10 Tips for Launching a Knowledge Management Program
- Keren Trosler
- Apr 1, 2006
- 3 min read
Article based on the work of Stan Garfield, HP
Many organizations struggle with the dilemma of managing a knowledge project. This is a complex question with no single correct answer, and addressing it usually happens in stages. We presented the first stage in issue number 75, where we suggested ways to check if your organization needs knowledge management.
Although developing a knowledge management program is complex and requires time and resources, we have learned that a properly implemented program can streamline organizational activities and advance them to better and more creative places.
After deciding that our organization will benefit from knowledge management, several additional questions remain:
How do we assemble a knowledge management team?
What is the priority order of actions to be performed?
What should we focus on?
Here are 10 tips from Stan Garfield's rich experience as a global knowledge management consultant that will help launch your knowledge management program:
Appoint a strong knowledge leader and ensure the knowledge management team consists of strong members only. Only professional, leading, and highly motivated members will advance the team's activities and goals, which require significant marketing capabilities, among other things.
Appointing a project manager for each area can balance people, processes, and technology. Giving each area full attention and neglecting one area could cause the entire initiative to fail.
Establish leadership and collaboration processes in all areas and tasks. Structured processes for formal management and communication in each area and project task will contribute to embedding knowledge management as an integral part of organizational activity.
Hold annual face-to-face meetings to bring together all knowledge leaders, update them on changes, motivate them, and engage them for continued collaboration. Regular meetings between different members of the knowledge body establish it as an existing fact that cannot be challenged. Providing meaningful content for these meetings and communicating their outcomes is important.
Communicate the knowledge management program regularly through newsletters, training, websites, and local events. Regular publication of the program, its goals, and its achievements is an important marketing tool that should be harnessed for the benefit of the knowledge body.
Engage senior management to regularly communicate the importance of the program and monitor progress against goals. Representation of the program by senior management provides vital credibility, helps position it as legitimate, and enables resource allocation.
Connect with other knowledge management programs, both internal and external, share ideas, and implement the doctrine. As our sages said, "There is no wiser person than one with experience," so if employees see you sharing knowledge, it may give them an example and motivation to try it themselves.
Focus on delivering tangible business benefits. Knowledge management must provide real benefits and fit into ongoing business processes so that employees will be interested in it and see it as essential to their work.
Provide regular improvements to make the knowledge management environment efficient and easy to operate. Maintaining dynamic and up-to-date information, combined with continuous system improvement, is an essential tool for knowledge management.
Focus on three basic goals: community participation, sharing while leveraging the team's operating space, and searching for and using content that can be used more than once. Adherence to these goals will lead to optimal knowledge management and the best possible achievement of organizational goals.
Implementing these principles will ensure efficient and profitable knowledge management processes for the organization. Now, you can start thinking about objectives, goals, and courses of action.
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