Knowledge management is something people may have only thought about in a business context but Stan Garfield, knowledge management leader at Hewlett-Packard, looks at how even basketball can teach us a thing or two.

The most recent example of how the world of sports can teach us about knowledge management was the NCAA men's basketball championship game between Memphis and Kansas.

At the end of the game, Memphis led Kansas by three points. This situation is a much-debated one in basketball – should the team which is leading by three points commit a foul to prevent the other team from making a three-point basket to tie the game?

My son Roger, a former college basketball player and now a sports journalist, called me during the 2004 NBA finals to emphasise that our hometown Detroit Pistons should foul the Los Angeles Lakers in this situation. Detroit failed to do so, even though they could have fouled Shaquille O'Neal, one of the worst free-throw shooters of all time. Their failure to do so allowed Kobe Bryant to make a tying three-pointer and the Lakers went on to win the game in overtime.

I called Roger to point out that Memphis had the same chance but did not take it (he said he was expecting my call). Late in the game, Memphis showed three examples of the knowing-doing gap: why knowledge of what needs to be done frequently fails to result in action or behaviour consistent with that knowledge.

Joey Dorsey of Memphis committed his fifth foul when he knew that he shouldn’t have. This stopped the clock, allowed Kansas to score two easy points and removed a key player from the game due to Dorsey fouling out. After Kansas missed a layup, Memphis had a two-on-one fast break with time running out. They should have tried to run out the clock but, instead, Derrick Rose attempted a shot and was fouled. This stopped the clock and set up the three-point lead scenario when Rose missed one of two free throws.

Players know that running out the clock is more important than scoring but their instinct to score sometimes takes over, as in this case. Memphis coach John Calipari said in a post-game interview that his team was trying to commit a foul to prevent the tying three-pointer, so they probably knew what to do but were unsure or unable to carry out the strategy.

What can be learned from this, both for sports and other settings?

• Regularly spend time explaining, discussing, and practicing key strategies. Repetition is important.

• Review examples and stories from important precedents to reinforce the point you wish to make. For example, in last year's tournament, Ohio State forced overtime when Xavier failed to foul with a three-point lead. A video replay of the end of that game could have been shown regularly to the team to demonstrate the impact of not fouling.

• Coaches should not assume their players will be able to carry out previously defined strategies in the heat of the moment. They should take timeouts at key points in the game to explicitly remind the players what is at stake, what the strategy is and the roles of all team members in implementing it.

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  Stan Garfield is knowledge management leader, HP Services Consulting & Integration, at Hewlett-Packard. Opinions expressed are personal and not those of HP.