Six strategic steps in knowledge management

Rapid technological changes and digital transformation make it especially essential to effectively implement knowledge management at every step of your project in order to successfully achieve your goals, upscale your startups into unicorns, or have a big cherry on the top of your cake. After many years of working with students and trainees from different organizations and young inspired startupers, I have observed many successful and not very successful cases.

Here are 6 strategic steps you can use for effective knowledge management of your project.

Establishing strategic objectives in knowledge management

Out of many definitions of knowledge management, there is one I especially like: it is a process of using knowledge and information for increasing team members’ productivity, effective working process, and quality of outcomes. This implies that a successful team not only effectively advances the knowledge management solutions (managing information, documentation, communications, etc.), but also establishes a strategic vision about the ways to foster a digital learning culture and environment, contributing to the capacity building of each team member. Thus, team members gain updated skills and competencies in refreshing knowledge and applying it in the workplace, as an effective knowledge management has become a critical competitive factor in the modern world of information revolution. Pioneers of theories of knowledge management Peter Drucker, Ikujiro Nonaka and others suggested that knowledge management in organizations has five core elements: people, technologies, organizational culture, structure, and process.

Knowledge management: people

Every manager dreams about a team of knowledgeable and effective individuals who have all the necessary skills and competencies. However, not all managers recognize the fact that they need to invest in implementing knowledge management practices so as to upscale the effectiveness of the team members and provide them opportunities to improve skills and competences at every step of the project (including massive open online courses (MOOCs) and many online and offline studying tools and platforms). Your dream team can be built by regularly working on upholding an intelligent and well-balanced environment where people are at the center of knowledge sharing, training, and practicing. In this environment, team members should constantly update their own knowledge about many aspects of project implementation, and especially the human aspect of knowledge management.

Knowledge management: technologies

How many times in the final steps of the project implementation have you exclaimed, if only I had known about this earlier! It could be wonderful technologies, cool solutions (apps, software, ICT solutions, AI, or better database management), useful equipment or new digital skills and opportunities. Or, you whimpered: if only I had known that these technologies were such crap before they complicated my life and the lifecycle of my project! New technologies invade our projects and everyday life in unstoppable manner like the previously unbeknown creatures in Star Wars: sometimes for the better, but sometimes yielding the opposite of your expected results. It is not rocket science to establish workable and dynamic mechanisms focusing on technological aspects of your project by having regular team-wide communication (briefings, newsletters, e-letters, blogs, etc.) about the latest gadgets and technological progress, or jointly brainstorming new technological solutions for your project. Indeed, it is sine qua non to increase awareness about new emerging technologies and innovations, as according to the IndyTech Newsletter there are more gadgets in the world than there are people now!

Knowledge management: organizational culture

Over past decade or two, most of the debate about knowledge management and project management has drifted towards deliberations about organizational culture as teams have become more dynamic, projects turn out to be more complicated, and goals are more challenging. It is practically impossible for project managers to establish a knowledge management routine for individual team members by just instructing them to keep learning. Studies published by Harvard Business Review (HBR) suggest it is essential to establish an organizational culture where knowledge management is internalized to enhance the learning environment, promote knowledge-driven activities, and bolster the culture of knowledge sharing among all team members.

Knowledge management: structure

One of the best approaches to effective knowledge management is establishing and assembling structures to deal with existing and emerging challenges and enhance collaboration, retrieval, and application of knowledge. There are two sides of the coin when it comes to knowledge management structures: one side is enhanced by digital transformation (tech structure, AI, clouds, database, Internet of things, social media) and the second is empowering people-centered structures (networks, inter-personal communication tools and mechanisms, etc.).

Knowledge management: process

You should think carefully about how your team members interact, the innovations they bring to the table, and how the new perspectives can be transformed into a more effective process of strategy implementation by identifying the right innovations and knowledge. Therefore, managers should work on establishing a solid knowledge management process for the entire team where knowledge sharing is appreciated and cheered, and where there is an understanding that a virtuous knowledge management process enhances the productivity of individual team members in the process of project implementation.