Harold Jarche: Profiles in Knowledge

Originally published September 5, 2021

This is the 72nd article in the Profiles in Knowledge series featuring thought leaders in knowledge management. Harold Jarche (pronounced jar-key) is an international consultant and speaker, helping people and businesses adapt to the network era. Harold provides pragmatic guidance on connected leadership, social learning, personal knowledge mastery, and workplace collaboration. We have been long-time followers of each other’s posts and were both workshop presenters at KMWorld 2018.

Background

Harold consults with organizations to adapt to the many challenges facing us today by focusing on knowledge-sharing and sensemaking in networks. His personal knowledge mastery framework provides professionals with practical methods to connect work and learning. Harold works with individuals, organizations, and public policy influencers to develop practical ways to improve collaboration, knowledge sharing, and sensemaking.

A graduate of the Royal Military College, Harold served over 20 years with the Canadian Armed Forces in leadership and training roles. Harold began his career as an officer with Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. He completed his service as a Training Development Officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force where he conducted the analysis and design of training for aircrew and technicians on the newly purchased CH146 helicopter. In 2003 Harold launched his independent consulting practice in Sackville, NB, Canada.

Experience

• Jarche Consulting — Principal, 2003-Present
• Internet Time Alliance — Partner, 2009-Present
• e-com inc — Chief Learning Officer, 2001–2003
• Mount Allison University — Project Manager, Centre for Learning Technologies, 1998–2001
• Canadian Armed Forces — Training Development Officer and other roles, 1981–1998

Education

• Royal Roads Military College — Diploma, Arts & Administration, 1977–1979
• Royal Military College of Canada/Collège militaire royal du Canada — Bachelor of Arts (BA), History, 1979–1981
• University of New Brunswick — Master of Education (MEd), Adult Education, 1995–1998

Profiles

• About
• LinkedIn

Content

• Twitter
• Site

1. Personal Knowledge Mastery
2. PKM 2013

• LinkedIn

1. Articles
2. Posts

Articles

• The Best Leaders Are Constant Learners with Kenneth Mikkelsen
• Social Media Today
• MWL Magazine (Modern Workplace Learning)

Blog

1. Convening the right people
2. ITA Jay Cross Award 2021
3. Revisiting cooperation
4. Sensemaking in uncertainty
5. What is innovation?
6. The strategic and purposeful production of ignorance
7. Working collaboratively and learning cooperatively
8. Connecting leadership
9. Curiosity, creativity, complexity, & chaos
10. Curiosity and resolve
11. The origins of creativity
12. The agile sensemaking model
13. Actionable insights
14. Sense-making beyond the outrage
15. Dark sides of social media
16. To know is to do
17. Knowledge-sharing paradox redux
18. The random organization
19. Right thinking
20. If you are the smartest person in the room …
21. Metrics, thy name is vanity
22. Culture is complex
23. Perpetual beta 2017
24. PKM for LearnTrends
25. Photos you can use

The Seek > Sense > Share Framework

• Seeking is finding things out and keeping up to date. Building a network of colleagues is helpful in this regard. It not only allows us to “pull” information, but also have it “pushed” to us by trusted sources. Good curators are valued members of knowledge networks.
• Sensing is how we personalize information and use it. Sensing includes reflection and putting into practice what we have learned. Often it requires experimentation, as we learn best by doing.
• Sharing includes exchanging resources, ideas, and experiences with our networks as well as collaborating with our colleagues.

• Work is learning and learning is the work
• Working Out Loud
• Small pieces, loosely joined

Trust emerges over time

Stan Garfield recently posted 16 reasons why people don’t share their knowledge. Of these 16 reasons most are due to a lack of information, tools, incentives, or motivation. These are systemic barriers to knowledge sharing. Only a few are due to a lack of skills or knowledge, which could be addressed through formal, informal, or social learning.

In my experience the core issue is trust, which Stan outlines in his second point.

2. They don’t trust others. They are worried that sharing their knowledge will allow other people to be rewarded without giving credit or something in return, or result in the misuse of that knowledge.

When trust is lost, knowledge fails to flow. When knowledge flow is stemmed, trust is lost. This happens in organizations. It also happens at a societal level. Networks of trust are what create value at all levels for human society.

Featured by Other Bloggers

1. Effective knowledge sharing
2. Knowledge is personal
3. PKM: aggregate, filter, connect
4. PKM in a nutshell
5. PKM: our part of the social learning contract
6. Learning through Storytelling with the PPCLI
7. When trust is lost
8. Constant doubt and outrage
9. From enlightenment to entanglement
10. Social Business Needs Social Management
11. Working online is different
12. Writing in your own voice
13. The collapse of complicated business models
14. Open Source; a better model for all of us
15. A world of pervasive networks

Featured in my blog

1. Posts about Enterprise Social Networks
2. Starting to work out loud
3. Intangible value
4. Pushing and Pulling Tacit Knowledge
5. The self-governance maturity model

Articles by Others

1. Conversation with Harold Jarche: Sense-making in a networked world and personal knowledge mastery — Ross Dawson
2. The Future of Work is Now — An Interview with Harold Jarche by Steven Forth
3. Embracing Perpetual Beta: Leaning Into Life, Learning and Livelihood in the Network Age by Curtis Ogden
4. LearnTrends: Personal Knowledge Management — Experiencing eLearning by Christy Tucker
5. Work is learning and learning is the work — Interview with Harold Jarche by Peter Wald
6. Conversation with Harold Jarche: Sense-making in a networked world and personal knowledge mastery — Ross Dawson
7. Three Ways to Stay Smarter than the Machines: Harold Jarche Interview with Anders Pink
8. Socialogy: Interview with Harold Jarche with Stowe Boyd
9. Luis Suarez
10. Jack Vinson

Presentations

• SIKM Leaders Community: February 2024 call: — Sensemaking in Complexity
• KMWorld 2018 — W9: Adapting to Complexity: Critical Practices for Human Networks
• Future.Works Tech Conference
• PKM Workshop

Podcasts

• New Structures for L&D Teams: Krystal Irving and Harold Jarche — Learning Uncut with Michelle Ockers
• Modern Professional Development Approaches: Jane Hart, Nicole Lam, and Harold Jarche — Learning Uncut with Michelle Ockers
• Martech Zone Interviews Episode 30: Harold Jarche of Internet Time Alliance with Douglas Carr

Videos

1. Vimeo
2. YouTube

• Channel
• Search
• Sense-making in a world of virtual work with Ross Dawson

• Putting people back in control of their learning — LT17 conference

• HPT 2020 — Human Performance Technology and Evidence-Based Practices for Performance Improvement approach in Personal Knowledge Mastery, L&D, and Performance Improvement

• Social Learning

• Why you should Take Advantage of Your Network — Landing Festival Berlin 2018

• Large blog archives with Sacha Chua

Books

• Perpetual Beta 2020 — Sample Chapter

• Working Smarter Field Guide 2020
• Seek Sense Share
• Social Learning Handbook by Jane Hart — Chapter 5: Becoming a social learner

• What do we do about inequality? edited by Chris Oestereich — Chapter 25: Turmoil & Transition
• Changing the World of Work. One Human at a Time. by Change Agents Worldwide — Chapter 11: Seek > Sense > Share