Knowledge Management BOB MARSHALL, MD MPH MISM DOD CLINICAL INFORMATICS FELLOWSHIP

Objectives  Definitions of Knowledge Management (KM)  Why KM is important and some basic rules  What knowledge to leverage  Tools to use  Critical success and failure factors  Creating and implementing a successful KM program  When experts leave  Avoiding knowledge hoarding

Definition  Strategies and processes designed to identify, capture, structure, value, leverage, and share an organization's intellectual assets to enhance its performance and competitiveness.  Based on two critical activities:  (1) capture and documentation of individual explicit and tacit knowledge, and  (2) dissemination of that knowledge within the organization

Another Definition  Knowledge Management is the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge - and its associated processes of creation, organization, diffusion, use and exploitation - in pursuit of business objectives  Identifies critical aspects of a successful KM program:  Explicit - Surfacing assumptions; codifying that which is known  Systematic - Leaving things to serendipity will not achieve the benefits  Vital Knowledge - You need to focus; you don't have unlimited resources  Processes - Knowledge management is a set of activities with its own tools and techniques

Why KM is Important  Facilitates decision-making capabilities,  While information overload or needing knowledge from people in other parts of the company for decision making can handicap managers,  Putting in place knowledge management systems can facilitate better, more informed decisions  Builds learning organizations by making learning routine, and,  After Action Reviews, learning from experience, builds knowledge that can then be used to streamline operations and improve processes  Stimulates cultural change and innovation  Actively managing organizational knowledge can also stimulate cultural change and innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas

Some Essentials (Basic Rules)  It is important to note that knowledge encompasses both tacit knowledge (in people's heads) and explicit knowledge (codified and expressed as information in databases, documents etc.).  A good knowledge program will address the processes of knowledge development and transfer for both these basic forms  Many programs start by focusing on the thrust of better sharing of existing knowledge e.g. sharing best practices.  However, research indicates that it is the second thrust - the creation and conversion of new knowledge through the processes of innovation that gives the best long term pay-off

What Knowledge to Leverage  Customer Knowledge - the most vital knowledge in most organizations  Knowledge in Processes - applying the best know-how while performing core tasks  Knowledge in Products (and Services) - smarter solutions, customized to users' needs  Knowledge in People - nurturing and harnessing brainpower, your most precious asset  Organizational Memory - drawing on lessons from the past or elsewhere in the organization  Knowledge in Relationships - deep personal knowledge that underpins successful collaboration  Knowledge Assets - measuring and managing your intellectual capital

KM Practices: 3 Large Categories  Creating and Discovering  Environmental Scanning; Knowledge Elicitation; Business Simulation; Content Analysis; Creativity Techniques; Data Mining; Text Mining  Sharing and Learning  Communities of Practice; Learning Networks; Sharing Best Practice; After Action Reviews; Structured Dialogue; Share Fairs; Cross Functional Teams; Decision Diaries  Organizing and Managing  Knowledge Centers; Expertise Profiling; Knowledge Mapping; Information Audits/Inventory; IRM (Information Resources Management); Measuring Intellectual Capital

Tools and Techniques  Lots of tools in varying categories:  Infrastructure: groupware, intranets, document management, KM suites  Thinking: concept mapping, creativity tools  Gathering, discovering: search engines, alerting, push, data mining, intelligent agents  Organizing, storing: data warehousing, OLAP, metadata, XML  Knowledge worker support: case based reasoning, decision support, workflow, community support, simulation  Application specific: CRM, expertise profiling, competitive intelligence

Critical Success Factors  Knowledge Leadership - a compelling vision actively promoted by senior management  Clear Business Benefits - tracking success and developing new measures  Systematic Processes - including knowledge mapping and IRM (Information Resources Management)  Knowledge Sharing Culture - teams that work across boundaries  Continuous Learning - though pilots and learning networks  Effective information and communications infrastructure - groupware and other collaborative technologies, such as an intranet

KM Failure Factors  Organized into two broad categories: causal and resultant:  Causal factors refer to the broad organizational and managerial issues that are required to implement KM successfully  Resultant factors on the other hand deal with specific problems and can be regarded more like the symptoms rather than the disease

Causal Failure Factors  Lack of performance indicators and measurable benefits  Inadequate management support  Improper planning, design, coordination, and evaluation  Inadequate skill of knowledge managers and workers  Problems with organizational culture  Improper organizational structure

Resultant Failure Factors  Lack of widespread contribution  Lack of relevance, quality, and usability  Overemphasis on formal learning, systematization, and determinant needs  Improper implementation of technology  Improper budgeting and excessive costs  Lack of responsibility and ownership  Loss of knowledge from staff defection and retirement

Creating a Successful KM Program  The best tool is only that; a tool that enables end users to locate and share knowledge.  Without continuous knowledge management efforts, the content housed within the perfect knowledge management tool will not remain valuable  Anticipate this and follow best practices that will ensure that the amazing knowledge sharing technology continues to wow your customers for a long time to come  To manage it properly, the most successful companies form a Knowledge Management Operations team with the mission to deliver the right knowledge to the customer at the right time throughout the customer lifecycle

Creating a Successful KM Program  KM Operations needs skills in user experience design, process and workflow design, data analytics and reporting, communication, marketing, and search engine optimization  Dotted-line arrangements are created to allow internal resources with specialized skills to be shared and allocated to KM Operations during peak times of need  Knowledge Management Steering Committee: should be comprised of 7-10 stakeholders to serve as representatives of their respective lines of business:  Provide critical input when strategic decisions are needed,  Communicate KM messages throughout their organizations, and  Identify opportunities for better knowledge management

Keep Knowledge Up-To-Date  Keeping knowledge up-to-date and relevant requires continuous maintenance  To hold customer trust, and that of team members who use the knowledge, must be able to find what they need easily, share their knowledge with each other, and flag information that needs to be updated  Workflows must include user feedback channels (internal and external) that are monitored and acted upon quickly  Processes have to be as lite as possible to minimize long term costs associated with knowledge management activities

Create Operational Dashboard  Knowledge management operations requires continuous monitoring of the program for impact and operational efficiencies  Highly visible programs are often very successful because they hold leaders accountable for impact  This level of scrutiny brings out the best performance and elevates visibility for those who participate in the hard work of keeping knowledge relevant and current  Metrics to monitor can include a few or many in the four major categories (as determined by KM oversight) :  Customer satisfaction  Business processes  Financial performance  Organizational health

Steps in the KM Program Journey  Establish Executive Sponsorship and Budgetary Constraints  Engage Experienced Knowledge Management Experts  Establish the Scope and Identify Tactical Solutions  Prepare a Budget that Executive Sponsors Support  Design the Roadmap to Get There

Implementing a KM Program  Map your knowledge assets  Unstructured (tacit) versus structured (explicit or codified)  Undiffused versus diffused  Interpret the map  Identify new opportunities  Mapping knowledge assets and discussing their implications often leads directly to strategic insights  It is helpful to systematically explore what would happen if knowledge were moved around on the map or different spheres of it were combined

When Experts Leave  Managers often don’t know what they have lost until after the expert leaves — and by then, it may be difficult to recover  Critical losses in four areas in particular: relationships, reputation, re-work and regeneration.  Most expensive knowledge to lose: regeneration, the capability to bring out the next new product  Price tag associated with such losses: estimated to be up to 20 times the more visible, tangible costs of recruitment and training  Can never extract and transfer all the deep smarts that an expert has accumulated, but it’s important to identify what needs to be captured before it walks out the door  In-depth succession planning & knowledge-sharing programs (even just questioning the experts before they leave the organization) are imperative steps to ensure an organization’s deep smarts stay within the walls of the organization

Preventing Experts from Hoarding Knowledge  Lack of time or resources can constrain knowledge transfer.  One barrier to passing deep smarts along to the next generation, often unaddressed, is expert’s inclination to hoard knowledge.  Financial incentives, personal ego, and discontent or frustration with the company are three of the top reasons individuals choose to keep their expertise to themselves  But they’re also three issues that managers can actually change

Overcoming Knowledge Hoarding  Financial Incentives  Hiring back retirees to run critical operations is shortsighted  Not only does it cost the Company more financially, but it also doesn’t guarantee the successful transfer of knowledge  Eventually those deeply smart people will depart for good, leaving the same knowledge gap behind them  Potential Solutions  Hire back retirees for the explicit purpose of mentoring and sharing knowledge with junior colleagues  Institute a formal knowledge transfer program to institutionalize knowledge sharing 1 of 3

Overcoming Knowledge Hoarding  Many experts widely recognized as “go-to” person in some capacity; their deep smarts strongly linked to identity and organizational standing  Don’t wait until someone has a monopoly on certain kinds of knowhow — set systems in place to prevent it long before an individual’s retirement date (some options):  Employees cannot be promoted until they can prove that they have mentored a successor  Personal reputation depends not only on how skillfully people do their job, but how good they are at teaching others to do it  Compensation is based on how well the team is performing. That dependency breeds the necessity to help each other and for experienced operators to transfer their expertise to other team members 2 of 3

 Toughest expert to convince to share knowledge is someone who’s dissatisfied with the company they’re leaving  Take notice of those who may be bearing resentment.  Individual managers wield an inordinate amount of influence over whether or not experts feel their work is valued.  Acknowledging good work is the first step  Small acts such as providing frequent positive feedback, celebrating small wins, and removing obstacles to progress, pay huge, immediate dividends in productivity and creativity  Much research has shown that people who have been mentored themselves are much more likely to mentor others Overcoming Knowledge Hoarding 3 of 3

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