13 KM Insights for Successful Knowledge Managers

Stan Garfield

Stan Garfield

July 12, 2018

In my latest book, Proven Practices for Promoting a Knowledge Management Program, I share a number of keys to success (Chapter 12) for KM practitioners implementing knowledge management initiatives within the corporate world.

Here is my baker’s dozen, in no particular order:

1. Collect content; connect people

  • Link to repositories within discussions
  • Collect basic details in repositories; connect for more
  • Enable search for content, discussions, and people; use formal taxonomy, social tags, and best bets

2. Try things out; improve and iterate

  • Implement sooner, not later
  • Solicit feedback
  • Make improvements; repeat the cycle

3. Lead by example; model behaviors

  • Practice what you preach
  • Post, reply, like and praise in the ESN
  • Use a KM Community to show how to lead a community

4. Set goals; recognize and reward

  • Set 3 goals; make them simple, fundamental, measurable
  • Consistently communicate and leverage the 3 goals
  • Recognize and reward those who achieve the 3 goals

5. Tell your stories; get others to tell theirs

  • Engage listeners
  • Provide real examples
  • Demonstrate value

6. Use the right tool for the job; build good examples

  • Recommend uses for each tool
  • Enable use of tools
  • Create prototypes, mockups, and initial examples

7. Enable innovation; support integration

  • Don’t require a single platform
  • Encourage innovation, not redundancy
  • Use APIs, RSS, search, and web parts to integrate tools

8. Stay inclusive; span boundaries

  • Set the tone for a community
  • The wider and more open, the better
  • Don’t exclude people (except spammers, trolls)

9. Prime the pump; ask and answer questions

  • Post questions on behalf of others
  • Redirect one-to-one messages to one-to-many
  • Pose questions to stimulate discussion

10. Network; pay it forward

  • Meet in person whenever possible
  • Share relentlessly
  • Ask others to reciprocate

11. Let go of control; encourage and monitor

  • Set guidelines, rely on existing codes of conduct
  • Communicate, encourage, trust
  • Monitor, garden, allow network to police itself

12. Just say yes; be responsive

  • Ask users what they want
  • Don’t argue
  • Deliver quickly

13. Meet less; deliver more

  • Smaller teams are more effective
  • Spend time doing, not meeting
  • Communicate concisely and meaningfully in flexible formats
Stan Garfield

Stan Garfield

I’m delighted that Lucidea Press has published Proven Practices for Promoting a Knowledge Management Program, and I enjoyed meeting many of you at last month’s book signing during the SLA 2018 conference in Baltimore. Knowledge Managers unite!

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