What is Knowledge Management?

Knowledge management is about making the right knowledge available to the right people. It is about making sure that an organization can learn, and that it will be able to retrieve and use its knowledge assets in current applications as they are needed. In the words of Peter Drucker it is "the coordination and exploitation of organizational knowledge resources, in order to create benefit and competitive advantage" (Drucker 1999).

On a practical level, knowledge management can be defined as a continuous practice anchored in a solid yet simple knowledge organization consisting of appointed knowledge workers, i.e. knowledge manager(s), area experts, and knowledge users, performing defined and systematic processes for acquiring, producing, distributing, and maintaining knowledge.

The right knowledge in the right place at the right time on the right channel
It is important to know that the goal is not to manage all knowledge. Rather, the goal is to manage precisely the knowledge that is most important to the context of use. It is about ensuring employees and customers have the knowledge they need where and when they need it.

Read about best practice knowledge management to learn more about the different phases and attention points when engaging in KM.

Example from one of our customers - a large public authority

The picture represents the very essence of knowledge management as it demonstrates a before and after-situation of a knowledge project. Before, the employees had loads of post-its and other sources of knowledge such as e-mail libraries, shared drives, physical folders while also being heavily reliant of the knowledge of co-workers to support them in their work. After, they find their knowledge in one place: their knowledge base. And if the knowledge base does not know the answer, they can request the knowledge right there and then.

Does this transition sound relevant to your organization? Reach out to us for an informal chat about the possibilities.