The following is a collection of independent topics I have learned about during the last 12 years spent on knowledge management (KM) and related topics.
You’ll find more lessons learned in the book “knowledge centric management”. In a random order:
1. Accept chaos
I have to admit, being an engineer by education, that it took me four years to accept that there will always be chaos, even in organisations. To structure everything and maintain it in a proper way is not achievable. The main practical reasons for this are:
Retrieving and delivering only that information which is relevant in the context of the moment is the aim
- People act differently
- Not all knowledge is worth managing
- Volumes of content are huge, internal and external
2. Value defines the effort
From the previous point, it is clear that the value of an information or knowledge entity defines the effort an organisation will invest in capturing, structuring and maintaining it.
3. Securing versus securing
Securing has a double meaning in the context of knowledge management:
- Securing, as in protecting and limiting access to specific information and knowledge, is always a difficult subject for the management
- Securing, as in capturing information and knowledge, saving it for later reuse, requires extra competencies of the knowledge worker
4. Quality of information and knowledge
Low quality of information in an enterprise repository is a demotivator for knowledge and information management. Finding outdated information drives away users!
5. People’s heads are different
...on the outside - nobody would argue with this. But people’s heads are different on the inside as well!
Knowledge management programmes that do not respect this ‘internal face’ of individuals are not doomed to fail, but the probability of success is much, much lower.
6. Sharing knowledge?
I walk away when a manager tells me: “My people have to share their knowledge.” The objective of knowledge management is not sharing knowledge. Rather, it is a result thereof.
7. Communicate personal benefit
The foundation of all improvements — hence, changes — for a user is his or her personal benefit. When users do not see a direct or indirect personal benefit, they will not be inclined to contribute to change or put in the extra effort.
8. Much more than just ICT
Knowledge management is much more than an ICT initiative; it involves four different domains. In fact, each ICT initiative should be approached from those four domains:
- Strategy - management
- Human users
- Information - ‘content’ – knowledge
- ICT support
9. Promote reuse!
Instead of sending out the message to share knowledge, management should promote the reuse of each other’s valuable information and knowledge.
10. JERI
In the last 10 years, JERI® has almost become my second name.
The challenge today is not to collect information; the current technological tools have made that fairly easy. The big challenge is JERI® — ‘Just Enough Relevant Information, when you need it’. Retrieving and delivering only that information which is relevant in the context of the moment is the aim.
