KM Cycle | KME

Best practice knowledge management

Best practice knowledge management is the best way to a successful knowledge project - now and in the long run. The cycle must be practiced on a continuous basis by the knowledge organization.

Essential aspects of effective and sustainable knowledge management

Having a clear vision. Clarity about the project, the KM solution as well as what you want to achieve is an crucial first step. When in doubt about something in relation to knowledge or solution, you must be able to "ask the vision": What will best support the vision? The vision is also used well to communicate and create clarity across departments / units / countries.
Scoping the knowledge area. We don’t need to know everything. We need to know just enough. For example, agents working in a customer service center need exactly the knowledge that enables them to service customers in line with the organization's goals on service. Thus, it is important to understand and clarify interfaces between teams and departments to ensure employees and customers have access to the knowledge they need when they need it and know where to look for it if they don't.

Managing the dynamic nature of knowledge. Knowledge is highly contextualized and action oriented and it changes and evolves according to its context, i.e. when users, systems, business strategies, regulations change. It is therefore crucial, that the knowledge organization has the ability to manage this dynamic and that they have relevant tools available to continuously ensure the relevance of and access to knowledge.
Make the knowledge available in the relevant form. Knowledge needs to be concrete, actionable, and be fit for the use situation. For example, efficient customer service over the phone is not achieved by agents having to draw out a response from complicated legal texts, terms of use, or too general rules. Such texts or rules must be conformed into ready-for-use responses, be it for phone, e-mail, chat etc. and be distributed to all relevant users.

To perform best practice knowledge management, a dedicated knowledge solution is key.