Capturing Knowledge for Organizational Development
The
effective knowledge harvesting, utilization, and sharing are pivotal to competitive
advantage for any organization. As Sir Francis Bacon quoted “knowledge is power”.
The channeled knowledge through the Knowledge Management (KM) system helps bridge the skills gap, allowing people to make better decisions and provide efficient
and productive results, ultimately leading to time and costs savings.
Knowledge
can be broadly divided into two categories: explicit and tacit. explicit knowledge can be easily codified and
retained by the organization via manuals, documents, eLearning courses, etc. However,
tacit or intangible knowledge that comes with people’s experiences and expertise
can only be retained and channelized as explicit knowledge via the network of KM
communities. This knowledge leads to better decisions and outcomes benefitting not
only the people but the organization as a whole.
Below given
are some of the most effective knowledge management practices to capture tacit
knowledge and setting KM framework in any organization.
1
New Joiner program – A highly effective means of getting a new team member up to speed
in a team is the new joiner program. This initiation process includes providing
playbook, resource guide, manuals of common tools, processes, procedures, important
contacts, etc. for effective knowledge transfer to the new joiner.
2
Exit Program
– When an employee leaves the organization or team, he or she takes away all the
tacit knowledge. It is vital to have in place a robust exit interview process
ensuring the capturing of all the relevant learnings from the employee:
including key job responsibilities, location of documented processes, positive and
negative experiences, key contacts, etc. This knowledge should be wisely used for
the on-boarding of new employees ultimately leading to over organizational
development.
3
Sharing Best Practices - In layman terms, “best practices” is a technique that through experience
produces better and tangible results compared to other tried methods. Capturing
and sharing of best practices should be a critical component while setting up the KM framework
to get the maximum possible benefits of shared experiences and knowledge.
4
Setting up Knowledge Repositories – Setting up a knowledge base and SME
directory that can be easily accessed by all employees for best practices, thought
leaderships, processes, and procedures can be an extremely effective cost and
time-saving tool leading to greater productivity.
5
Collaboration and Communities – Collaboration and KM Communities are the
building blocks of a KM framework. Collaboration allows people to connect with
the other practitioners to share information, best practices, and breakthrough ideas
for Innovation. Collaboration can be facilitated effectively using social
network tools used in your organization, be it chat, blogs, wikis, live stream,
panel discussion, audio/video conferencing. These powerful technologies are
highly effective to promote collaboration in scenarios where the audience is
globally dispersed or works virtually.
Communities are a platform that can be used to capture the tacit knowledge shared
by the collaborators into explicit knowledge that can be then accessed by
employees globally.
6
Metrics Analysis – To measure the impact of the KM framework, measuring KM activities via metrics
is of critical importance. The direct impact of KM on productivity, operational
efficiency, cost reduction can be achieved by analysis of ROI metrics. The regular
analysis of KM tools and initiatives can be also critical while upgrading the
KM framework.
The purpose of the KM efforts is to make
accessible the right knowledge to the right person at the right time. The above-mentioned
practices are not exhaustive and certainly vary depending on your organization’s
goals and priorities, however, they form the basis of effective KM.
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