So you've successfully launched a new Knowledge Management initiative; however, several years later, it is deemed a failure!
What happened?

Here are my top 6 reasons Knowledge Management initiatives fail,
the underlying causes, and the best way to mitigate them.

1 - Lack of Senior Management Engagement

Sometimes KM is treated as a one-off launch, with lots of excitement initially; however, BAU lacks focus. Therefore, you must actively engage Senior Managers in KM and show its benefits to the business on an ongoing basis. It's crucial that if organisational restructuring or role changes occur and new Senior stakeholders arrive on the scene, they see the constant value of KM. Without Senior Leadership support, funding and resources for Knowledge Management are likely to reduce.

2 - Content Quality

If the quality of content that customers and frontline staff access is poor, end-user engagement will suffer. 

Quality issues typically occur when you don't have enough people with the right skills to manage the content lifecycle. Quality drops when content authors are under pressure to deliver content quickly. Quality also drops if the frontline is not actively engaged through continuous feedback, so keeping an ongoing dialogue with the frontline and customers is essential. 

Poor content quality will impact: Findability, Readability, Accuracy and the Reliability of the Knowledge Management solution. Trust will erode with the end users.

3 - Lack of Frontline Staff and Customer Engagement

As well as content quality, if there are no ongoing adoption and engagement activities with the frontline and customers, then Knowledge Management will not meet the user's needs on an ongoing basis.

Users will stop relying on it and find other means to get what they need, for example, asking a colleague or team manager or putting their notes on the desktop—leading to inconsistent experiences, upset customers, increases in complaints, escalations and quality issues. Frontline staff will lose faith in knowledge management, which could cause a high attrition rate. 

4 - Lack of responsibility / accountability for Knowledge Management

This could be caused by a lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities. For Knowledge Management to remain successful in BAU, it needs:-

Ongoing Knowledge Management vision. 
Ongoing Governance, with roles, responsibilities and accountability for Knowledge      management, clearly defined. 
Knowledge management practices embedded into everyday processes. 

5 - Technology Issues

These can come in several forms: -

Knowledge Management is delivered as a Technology solution rather than a Business or Cultural solution.
The KM solution is over-customised or integrated into other systems without      consideration of the technical debt or the end-user experience.
The gap in expectations between technical teams and business users. 
Lack of ongoing technology roadmap for continuous improvement and innovation.
Technology outages, slowness, and features needing to be fixed.
Finger-pointing and apportioning blame between different technical teams or vendors rather than working together and collaborating.
Technology teams driving KM can lose focus on the end user. Instead, KM should be business-led with support from Tech.

6 - Lack of Obvious Value to the Business

Without a clear vision and a clear way of measuring and delivering value, people will not be aware of the ongoing benefits of Knowledge management and its progress. Negative perception (rightly or wrongly apportioned) is a killer concerning knowledge management and is challenging to change further down the line.

How to stop this from happening? 

The Knowledge Management Team and Knowledge Manager roles are vital in managing the above. They should consistently show the value Knowledge Management brings, working with end users and Senior Leadership to keep them engaged. Ensuring the Tech, processes, culture, governance metrics, and content quality are all in place and continuously improving for the business in line with the broader Knowledge Management vision.

These guys are the gatekeepers for excellent Knowledge management. 

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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