Implementing Knowledge Management
Leading KM with Simple, Practical Steps

 
HOW CAN YOUR ORGANIZATION IMPLEMENT KM?

You just got the call to lead your company's knowledge management (KM) initiative. Maybe you led the charge to get to this point, or maybe it was a bolt of opportunity from the blue. But either way, after all the congratulations on your high profile vote of confidence where do you start? KM is something most people struggle to even define, let alone boil down to the milestones that take the company to IT's promised land of high productivity, low costs, and rapid innovation.

Of course effective KM can be achieved, but KM is more about people than about technology. Success in KM results from vision, leadership, technology, and communication all focused on a business challenge. Widespread understanding and support for the initiative is critical, whether the goal is improved decision making or increased productivity. Since clarity is vital to success we need to spend time thinking strategically about KM. With a well-defined strategic direction in hand we can start building organization-wide consensus around measurable goals for the initiative.

Before we start, we need to define what we mean by knowledge and knowledge management. Although definitions vary widely, defining KM is in some ways simpler than defining knowledge. For our purposes let’s say that KM is organizing knowledge strategically for competitive advantage and tactically for operational effectiveness. Or even more simply, KM is organizing knowledge to serve a specific business.

Knowledge is a trickier thing to pin down. To start with, knowledge is based on information and there are innumerable sources and types of information, even within a single organization. But beyond that, knowledge is more than information. It is also experience connected with information and the relationships between pieces of information. But, for simplicity's sake, let’s say that knowledge is information and context.

 
STEPS TO IMPLEMENTATION

Now lets talk implementation tactics. What is step one? Well, definitely not laying out a program management methodology for KM or selecting a raft of technologies. Instead first look at the broader steps an initiative should take to build an organizational framework for success. Maybe this is the typical move at your company or maybe not—but with a subject as open to interpretation as KM, it is vital. And what is success? Lets define success as:

       Any coherent set of KM projects implemented such that the resulting
       knowledge environment achieves the business objectives of the initiative.

Sounds a bit circular, but only if we do not know what our objectives are. Clearly defining objectives is step one.

Once we have them defined, the way towards achieving our objectives is to focus in on the knowledge environment. To be successful at KM we need to structure our systems and behaviors to build on a single idea of what organizational knowledge is, how it is created, how it is accessed, and above all how it supports the business' objectives. If the organizational structures operationalize the chosen knowledge environment, the business objective will be realized. So, first we set objectives, then we focus on understanding the correct knowledge environment to support those objectives.

There is nothing revolutionary about this direction. In the rest of this article we look at these and subsequent step-by-step actions that move from the mystique of KM to the familiar and practical world of project management. In brief form the steps are:

• Define the objectives and metrics for those objectives
• Align a metaphor to the objectives and build consensus
• Select tools (information, behaviors, technologies) that fit the metaphor
• Outline a set of specific tool + objective solutions
• Starting small, design real-world projects using the solutions
• Measure project results against objectives

 
DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVES

We have said KM has to be about business objectives. Some consultants advocate beginning by taking stock of the knowledge assets of the corporation. Clearly this is not a bad step; however, I am starting with the premise that the reason for the KM initiative is that the current knowledge environment is not producing results in line with expectations. Starting with clear objectives puts the initiative on metrics from day one. With understood metrics the team and their executive sponsors will never be in doubt about the effectiveness of their work. Perhaps even more importantly, an unwavering focus on objectives frees the KM team to consider the ideal knowledge environment for the company without too much emphasis on the time consuming task of looking for daisies among the weeds. Once the business objectives are chosen the trick is to agree how to measure progress. Remember, if it can't be measured it won't happen.

 
CHOOSE A METAPHOR

Now that we have a business goal the next step is to set a course. To encapsulate the possible directions we outline a set of metaphors. With an understanding of the possibilities, we can choose to build our knowledge management story around the metaphor most suited to the company’s business objectives. A defined approach to KM filters down the dozens of technologies to a set of practical tools. With a tool set based on a coherent story we are better prepared to negotiate the merger of new technologies with new thinking to create a value generating knowledge culture.

The list of KM metaphors are legion. Some of the more common are listed in Figure 1, below. These metaphors are fairly clear cut and easily communicated. They are listed roughly in order of their ability to self organize. The degree of self organization can be looked at as a lifetime cost, control, productivity or adoption factor. However, probably more important than any of these intrinsic factors is the metaphor's fit with an organization's culture. A high cost, high control KM metaphor might be the lowest practical cost, most eagerly used, and therefore most freewheeling, KM environment for a particular organization—it could be argued that, pre Web, the academic journal system was such an example.

Figure 1. KM environments can be ordered by their ability to self organize

Again, the important question is: how does the knowledge environment support the business objective? At this stage mapping each environment concept to solutions is not important. Equally any correlation with existing practices, while unquestionably significant, is de-emphasized. Instead metaphors should be dealt with at a purely conceptual level. At that level the metaphor is measured for fitness with the values and constraints implied by the business objectives. Remember the metaphor is only a communications tool to filter concepts, build consensus, and reach the objectives.

 
SELECT TOOLS

With a metaphor in hand it is time to short list tools. But first we need to clearly state what we mean by tools. Here a tool is defined as any:

• Information source
• Behavior
• Technology
• Process

These tool types are the means by which the KM initiative can rebuild the knowledge environment to achieve business objectives. Limiting the concept of a tool to IT solutions would be a mistake. As we said above, KM is more about people than technologies. To understand our leverage we have to look at everything, from the available sources of raw material—information—to behaviors that reward or discourage information generation and sharing. Clearly technology will play a major part in our KM solution set, but by itself technology is not the answer.

 
OUTLINE SOLUTIONS

Now that we have a tool kit it is time to design specific projects. Each project will be a combination of tools applied against one or more business objective. The initiative team should first brainstorm on possible projects without worrying about creating a strategic program. Here the initiative's metaphor should help focus projects on a single broad approach to KM. Coherence is important. After all, the implementation team can only build an environment—the whole company must understand, buy into and follow the practices. Good indicators the team is working a common thread are seeing several variations on a theme or when proposed projects interact with projects already on the list.

 
START SMALL, CHECK THE FIT OFTEN

After the brainstorming is done the team should have a set of small, well-defined projects. We need to take the unstructured list of projects and prioritize them according to risk, cost, and benefit. Then step back and look at the list as a whole. Everything can not be started at once. Look at how to structure a program that builds project-on-project. As usual, the best idea is to start small, register early success, and communicate clearly how the team is building step-by-step towards the overall objective.

As the initiative gains momentum metrics take center stage—they become the rallying call. It is imperative to practice 'survival of the fittest'. We break KM initiatives into several small projects in part to improve our ability to monitor our progress. If a project result does not improve the fit of the environment to stated organizational objectives it is time to reassess the project. Course correct early—perhaps the team can make changes to the project to bring it back on track. But if not, fail fast and move on. It is important to learn from the mistake, end the project, and move on to a more fruitful one quickly so momentum is not lost.

 
SEND A POSTCARD WHEN YOU GET THERE

With all the hoopla and confusion about KM there is real opportunity for companies to organize a knowledge environment that adds real value. The steps outlined above take the idea from a concept to a set of real objectives, a structured approach with an associated toolkit, and on to the more well known world of project management. There is nothing magic here, only a need for creative step-by-step thinking and good old consensus building. If that sounds old fashioned in the context of the new world of knowledge management, so be it. But one more piece of advice: however you manage to get your company to a better knowledge management environment, put your knowledge into the mix and share the wealth.