Effective sharing of knowledge and corporate experience across an organization is key to the efficiency and efficacy of the organization. One key vehicle to facilitate this is sharing lessons learned, both positive and negative. In every organisation, whether industrial or governmental, the quality of learning, advancement, and efficiency, depends very much on sharing of lessons learned and archiving institutional memory in an easily accessible manner. Although it is too often forgotten, history still repeats itself, and much can be learned from past experience. Repeating mistakes or ignorance of useful experience can cost an organization dearly. The quality of sharing knowledge and experience amongst personnel is paramount towards an organization’s success and effective deployment of effort.

This project deploys a holistic approach to Lessons Learned, including a number of critical and related multi-faceted activities, such as motivational presentations, workshops, events, training, and setting up of appropriate tools to support lessons learned in an organization.

This project deploys a holistic approach to Lessons Learned, including a number of critical and related multi-faceted activities, such as motivational presentations, workshops, events, training, and setting up of appropriate tools to support lessons learned in an organization. Our overall approach towards Lessons Learned is global and multifaceted, as illustrated in the schematic below.

The pillars in the above schematic represent the main supports of such a system. When deploying a lessons learned system in an organization, a number of multi-faceted tasks are prerequisite, such as:

• Lessons Learned Process and Procedure.
• Lessons Learned Website and Database tool.
• Awareness campaign and training programme.
• Lessons Learned Events.
• The social aspect: Rewards & Recognition.
• A Global plan encompassing the holistic approach.

It may be noted that the processes and functionalities must be individually selected and defined for each organization to suit the type of organization, its particular needs, and the audience(s) for which the system applies. E.g. an organization may wish to have a LL system only for its internal staff, and/ or, as well for its external partners and users; this is possible, provided that appropriate access management rules to sensitive content, confidentiality and security procedures are well structured and strictly observed.

The deployment of a Lessons Learned system is not complete without the development of appropriate processes, and tailoring of existing ones, in order that the organization’s management processes are in synch with the new ones necessary for the LL system to become a part of everyday work and operations. The types of processes involved are illustrated in the schematic below.