Data’s impact on a company’s success is undeniable. Through it, you can learn how to serve customers and employees better, build professional partnerships, and create systems that fuel productivity.

A less-talked-about use of data is in knowledge management. If you’re unfamiliar, knowledge management is the act of collecting, sharing, and managing information and knowledge within a company and ensuring it’s accessible to everyone. 

You can use data to improve knowledge management within a project. But it starts with collecting the most valuable data for this purpose.

Collect the Most Useful Data

To use data to find areas of improvement in knowledge management for projects, you must first collect data that will help you do this. In other words, what kind of data will be most helpful in helping you better your knowledge management?

Data that gives insight into how your team uses your knowledge management system is a great starting point. You’ll gain insight into how each person navigates the knowledge management system for various projects. You’ll also see the information they use most when completing projects.

Armed with this information, you can conclude where more training is needed regarding using the knowledge management system. You’ll also learn which information is most essential to input to complete a project successfully.

Think about the customer, employee, and business data most helpful in improving knowledge management and focus on collecting it in abundance.

How To Best Collect This Data

Project managers can collect data in various ways. But the best approach is combining data collection tools with team feedback.

You should analyze every channel your customers interact with. Likewise, analyze the apps, software, and devices your employees use. Don’t forget about your company systems — data analytics tools are a must on those as well.

Project managers must also be intentional about collecting feedback from their teams. What are they saying about knowledge management? What do they think about it in terms of using it for projects? What are their suggestions for improvement?

Analytics tools and actual feedback are the best ways to collect data that aid the improvement of knowledge management in projects.

How To Use it to Improve Knowledge Management Within a Project

If you’re still unsure about data’s role in improving knowledge management for the sake of each project’s success, these specific examples should get you over the hump.

Identify weaknesses

Data, generally, is monumental in identifying weaknesses. You can use it to identify weaknesses in knowledge management and those in specific projects.

For example, let’s say your team is working on a recession-proof marketing campaign. In this case, you can use customer data to identify weak points in your content that don’t resonate with their needs or who they are in a recession.

In addition, you can look at the customer information you’ve input into your knowledge management system and see if it’s enough to support you in completing the marketing campaign. You may find that you’re missing critical customer data and can then add it to improve your system and project.

Data is instrumental in determining what’s lacking in a project or your knowledge management system.

Streamline communication and collaboration efforts

Two of the most critical factors in completing a project successfully are team communication and collaboration. Without both, completing a project and maintaining its quality is challenging. Knowledge management keeps teams on the same page, pulling from a single source of truth that streamlines communication and collaboration efforts.

You can use data to create a personalized intranet for your team within your knowledge management system. When it has all things company, customer, and project-related in it, working conditions get better, improving team and individual efficiency in the process.

When you know you’re striving for a knowledge management system that acts as a personalized intranet for your employees, you can document what that looks like. Then, you can weigh your intranet vision against your current knowledge management system to determine what you must do to get closer to your vision.

Putting the right data into your knowledge management system sets the foundation for a personalized intranet, streamlining communication and collaboration on every project.

Determine training opportunities

Much of using knowledge management effectively depends on how well-versed your team is in the system you’re using. If they can’t navigate it seamlessly, find the information they’re looking for, or find value in knowledge management, they won’t ever be able to use it to its full advantage.

On the contrary, the benefits are tremendous if your team knows how to navigate your knowledge management system, can find what they need for every project, and deem knowledge management useful.

The key is finding out where your team needs the most help regarding your knowledge management system — data can help you determine that.

Collect data on how your employees use your knowledge management system. Find out how they navigate it. Study how accessible the system is for each team member. Understand how easy it is for them to find information and what info is missing that would move projects forward faster.

All of this data can give you insight into what your team needs training on when it comes to knowledge management.

Conclusion

Knowledge management is one of the best tools a business can have. It ensures you collect, organize, and manage crucial organizational information appropriately and that it’s accessible to every employee. Make an effort to continuously improve your knowledge management system with the help of data. Your team and business will thank you.
 

Resilience isn't something we normally talk about with knowledge management. We talk about document repositories, collaboration, artificial intelligence (AI), help desks and knowledge centered support, communities of practice, lessons learned and continuous learning, all kinds of things, really. But we don't often talk about resilience when it comes to knowledge management.

And yet, resilience is very important to knowledge workers and thus knowledge management. It helps us get up when we fall. It helps us to keep going, keep asking questions, iterating, and coming up with new solutions, problem solving. It drives us forward and if knowledge management is about (continuous) learning and about helping people to have the knowledge they need to do their jobs, then resilience is probably something we should be talking about.

Knowledge workers are human, after-all. We are not robots; we need to find ways to bounce back when things don’t go as expected. If we as knowledge managers are trying to make the lives of our colleagues, fellow knowledge workers better, then resilience should figure into that.

So as Knowledge Managers where does resilience come in?

Resilience comes in, in trying to help people to have the courage to ask the questions, to find different ways of looking at things, especially when they have failed, or things have not gone the way that they expected them to.

Historically, a lot of knowledge management and knowledge work has focused on the analytical processes of writing things down, of capturing knowledge and putting it in a technology platform to find and reuse later. However, as we enter the mid 2020’s, the question of what knowledge management practitioners need to do to enable knowledge workers in the age of AI, constantly changing technology, relentlessly evolving knowledge, rears its head and is increasingly up for debate.

Do we give them another technology to help them find and summarize documented knowledge? Do we help them communicate and share information, opening-up spaces for conversations? Do we help them tap into their inner artists and learn resilience, curiosity, the courage to iterate, share, and to trust?

Yes.

Knowledge is human, trust is human. My vote is on the human side, tapping into our inner artists and reactivating the creativity that has been educated out of us.

Conversation is certainly part of that. The art of conversation, the art of dialogue, the art of sharing information and knowledge so that people can understand it, that's human. The art of critical thinking so that people know what's real and what's not. What's to be trusted and what's not. That’s what Knowledge Managers need to support in their programs. The tools and the processes are only part of the answer. Helping the humans be better humans, to be resilient, that's the real solution to knowledge management.

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One of the biggest challenges in Knowledge Management for customer service is to keep frontline staff engaged and using KM. Below are my top tips for continuously driving forward user engagement and adoption.

Implementing Knowledge Management

1 - Involve Users From Day 1 - When kicking off a Knowledge Management Implementation, involve agents in the discovery sessions. Including frontline users with different tenures is crucial to get a well-rounded view. Understand their needs and most significant pain points. Test content with them before launch and get their feedback on what works and what doesn't. Make sure whatever you deliver addresses the pain points. Make sure you thank the agents for their help.

2 - Pilot – This is a great way to test any new Knowledge Management solution with end users. Make sure they understand the value they offer, and their feedback will determine the future success of the knowledge management initiative. Reward and recognise agents on the pilot.

3 - Naming - Let frontline users name the new knowledge management tool. Ask agents for name ideas, and then get them to vote for the best option. Make knowledge management a system created by frontline users for frontline users.

4 - Launch - When launching Knowledge Management to the frontline estate, make it a BIG DEAL. Have a communication campaign beforehand to get frontline users excited. Have a launch party with celebrations and cakes. Have roadshows showcasing the benefits and functionality and how it addresses the problems of the existing frontline experience.

5 - Bits and Pieces - Offer branded gifts. For example, in the past, we have had branded Pens, Notepads, Calendars, Cakes, Badges, Fidget spinners, Magnets, Fans, Styluses, Battery chargers, Lanyards, Card holders, Cups, Mugs, Rubik's cubes, Stress balls, Stickers and many more. Do what the best cultural fit for your frontline population is.

Keep Engagement in BAU

6 - Content Writing - When analysing, and rewriting content, get frontline users involved in the rewrite sessions. In my experience, frontline staff are open and honest and will tell you what works and what doesn't. Don't get protective over your content. Make sure you thank the frontline staff for their help.

7 - Involve Rogue Agents - Some agents create "Cheat Sheets" or their mini knowledge bases on their desktops. They are making these things as they feel the existing system doesn't work. Don't punish these agents for it. Instead, get them involved in your Knowledge Management Strategy. They may know something that works. Please make sure you thank them for their help.

8 - Secondments - If there are peaks and troughs in workload, utilise seconded frontline staff as additional resources to support Knowledge Management activities. The benefits are that KM professionals get more resources to help, and the frontline staff get to do something different than just taking calls. Make sure you thank the frontline staff for their help.

9 - Look and Learn - KM professionals should spend as much time sitting with the frontline and watching them take calls and navigate knowledge. Look at what they are doing. How are they finding content? What are they searching for? Do they read all the content or just critical parts of it? What could you do better to support them? Make sure you thank the frontline staff for their help.

10 - Be an Agent - KM professionals could regularly take calls or chats with live customers to test the content and knowledge they have produced. It's a great way to get honest feedback. Plus, frontline staff appreciate seeing Knowledge Management professionals putting themselves in their shoes.

11 - Robust Feedback Process - Make sure there is robust feedback so frontline staff can leave feedback when there is content missing or something that needs improvement. Celebrate great feedback and always respond to the frontline users with every bit of feedback they leave. Actively encourage feedback and knowledge sharing with the frontline staff.

12 - Objectives – Make knowledge sharing and feedback a key component in frontline staff's goals and objectives. Reward a Knowledge sharing culture.

13 - Make it Fun - Create games in the knowledge base to encourage and reward great ideas and feedback. Think gift cards, vouchers, opportunities to work in the Knowledge Team etc. Make sure you thank the frontline staff for their help.

14 - Regular Sessions – Roundtable sessions with agents are a great way to get honest feedback and input into any aspect of Knowledge Management. Try to get views from both new starters and tenured staff. Make sure you thank them for their help.

15 - Agent KM Community – Create an agent community where frontline staff can raise their ideas and solutions for improving knowledge management. Perhaps implement Gamification to encourage knowledge sharing. Make sure you thank the frontline staff for their help.

16 - Knowledge Champions – Create a network of Knowledge Champions (who are frontline staff) that represent the needs of agents from a Knowledge Management perspective. People on the frontline work together to help drive KM forward from a user perspective.

17 - Location – If possible, physically locate your Knowledge Teams in the same location as frontline staff for direct access to them and raise Knowledge Management visibility for the frontline population.

Most importantly, always thank the agents and always make them feel valued. 

These tips should ensure end users are engaged and invested in effective Knowledge Management.

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Helping your business survive for the long haul has never been easy. To survive, you have to navigate the endless volatility of the market, the persistent threats posed by your nearest competitors, and the ever-changing needs of your customers.

That’s a tall order in the best of circumstances. Today, however, the challenges business leaders face in ensuring their company survives and thrives are perhaps greater than ever before. The market is increasingly crowded and global economic conditions are fraught at best.

But there is hope, and it lies in the immense power of knowledge to drive business excellence across all domains. This article examines the vital role that knowledge management plays in supporting business longevity.

Efficiency Optimization

Let’s face it: Your company is not going to achieve long-term success if it’s hemorrhaging resources. Effective knowledge management helps project managers and decision-makers understand what attributes of the team in particular and the organization as a whole are working well. It also enables them to pinpoint specific areas where they are not.

For instance, a comprehensive performance analysis of your organization can help you identify redundancies that are wasting both your employees’ time and your project’s budget. This, in turn, enables you to formulate an evidence-based mitigation plan to ensure you are managing resources more effectively through organizational streamlining.

Your internal analyses can also help you recognize and capitalize on once-hidden assets. You might find, for example, that employee productivity surges at specific times, locations, and conditions. Armed with this information, you may implement scheduling strategies and working conditions to galvanize productivity.

Knowledge management provides the data you need to institute informed management practices. Make data-based decisions, and you can zero in on and eliminate (or at least substantially reduce) internal weaknesses. At the same time, knowledge management facilitates operational resiliency by defining and amplifying organizational strengths.

Optimizing Customer Experience

No matter what your particular industry is, the key to your company’s long-term survival is the capacity to provide your customers with a consistently exceptional experience.

Maintaining a high level of service excellence is a formidable challenge, no matter the field. However, the task can be more daunting in some industries than in others.

The healthcare industry, for example, is characterized by surging demand, shrinking budgets, and worsening labor shortages. In the face of such obstacles, patients and families may find themselves underserved and unsatisfied.

Knowledge management, though, can provide the essential insights needed to understand and redress clients’ grievances while building on their affirmations. Long wait times, for instance, are a common complaint of healthcare consumers, a complaint which may lead them to switch care providers or delay care.

Knowledge management can help healthcare administrators identify and remediate the root causes of extended wait times. Managers may, for instance, institute changes in patient scheduling or automate patient check-ins to expedite patient care. The result is not only a better patient experience but also improved patient loyalty and more consistent care.

Fostering Internal Communications

One of the most important attributes of sound knowledge management is that it precludes the possibility of knowledge hoarding. As every good project manager knows, knowledge is your best tool for optimizing outcomes. After all, project leaders can’t lead if they don’t have the information they need to make informed decisions.

And that’s why optimizing internal communications is the cornerstone of successful knowledge management. This is because good knowledge management isn’t just about getting the information one needs. It’s also about disseminating that information to the team members and stakeholders who need it.

This prevents the development of damaging information silos that substantially increase the risk of errors, redundancies, and inefficiencies. At the same time, enhancing internal communication through the strategic, efficient, and transparent flow of information helps to foster organizational cohesion.

As opposed to segmenting into discrete departments and divisions, interdepartmental collaboration prevails in the face of effective knowledge management. This, consequently, contributes to longevity by making the company as a whole more agile.

For example, as operating conditions evolve, managers may find themselves transitioning employees to other functions, roles, or divisions to support changing company needs. Sound knowledge management makes that process more efficient and more effective. This ensures that team members remain ever-attuned to the needs, functions, and processes of the company as a whole and of the various departments in it. 

The Takeaway

Knowledge is your company’s greatest weapon against challenging markets, rising competitors, and capricious customers. For this reason, sound knowledge management is essential to your company’s ability to survive and thrive in the long term.

Effective knowledge management can help you remediate inefficiencies while optimizing your use of resources. Knowledge management also drives loyalty and growth by increasing your teams’ capacity to provide a consistently exceptional experience to your customers.

Likewise, knowledge management promotes organizational cohesion and interdepartmental information-sharing. This is essential to driving resiliency and performance no matter the operating conditions — and there’s perhaps no better way to support longevity than that!

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In every Communication there is a Storyline and often as Knowledge Managers we are at the center of it giving updates to leadership, interacting with project delivery teams and mostly Employee Engagement. Did you know that employee engagement directly correlates with a company’s financial health? Studies show that a majority of employees don’t feel engaged at work and one way is through effective Internal Communication. Employees have key questions and it is through answering these questions that you can increase employee morale and make sure you’re a Top Employer.

Now imagine the CEO of the company wants to come up with a newsletter where he speaks to the audience and makes a Connection. Often as Knowledge Managers when we are given this opportunity it’s a once in a lifetime chance and we want to make a good first impression, the Elevator Pitch.

Let’s begin with discussing the Biggest Elevator Pitch Myths and make it relatable to Knowledge Management Practices.

Prospects want consistency not creativity

MYTH:  If you give the same 30-Second Elevator Pitch to the same audience more than once, people will be bored.

TRUTH

• Repetition reinforces your message.
• The more times prospects hear the same message, the more likely they are to respond.
• Consistency implies integrity and trustworthiness.
• If you keep changing your Elevator Pitch your prospects don’t have time to respond

As Knowledge Managers, we conduct many train-the-trainer sessions for our KM Champions. Some of our Champions even record these sessions and look at it each time they engage with their internal stakeholders. Each time they are asked a question like the Benefit Realization of KM Contribution, they would look at your pitch and this repetitive sense making increases their understanding and consistency. In-time many of them don’t even have to come to you for a new joiner induction on introducing the portal, as they have now internalized the pitch and are confident. So, as Knowledge Managers we should work on perfecting our pitch the very first time and believe in our messaging, to ensure we are engaging a wider range of stakeholders through the community we engage on a daily basis.

Catch people at the right time

MYTH:  Once you’ve heard my Elevator Pitch, you don’t need to hear it again.

TRUTH

• There are always different people in the room.
• The people who already know you are in a different frame of mind today than they were last time.
• Your message strikes a different chord today than it did before.

Consulting Leaders often present Webinars and the KM team enables these sessions and anchors them. I remember during the last 10 minutes giving a short brief on the benefit realization to the audience a mix of Consulting, Sales and Delivery teams. My safe assumption was on an average there would be X leads generated as I was confident that there would be an average number of sales people who are responding to the proposal or delivering a client project and the solution presented helps their client. All of these sessions would be recorded and uploaded on the KM portal and after many weeks I would still get enquiries from a sales leader who attended the session then and now wants to engage with the presenter because as on today the solution meets his client demand. So as Knowledge Managers it’s important we focus on user personas and present out KM solutions Elevator Pitch as the messaging will eventually land and connect with our community at a later time if not today.

Focus increases opportunities

MYTH: Casting a wide net creates more opportunities

TRUTH

• Prospects are distracted.
• Prospects are busy.
• Prospects are being bombarded with messages.
• Narrow focus makes you stand out.

Many KM Professionals start with the Overview slide and then onwards dwell into the KM Offerings and benefits and go so wide that the audience has lost the plot. According to this blog post by Dan Steer we need to answer 3 questions.  

• What’s your point? Knowledge Management is often a relatable subject and hence it’s important we break the ice through Conversation ensuring we introduce ourselves and talk about What We do for our larger Community?,  the ways we enable business value through execution enabling self, teams and larger enterprise.  
• What’s in it for me? Knowledge Management Governance frameworks define the span of control and if a user is outside this circle then it is obvious they would want clarity on the reason they should be involved in enabling Knowledge Management.
• What do you want me to do?  This question aims to involve the user and engage them in contributing to KM as a Decision Maker (sponsor), Implementer (KM Team) or Influencer (KM Governance Team including the Steering Committee at times)

 
In-Summary to Put it all Together

As Knowledge Managers we make an Elevator Pitch each day in ensuring through our Conversations we enable our leaders to build trust through Internal Communication Digital Channels. Leaders are looking for Connecting with the larger enterprise and building trust to increase employee engagement and morale indirectly impacting financial performance as employees feel wanted.

There are myths of an elevator pitch and how as Knowledge Managers our behavior should be contrary to ensure we deliver impact. It is important we reinforce how KM can enable our teams and in-time help our community to elevate their understanding of how KM is beneficial.

We are called to Practice-Practice-Practice our Elevator Pitch and make it consistent rather than confusing our audience each time. In-time our km champions likewise leaders should recognize elements that ensure they revisit the KM portal and apply the knowledge rather than have us catch them or practice a pull-based rather than push-based KM. 

With time we should focus on ensure a strong KM governance framework and ensuring our internal stakeholders find KM relatable to participate in driving the adoption and we as KM practitioners can focus on capturing more business value of use-cases that they partner with us to capture each day.