Knowledge Stickyness
 Senge - Mental models & Learning Organisation
 Johnson Scholes - Cultural Web
 Kaplan and Norton Balanced Scorecard

9. The KM Application
 Prusak - 5 modes
 Acquisition of knowledge – Recruitment
 Fusion – Facilitation of practices and improvement
 Adaptation and Knowledge networking (involving all
staff in review of processes)
 Hansen, Nohria and Teirney
 Codification of explicit processes
 Katzenbach & Smith - Wisdom of teams
 Power of teams in improving knowledge and
communication – consulting approach
 Knowles – Androgogy
 Self directed learning, buy in, use of existing knowledge

10. KM Application continued
 O'Dell &Grayson - Value Disciplines
 Operational excellence
 Szulanski Knowledge Stickyness
 Removal of knowledge ‘stickyness’ via learning program and
ownership of the knowledge
 Senge - Mental models
 Challenge existing values and beliefs
 Senge - Learning Organisation
 Implementation of learning loops (debriefings)
 Johnson Scholes - Cultural Web
 Understanding the existing culture and thinking
 Kaplan and Norton Balanced Scorecard
 Providing tangible feedback on performance as an anchor to new
behaviours

11. Scope of work
 Structure review
 Recruitment of operators and team leader
 Process review of the Traffic Management function
 Knowledge codification (policy and procedure)
 Intranet (Body of Knowledge) BOK development
 Cultural alignment
 Learning curriculum development and delivery leading
to knowledge transfer and capability
 Implementation of innovation and learning loop
 Mentoring, facilitation and support
 Balanced scorecard
 Post implementation audits and coaching

12. My aquired wisdom - Maxims
 While the project can be defined as a KM project, KM requires
integration of well rounded project management, facilitation,
process review, documentation, learning & development and
change management skills
 A consultant facilitates the long term behaviour changes that
underpins the new process and interactions – he/she needs to be
there a lot!
 The cultural change comes from the way the project work is done
– live it, do it, role model it (it=behaviours)
 Don’t announce the project – use a low key strategy.
Announcing the project is the same as wearing a target T shirt
 Don’t do all the work yourself – Use the team to do it (but help
them) – Make it their system and processes – not yours
 Practice Triage as a key change management process
 Keep your word – follow through on all promises (write all
promises down)

13. KM Consulting Approach
 Build Trust and confidence (no BOHICA)
 Build ‘our own system’ (Not To, Not for, - With…)
 No surprises – continuous communication
 Pygmalion free zone (Treat all with respect)
 Theory Y
 Triage
 Involvement (consultative but not democratic
i.e. ‘a say, not a vote’)
 Assign progressive responsibility – reward the
helpers
 Have fun

14. Cultural issues
 Some staff threatened by hiring of new staff
 Some pre - existing cultural issues (the thinking
was wrong)
 Several rapid changes of team leader – no
continuity of leadership
 Existing level of knowledge fragmented
 Policy disconnect
 Long term staff unaware of new environmental
threats, need for change or best practice

15. Future of the project
 Hopefully this project will roll on to other Main
Roads districts (model the knowledge and
process) as they implement Traffic Management
Centres across Qld
 Having representatives from other districts on the
steering committee tactically supports this
outcome
 Cost of implementation in other districts will fall
due to Knowledge capture and lower cost of
replication
 There are other major service standardisation
benefits likely from ‘domino’ implementation

16. Problem management
strategies
 Communication matrix – Track acceptance (Triage)
 Steering Committee – made responsible for making it happen
 Communication meetings
 Joint planning with the client and staff
 Have a single project sponsor (who has power to help when
needed)
 Early escalation of issues – cut ‘em off early
 Risk matrix – continuous re assessment of project risks
 Continuous communication (one on one)
 Meet commitments and promises
 Fix things that don’t work
 Project web site (pull rather than push info)
 Problem management database (each issue numbered)

17. Success management
 Get early wins and celebrate ‘the new way’
 Have fun and don’t be too serious
 Promote successes – internal media
 Capture ‘moments of truth’ and replay them
 Engender pride in ‘what we achieved’
 Be matter of fact and grounded - do not aim for
‘consultant glory’ or someone will surely shoot you
down
 No silver bullets – just constant increments
 Be prepared to recognise that something isn’t working
and fix it
 Humour is good……

18. Measurement
 TMC
 Implementation of Balanced Scorecard within the
Traffic Management Centre
 Project
 Project % done report
 Budget
 Deliverables matrix
 Risk matrix

19. Maintaining post
implementation momentum
 Conduct of system audits
 Post implementation support
 Knowledge and Capability transfer (be able to
manage our system ourselves when you go)

20. Moments of Truth
 Watching them respond to self directed
learning
 Watching them respond to critical incidents
with confidence
 Seeing the system work
 Seeing the team grow
 Hearing what others are saying about the
project
 Being asked to do it again somewhere else

21. Thank you for your
attention
 Questions