Nine Tips for Executives Involved in Knowledge Management

Nine Tips for Executives Involved in Knowledge Management
by Carla O'Dell

1. Get smart. Understand knowledge-sharing behaviors and support systems. Read. Benchmark. Get feedback.

2. Start planning. Assess just where you stand on the KM learning curve. Identify your business strategy component in need of support. You need to know where you are now and where to go before you embark on any change efforts.

3. Set the guiding principles, and define the need. Your involvement in this step will mitigate resistance and change management questions. Executive involvement and periodic meetings ensure you know any risks or issues that come up and react accordingly. The "right" knowledge management approach depends on the context and the need.

4. Find the processes and projects that support your value proposition, inform the rest of the organization, and demand a solid business case.

5. Select pilot projects that give your organization a good chance of early success and a testing ground for techniques and methods.

6. Follow tried-and-true principles of design, such as employing a multidisciplinary KM core group and sound change principles. Get buy-in and understanding in the organization.

7. Guide the implementation and launch of your projects. Ensure employees are properly trained and results and lessons are accurately documented.

8. Apply what you have learned from the pilots in an expansion strategy that embeds KM into every area of the organization.

9. Sustain your improvements, and plan to scale up.