Introduction
Leveraging knowledge is a key competitive advantage for success in the current economy. The success of knowledge management (KM) programs involves an almost total change in the manner employees, business processes and technology interact with each other and is influenced by corporate culture and personality.
The first steps to institutionalize KM as a ‘way of working’ consist of (1) crafting a KM Vision and (2) creating a KM Blue Print of the key business and technology components that need to be developed and/or changed within the organization.
Topics that are typically addressed and answered within this approach are as follows:
- What knowledge is needed to support the business model and strategy?
- What knowledge is available, and where is it located and what is the media type?
- Are there any gaps in mission-critical knowledge ‘needs and sources’?
- How does knowledge flow among and between the organization, business partners, and customer processes?
- Are there significant impediments (cultural, system, and process) that prevent the free flow and sharing of mission-critical knowledge?
KM Convergence & Alignment
Successful KM depends on coordinated convergence and alignment of leadership, culture, learning, technology and knowledge-use issues, including:
- The strategic connection between social capital and knowledge sharing.
- The capacity of knowledge workers and work teams and communities to collaborate in knowledge creation, transfer use, and enrichment.
- Methods and processes to enable the discovery and sharing of tacit expertise.
- Role of knowledge to enable improved decision-making.
- Alignment of KM strategy and vision with corporate business and technology strategies.
Knowledge Compass Approach
Knowledge Compass helps clients create their corporate Knowledge Management (KM) vision and craft a KM Blue Print within a structured and time tested approach, as outlined below:
- Conduct a holistic review to understand the organization’s business, (market, products, services, customers, and partners) culture, employee universe, and infrastructure to identify the ‘breadth and depth’ of current corporate KM competencies and propensity for successful future use.
- Map current knowledge handling infrastructure and processes and compare and identify gaps with a KM best practice knowledge-centric environment.
- Identify corporate mission-critical (explicit and tacit) knowledge assets – location, media, and use.
- Plot current knowledge use and future plans with TKCI’s best practice Knowledge.
The Bottom Line
A successful KM Vision & Blueprint project helps companies re-frame their business for increased value, and create innovative strategies for significant organic growth, diversification, divestment, industry consolidation and new venture pursuit with the introduction of successful knowledge management initiatives.
As a takeaway of this service, clients receive an executive report highlighting recommended KM initiatives with supporting ROI and risk analysis tailored to their unique strategic and technology conditions with a customized metric set to measure on-going success. Attachments to the report include a customized KM Vision Statement and KM Blue Print that have been agreed with the client.
