1. A Guide to Agency-Wide Knowledge Management for State DOTs
NCHRP Project 20-98
FINAL PRESENTATION
PREPARED FOR NCHRP TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
SPY POND PARTNERS, LLC ARLINGTON, MA MAY 2015
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SPONSORSHIP
This work was sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, and was conducted in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, which is administered by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.
DISCLAIMER: This is an uncorrected draft as submitted by the Contractor. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied herein are those of the Contractor. They are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Academies, or the program sponsors.

2. What is Knowledge Management?
“Knowledge Management” (KM) is an umbrella term for a variety of techniques for building, leveraging and sustaining the know-how and experience of an organization’s employees. 2

3. Information ≠ Knowledge
Data and documents that have been given value through analysis, interpretation or compilation in a meaningful form.
Knowledge
The basis for a person’s ability to take effective action or make an effective decision. 3

4. How Do You Manage Knowledge?
Build it: provide opportunities for employees to learn from their peers – both within and outside of the organization.
Leverage it: make sure that individuals and project teams are learning from prior experience and are not re-inventing the wheel.
Sustain it: retain critical capabilities and institutional memory as employees retire or transition to other jobs-either within or outside of the organization. 4

5. KM Methods Knowledge Capture (Codification)
A technical expert can be interviewed and asked to summarize important lessons and techniques they have learned. These lessons and techniques can be recorded and made available to others.
Knowledge Transfer (Person-to-Person)
A seasoned project manager can be asked to mentor or collaborate with others as they tackle a task or project. 5

6. Why Should DOTs Be Interested in KM?6

7. Why Should DOTs Be Interested in KM?
A strong workforce is critical to success
DOTs are losing staff due to retirements and downsizing
Today’s workforce is more mobile – changing jobs more frequently
KM can reduce a DOT’s vulnerability to loss of institutional knowledge and critical skill sets 7

8. DOTs Can Use KM to…
Build bench strength to improve agency effectiveness and resilience
Strengthen a culture of learning and innovation – critical to respond to changing DOT role and new expectations
Build new skills and capabilities to support needed organizational transformation to meet changing expectations 8

9. An Agency-Wide KM Approach
Strategic: Focus KM activities on the organization’s greatest risks and opportunities;
Accountable: Expected outcomes are clearly defined and tracked; and
Agile: The most appropriate and effective KM tools and techniques are applied to achieve the desired outcomes. 9

10. Key Elements of Agency-Wide KM
Leadership & Direction
Collaboration & Communities
Knowledge Codification & Dissemination
Succession & Talent Management 10

11. Leadership & Direction
Understands how KM supports business goals
Shows support by designating a KM lead and making resources available
Establishes expectations and requests regular updates on progress 11

12. Collaboration & Communities
Collaboration is valued in the agency
Opportunities for knowledge sharing, mentoring and problem solving are provided – online and face to face
Newer employees are encouraged to learn from colleagues and know who to ask if they have a question 12

13. Knowledge Codification & Dissemination
Mission-critical, unique and at-risk knowledge is proactively identified and captured
Lessons learned are captured when projects or other activities are completed
As new activities are started, the knowledge base is used and applied 13

14. Succession & Talent Management
Emerging workforce knowledge gaps and risks are regularly reviewed
Gaps and risks are actively addressed through recruiting, employee onboarding, training, and succession management activities
Information about the skills and training of individual employees is made available to enable the organization to make best possible use of the available talent 14

15. Implementing KM Step 1:Assess Risks and Opportunities
Step 2: Develop a KM Strategy
Step 3: Create a KM Implementation Plan
Step 4: Monitor Results 15

16. Step 1: Assess Risks and Opportunities
Conduct a Knowledge Assessment to:
Identify current areas of vulnerability
Assess the agency’s current level of capability and bench strength in key skill areas
Identify opportunities for expanding use of existing techniques for knowledge transfer that are working well 16

17. Step 1: Assess Risks and Opportunities
Options:
Quick “litmus test”
Senior leadership workshop
In-depth knowledge assessment survey
Knowledge risk assessment
(see the KM Guide for details) 17

18. Step 2: Develop a KM Strategy
Purpose
Define what the agency hopes to accomplish through KM techniques and how
Get key players in the organization engaged and aligned
Provide an opportunity for the agency leadership to establish accountability for moving forward 18

19. Step 2: Develop a KM Strategy
Activities
Form a working group with broad agency representation
Establish goals for KM
Identify strategies to meet goals
Identify resources for first 6-12 months
Seek executive endorsement and resource commitment 19

20. Step 2: Develop a KM Strategy
Sample Goals
Mitigate risks of knowledge loss associated with pending retirements of experienced employees
Build institutional memory before people leave or retire
Build bridges across “islands of knowledge”
Stimulate innovation
Strengthen agency adaptability and agility
Increase employee efficiency and effectiveness
Strengthen customer service 20

21. Step 2: Develop a KM Strategy
Include a balanced set of strategies
Provide the motivation, means and opportunity for knowledge sharing 21

23. Sample KM Strategy 23

24. Step 2: Develop a KM Strategy
Important to designate the right KM lead:
Champions KM across the organization
Works across organizational silos
Works well with information technology unit
Excellent communication and negotiation skills
Trusted by upper management
Can be located in: Research, Training, Human Resources, Risk Management, Performance Management or Business Support Units 24

25. Step 3: Create a KM Implementation Plan
Purpose
Operationalize the strategy
Make sure that the right people are involved
Establish accountability framework 25

26. Step 3: Create a KM Implementation Plan
Activities
Identify KM activities to carry out the strategy
Identify metrics and evaluation methods
Develop a detailed plan for first set of initiatives
Develop a communication plan
Identify resource needs and develop a budget
Establish a schedule of milestones
Set up tracking and evaluation process 26

27. Step 3: Create a KM Implementation Plan
Tips
Start small – use pilots to test different methods
Include activities for: startup planning, pilot, evaluation, and evolution
Think about how to evaluate and report on each activity from the start
Anticipate a mix of planned activities and responsive services 27

28. Selected KM Techniques
Communities of Practice
Communities of individuals with similar roles in the organization that meet periodically to brainstorm, problem-solve and share their experiences.
Expertise Locators
Tracking specialized expertise or skills and providing an online “yellow pages” of expertise in order to locate appropriate individuals in the organization. 28

29. Selected KM Techniques
Collaboration Platforms
Platforms for social networking and forums that allow people to share views on related topics of interest - either in-house or external.
Lessons Learned
Collecting, reviewing and publishing lessons about successes and unanticipated outcomes that can be easily accessed and applied. 29

30. Selected KM Techniques
Continuity Books
Writing the “how to do my job manual,” or the do’s and don’ts of various organizational processes, and making them available through a content management system
Business Process Documentation
Mapping current business processes to provide a common understanding of steps, inputs, outputs, and roles 30

31. Selected KM Techniques
Job Shadowing
A less experienced employee follows a more experienced employee in the organization throughout the day, learning through observation
Mentoring
A formal program to link mentees (less experienced employees) with mentors (more experienced employees) in the organization 31

32. Roles and Responsibilities

33. Step 4: Monitor Results Purpose
Provide accountability – necessary to sustain KM
Identify what is working, what isn’t, what needs improvement 33

34. Step 4: Monitor Results Key Questions
Costs: What are we spending on KM support activities? How much time is it consuming?
Outputs: What are we delivering or producing?
Exposure/Use: What is the “market penetration” of the KM support activities? Who are we reaching?
Outcomes: Is the effort having its intended impact? Are we accomplishing our goals? 34

35. Step 4: Monitor Results Measurement Methods
Costs: Track time spent by the KM lead (and others) to plan, facilitate and support KM activities.
Outputs: Maintain an activity log to track products and services provided.
Exposure/Use: Use a combination of manual methods such as meeting sign-in sheets, and automated methods built into systems (e.g., tracking of web page hits or document downloads).
Outcomes: Use surveys or interviews with employees, or studies of specific business process efficiency changes. Collect both quantitative and qualitative information. 35

36. Sample Metrics

37. Learning from Experience
See the KM Guide for:
Transportation agencies with KM initiatives
KM references relevant to transportation agencies
Sample implementation tools and templates 37

38. Where to find the KM Guide
Print Version:
Web Version: 38