In many organisations knowledge management has had a bad name. The image is one of buzzwords and the unmistakeable aura of expensive consultancy exercises: the playground of only the most wealthy companies. And perhaps there is also the feeling that this only matters for big companies with big information problems. In a small company everyone knows everyone, it's easy to find and share knowledge, so why devote effort to this minor part of the business?
Improving the way you manage your knowledge does matter, from the one-man band up to the global corporation. This article looks at the building blocks of knowledge management and shows you some of the simple things that any organisation, big or small, can put in place to manage its knowledge more effectively.
From one organisation to another, a variety of quite different approaches are taken to knowledge management. It may be seen as one or more of:
- A library function: strictly, the structures and policies required for the management of the information held by the organisation. This could also be described as information management.
- A way of controlling access and dissemination: effectively knowledge control.
- A route into an organisation's information assets: this could be seen as knowledge discovery.
- A mechanism for sharing of information: knowledge sharing.
- A tool for organisational change: attempting to gain benefits from a more seamless access to the processes of knowledge acquisition, storage, sharing and usage.
Avoiding the complexity - what does real-world knowledge management look like?
While not wanting to dismiss the importance of knowledge management overall, there are some headline issues that matter in the real world, and allow us to address parts of the problem:
- How do we get our knowledge? What are the sources of knowledge that we use? Who owns the organisation's knowledge? Who holds it? What processes (people and technology) do we use in acquiring our knowledge? If our processes add value to existing knowledge, are we capturing that?
- How do we keep our knowledge? How is it stored? Where is it kept? What processes do we have in place to capture the knowledge that is in our people's heads? How do we retain knowledge as an organisation when people leave or move to other responsibilities inside the organisation?
- How do we use our knowledge? How do we make knowledge available to those who need it? How do we support the sharing of knowledge? How do we manage the filtering of knowledge (by relevance and by currency)? How do we support the aggregation of knowledge from related areas? When is our knowledge no longer needed, and what do we do about it?
Some practical steps for real-world knowledge management
Here are some things that your organisation can do to improve its knowledge management.
- Find out what you know: build an organisational skills directory, identify who the knowledge brokers are in your organisation, make sure you know what (and who) your knowledge assets are.
- Put sharing at the centre of your business: expect it as part of the career development process, develop and use practices that identify and reward knowledge sharing. Create a knowledge profile for every role and ensure that everyone in the organisation knows how to maintain it.
- Make the parts work in harmony: if you bring in policies for information sharing, ensure that you also put in place the enabling management and reward systems. If you introduce knowledge profiles, consider moving to a role-based information architecture for storing your documents. In other words, look at the problem holistically and make sure that your components work together.
What about technology?
It is too easy (and sadly too common) for organisations to jump to a technology "solution" for its knowledge management problems. This does not often work. The real issues with knowledge management in organisations are about culture and business process, and focusing on those will be most likely to bring the best returns on your investment. All of the practical steps listed above can be implemented without major investment in new complex technologies.
However, appropriate supporting technologies do have a part to play in a successful knowledge management initiative.
- A well-designed information architecture will help an organisation to build an environment where documents can be stored in an understandable structure in such a way as to make them easy to find (and thus minimise reinvention of wheels)
- A well-thought-out information architecture will help an organisation to map its knowledge, revealing the gaps as well as giving confidence in the areas covered
- Use of document or content management systems can help with collaborative working - version and access control in such systems give far superior options for management of content than simple shared file systems
- A web-based, searchable skills directory that allows for individuals to update their own information is one of the most cost-effective knowledge management systems that an organisation can deploy. Note the emphasis on the individual - too often systems like this are confused with an HR system. The key benefit of allowing the individual member of staff to update their record is that they will have a greater degree of ownership and a greater incentive to keep it up to date.
In summary
- Knowledge management is possible in the real world.
- You can spend millions of pounds on huge initiatives, but you are probably better off putting in place some clearly-defined point solutions.
- Getting the culture and your business processes aligned with the centrality of knowledge is important in using knowledge mangement to improve the success of your organisation.
- Technology is the supporting framework - never let it become the central issue
Tellura knowledge management services
This document has been a brief introduction to some of the real-world issues in knowledge management. Management of knowledge is at the heart of everything we do at tellura. If what you have read here strikes a chord with you and you would like to further explore the possibilities, please get in touch with us. We will be delighted to help.
