Knowledge Management Implementation Project Roadmap: Interview Presentation
This is a knowledge management implementation project roadmap I completed as part of the interview process for a content management position. The person selected for this role would be responsible for creating a knowledge management system for the hiring organization.
Here are the items I was asked to cover as part of the presentation:
- Please create an implementation roadmap for a Knowledge Management System (KMS), clearly identifying key steps, dependencies, milestones, and deliverables.
- What are the 3 critical factors that determine success in deploying a KMS, and what steps will you take to ensure that these factors are managed well?
- Please highlight the industry best practices in deploying a KMS?
- What are the potential risks & challenges in creating a world-class KMS? And how would you mitigate such challenges?
What follows is my submission:
Knowledge Management Implementation: Critical Factors and Best Practices
A successful knowledge management implementation project will consider these 6 areas:
- People. Your program should increase the ability of individuals within the organization to influence others with their knowledge.
- Processes. The processes you establish should include best practices and governance for the efficient and accurate identification, management, and dissemination of knowledge. (more detail in next section)
- Technology. The technology you choose should enhance how you configure and use tools and automation to enable knowledge management.
- Structure. Organizational structures should transform to facilitate and encourage cross-discipline awareness and expertise. • Knowledge is safely stored • Clear permissions and roles •Tailored access for departments or special customers.
- Integration into existing systems: • CRM, website, FAQs, support ticket systems, etc. • Search both text entries and attached documents • Feedback and ratings possible • Knowledge stays up-to-date • Single point of truth (SPOT)
- Culture. Your organization should establish and cultivate a knowledge-sharing, knowledge-driven culture for long-term success.
4 processes that are commonly used by organizations for knowledge conversion (Kalkan, 2008):
1. Socialization: sharing of experiences through observation, imitation, and practice. It generally occurs
through workshops, seminars, apprenticeships, and conferences, as well as at the water cooler.
2. Capture: the conversion of tacit knowledge (e.g. what one learned at a workshop) into explicit form (e.g. written report).
3. Dissemination: the copying and distribution of the explicit knowledge.
4. Internalization: the process of experiencing knowledge through an explicit source i.e. one can combine the experience of reading the workshop report with previous experiences.
How will I manage these proceses and mitigate potential risks and challenges?
To manage risks and challenges related to the structure and processes involved in the knowledge management implementation project, I would take action on the following items:
- There must be an early success, meaning something must be done straightway so that people with objections begin to see the value.• We need to educate the learners about Knowledge Management itself to get buy-in from skeptics. A section devoted to learning about knowledge management to increase individual confidence in participating.• It must be clear exactly how sharing knowledge benefits the person sharing, the organization, and coworkers.• Incentives must be clear and delivered promptly.
- Knowledge management implementation projects require enthusiastic participants, first and foremost.• Internal marketing should utilize the customer journey with the learners as prospects. As with any business we have different prospects, and so the entire project needs to be internally marketed by the same principles utilized by modern marketing agencies.• Feedback from experts in this domain will help. While I have a solid understanding of digital marketing, this project will benefit if I have access to a knowledgeable mentor in this area.• Someone knowledgeable who I can run things by and who won’t just say it’s all great if it isn’t.
- Agree on an operational definition of “knowledge”. The difference between tacit and explicit knowledge:• Explicit knowledge requires some steps to share in a way that aligns with organizational goals and is relevant and useful to the learners. It’s not necessarily easy but it is straightforward.• The one thing knowledge management practitioners still struggle with is discovering and conveying tacit knowledge. How to describe tacit knowledge…
It is that thing we do, a particular way of approaching our
workflow, that we are unaware of. We recognized it as a good way
to approach our work or a good way to manage a process; we
saw the benefit of adding our own flair to our daily work and we
immediately implemented that personal flair without question. It
may be particular to us individually but may benefit others to know.
Yet, we often don’t recognize that step that we do every day,
every time, it’s been five years now and we have become polished,
our flair is ingrained, subconscious, and therefore forgotten, so we
never think to bring it up, even when asked.
These are precisely the things that need to be known and
conveyed accurately, from the people to the people, who make it
go every year, every quarter, every sprint cycle, every day.
The tacit knowledge that the individuals within the organization
hold within them is akin to the holy grail. It is elusive, hard to
convey, but if discovered and translated with care, can bring a
richness of culture and loyalty not yet earned by any modern organization.
- We must identify the champions of the knowledge management implementation project. • These are people who like to share knowledge. Writing prompts inspire them. • Incentives are important. It’s a bribe yes, but some people need that to see the light. They need another reason to participate, and even if they still don’t like the project or how it impacts them, they’ll be more accepting of the idea, thus minimizing total organizational resistance.
The wise see knowledge and action as one.
– Bhagavad Gita
Knowledge Management Implementation Project Roadmap
Knowledge Management Implementation Roadmap: References
Denizhan Kalkan, V. (2008), “An overall view of knowledge management challenges for global business”, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 390-400. https://doi.org/10.1108/14637150810876689
Gupta, B., L.S. Iyer, and J.E. Aronson, “Knowledge Management: Practices and Challenges,”
Industrial Management and Data Systems, Vol. 100, No. 1. 2000, 17-21. Made available courtesy of Emerald Group Publishing Limited:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02635570010273018