Each day, organizations pass information along through a series of networks in order to accomplish their objectives. These organizations also obtain new information about their success in obtaining these objectives, and retain information about what may or may not have worked in the past. As each day goes by, more and more information is accumulated as the organization continues to retain information vital to their success. This knowledge within an organization can make the difference between ultimate success or failure.

This raises the questions: “who knows this information?” “How is it collected, referenced, and stored?” “How does one make sure that none of this knowledge is lost?”  With a knowledge management strategy, an organization can more effectively maintain a catalogue of information crucial to their efficiency.  The organization can create a more efficient flow of knowledge, making sure the information is shared in a timely manner with those who need to know it.

Knowledge management is also a way of sharing ideas, letting others know what worked and what did not, in order to improve performance. Speaking on knowledge management, G. Clayton Grigg, the Chief Knowledge Officer with the FBI said, “For us, KM is all about the outcomes: keeping people safe, preventing bad things from happening, and finding out those that did. And so at the end of the day, KM is all about ‘how do we improve performance?’”  Knowledge management is about learning from past experiences as well as linking that knowledge with current information, and then making sure that this knowledge reaches those who need it in order to do their jobs more efficiently.

One technique useful in knowledge management is Organizational Network Analysis, which can be applied to an organization in order to more thoroughly understand the passing of information within the organization, highlighting those who are key players within the organization, and providing them with a more efficient method of sharing knowledge.

In this age, organizations need to know what they know, and have the ability to share it with those who need to know it all over the world. This process becomes much more complicated when the organization has trouble finding the knowledge they need to send on to others. The Knowledge Management Institute has the tools to help your organization more effectively manage knowledge and the sharing of it.

Contact us at KM Institute to begin your journey to increased efficiency and performance. We sponsor seminars, conferences, face-to-face and online certification programs to help you succeed in knowledge management within your organization.