What is knowledge management?

12 years into my career in knowledge management and the most often asked question is still 'What is knowledge management?' The question which follows is often 'What is knowledge?'

In my experience, working to define knowledge management is the wrong use of energy, time, resources and head space. Think instead of the problem you are trying to solve, of the business imperative you are trying to meet. Is there a knowledge component to it? There almost always is.

I believe most business disciplines experience a life cycle from conception through to awareness, to experimentation and implementation and finally to acceptance.
I wonder when acceptance will come to knowledge management. Perhaps it doesn't need to. Perhaps it is the lack of consistent business case.

Consider the risks faced by your organization, your projects or your client relationships. What knowledge do you need to help mitigate those risks? Where is it? In what form? Is it easily accessed? Does it live in the stories of those most experienced or specialized, or in databases around which someone must make sense?

How do you define the discipline which meets the above needs? Problem solving, critical thinking, decision making all come to mind, though problem solving is the most prevalent. And that is what KM is all about; solving problems, making better decisions as quickly as possible, and having all of the contextual knowledge needed to clearly and concisely consider an issue.

In the end, does it matter how you define managing knowledge? Can you have one definition which accurately fits the above scenarios without it being watered down and simply useless? Ensure what you do has business value, meets or anticipates a need, provides competitive advantage...in other words use common sense. Don't waste time, and do explore and experiment. Whatever you do, have a purpose in mind. Learn. Share your learning with anyone else in the organization who can benefit from the learning. Worry about the outcome and the journey and less about what you label it.

knowledge management is not a silver bullet

Turbulence seems to be a way of life in many organizations at present. The issues raised by the aging of the baby boomers, the economic climate, global environment, regulatory pressures and shifting consumer needs seem to be creating the perfect storm for companies to take on water and run on chaos. During a time of challenge or struggle, it is natural for an organization to look for a way out, more often a band-aid then a true cure for the deeper ailments. They look for what they can see quickly to ease the pain and handle the symptoms. Sometimes organizations decide that better, quicker, faster managing of knowledge is what they need to help them create a more effective organization, build a better culture, address the economic and other challenges.

Frankly, consultants and consulting firms hoping to cash in on a new trend have helped to fuel that misguided belief.

Without a doubt effectively managing knowledge can assist a company turn toward better water, but it can not replace strong and wise leadership, good company practices, and a willingness to learn. Knowledge management can help build the tools, processes and methods of learning but it can not, on it's own, create a learning organization. That is a myth and a dangerous myth at that.

Persistent, authentic, and strong leadership is needed to create the organizational structure, culture and foundation for a learning organization. If knowledge can be quickly shared but no one dares talk about the missteps and mistakes, the knowledge can not be trusted or utilized. Bad behavior can not be changed by managing knowledge. We know this. Yet we wish for a quick fix and something to blame. It takes work and courage to lead an organization in a way where questioning is allowed, mistakes are not a fireable offense and learning is a way of life. It takes deep commitment to the future, not a driving need for short term gain.

My hope is to meet and work with more and more leaders who possess the vision, values and strength of character to lead for the future, rather than for this year's bonus. My fear is that there are fewer and fewer of those people in the driver's seat.

Being Authentic in Managing Knowledge

It's another day of learning and of applying what we discover to managing knowledge. Today's theme centers on being authentic. Coming from a place of no agenda (or as little as possible), to share what we have learned, how we think, what we know to be true, and our perception of what went wrong, is critical to sharing knowledge and to learning.

Yet inside and outside of organizations, people find being authentic a challenge. They are worried about repercussions, ramification, or in other words, fallout. I am finding they are so fearful, in fact, that they simply let things slide rather than speak up for the truth. What are they worried about? Losing their jobs, losing respect or trust, losing face, the list goes on. It's a long list. Yet, where is the benefit in not speaking up, in not being authentic? Perhaps in the short term they avoid confict, but in the long term they sacrifice sustainable organizational success, and even their own self respect.

When will we learn that playing it safe can lead to the downfall of entire companies.? It is sad and it is true. Being authentic is not always easy, but it allows knowledge to be trusted and better yet, you get to sleep at night.

A Comprehensive Resource for Knowledge

There is a unique and interesting family of online publications and resources which are part of a group called Freepint. www.freepint.com
As those of you familiar with the British pub scene know, Freepint translates in American English to Free Beer. You have to admit, the name gets your attention.


One of the publications is www.resourceshelf.com, and is run by a knowledgeable guy named Gary Price. For those who love to find valuable, useable and fun information on the web, I have seen fewer more valuable sites then Resourceshelf. The site is designed for professional searchers-- need I say more? You will find everything from copyright information and online sources to real time resources (weather, transportation, public safety-anything that can be tracked real time), business resources and fun stuff.


Gary and his contributors pull together the best of the best resources for information. In other words, they do all the heavy lifting and we reap the benefits.
I can not recommend this site more highly. If you have any questions, contact Gary and you will find him responsive, helpful and gracious.

Another sister publication in the Freepint group is Jinfo or www.jinfo.com
This publication is designed to help information scientists, knowledge managers and others in related fields find jobs. Though it is focused on the UK, again it is well worth the read. Check out the article I recently wrote for them on job transition.

For those of you who are familiar with the people who work in the reference library portion of the New York City Library (and you can call those people with questions at anytime on any subject), you will see a similarity here, especially with Resourceshelf. These folks are here to help. Isn't that what KM is all about?

How to share 20 years of experience

If KM were truly embedded in the cultures of our organizations, would the following scenario ever happen?
An employee with 20+ years of experience in the company, and a vast amount of unique, experiential, vital knowledge retires. The company asks him to tell them where his files are, make a list of his projects, and requests, maybe, that he interview his replacement. They then hold an exit interview during which the employee is asked to identify why the employee is leaving (hmmm...the relevance of the answer is what?), what he liked or disliked about his employment with the company (OK, again, the relevance is what?), and what, in his opinion, could be done to help employees stay longer (do I need to repeat the question above?). And that, my friends, is the extent of the knowledge transfer. Perhaps there is a bit more, but nothing formalized.

Why is this? Because there is no process in place, and because they waited 20 years to do it. Sharing 20 years of knowledge is no easy feat. Yes, it can be done. I am working with a client group now in which we are sharing 35 years of unique, business critical knowledge from a group of people and it is going very well. However it would have been so much easier and effective to have processes to share this knowledge along the way.

Start with the small things-- ask people to share key learnings from meetings, invite both the newbies and the tenured folks to meetings you've already scheduled and get them to dialogue, question and tell stories. Have people share their key learnings and make constructive questioning a valued way of life. Let key milestones in projects or initiatives be a driver to do an honest assessment and lessons learned.

Waiting 20 years means many lost opportunities, lost knowledge and hard work. Don't make knowledge transfer more complex then it need be. And, most importantly, don't wait. By the time the knowledge is shared, those who could have applied it immediately are playing with their grandchildren.