KM Tools ;By: Narayan Rao

KM Tools

WHY KM TOOLS

•If we think of knowledge as what we can write down and what we know in our heads, we can at least visualize what it is we need to start managing.

• While “what we can write down” has attracted all kinds of funding and attention (e.g. naming conventions, databases), the “what we know in our heads” part has not. And, as the trick to successful knowledge management is in developing ways to knit together both types of knowledge.

•At its core, KM is about creating, identifying, capturing and sharing knowledge. It is about getting “the right knowledge, in the right place, at the right time,” particularly in influencing an action or a decision.

•Without a good KM strategy in place, we might lose track of crucial knowledge – we might not know what we do know or even need to know – and miss golden opportunities to influence policy decisions.

•Knowledge and information – or “data arranged in meaningful patterns” – are not synonymous. While information is a type of knowledge, its value comes from its interpretation within a context.

•Transforming information into knowledge involves making comparisons, thinking about consequences and connections, and engaging in conversations with others

•Put differently, we might best describe knowledge as “know-how” or “applied action.

•EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE:

       -Put our hands on.

       -Capture and document. 

(recorded)

     Ex: Research findings, 

lessons learned…

•TACIT KNOWLEDGE:

        -Context-specific.

        -Insights, Intuitions.

What is a KM Strategy? 

•In its most reduced form, a KM strategy (like any other strategy) must answer three questions:

Where are we now?

Where do we want to be?

How do we get there?

•In a slightly different formulation,

Type and quality

Audience

Motivations and objective

•A useful way to conceptualize our KM strategy is through people, processes, and technology –memorably visualized as “the legs of a three-legged stool.

•It follows that a successful KM strategy requires a change in an organization’s culture and behavior. At the heart of this change would be recognizing the centrality of knowledge, and how the organization must improve its means for creating, capturing, sharing and using it.

KM TOOLS

•After Action Reviews

•Communities of Practice

•Knowledge Audits

•Exit Interviews

•Best Practices

•Knowledge Centres

•Knowledge Harvesting

•Peer Assists

•Social Network Analysis

•Storytelling

•White Pages

The Knowledge Audit

•Often referred to as a knowledge inventory, a knowledge audit assesses and lists an organization’s knowledge resources, assets and flows.

•It is a critical component of any KM strategy, and often the first step in designing one.

•what steps are needed to improve current practices. What do we have, what do we need, and what are the gaps?

Why conduct a knowledge audit?

Knowledge audits can help identify a number of things, including:

• Information glut or scarcity;

• Lack of awareness of information elsewhere in the organization;

• Inability to keep abreast of relevant information

• Continual “reinvention” of the wheel;

• Quality and quantity of in-house knowledge and information;

• Common use of out-of-date information;

• Not knowing where to go for expertise in a specific area.