The Missing “P” in Knowledge Management

Liz Herman, PhD, PMP

Welcome: WIIFM

Avoid common pitfalls associated with creating, sharing, and using knowledge.

Find out about the mysterious missing “P”.

Find out why the answer to our knowledge management problems is not “S”!

Why?

passion brand research practitioner

KM Defined

Strategies and processes designed to identify, capture, structure, value, leverage, and share an organization’s intellectual assets to enhance its performance and competitiveness.

It is based on two critical activities: 1. Capture and documentation of individual

explicit and tacit knowledge2. Its dissemination within the organization.

KM Barriers

1. No incentives to capture and share knowledge.

2. Attitudinal resistance to change.

3. Limited on-the-job recognition.

4. No accountability.

5. Passive use of knowledge management system.

6. Lack of leadership support.

7. Failure to capture lessons learned from previous project implementations.

8. Missing standard operating procedures.

9. Volume of information promotes knowledge loss.

10. Outdated knowledge.

Common Theme?

1. No incentives to capture and share knowledge.

2. Attitudinal resistance to change.

3. Limited on-the-job recognition.

4. No accountability.

5. Passive use of knowledge management system.

6. Lack of leadership support.

7. Failure to capture lessons learned from previous project implementations.

People

The missing “P” is people.

Say what?

The missing “P” is people.

Wait.

Tell me more about the people.

Knowledge Management Old School 33% people 33% process 33% technology

Knowledge Management New School 80% people 20% organizational culture and

technology/processes

80/20 Rule?

Yes.

80% of your KM focus needs to be on the people.

20% of your KM focus will be on organizational culture and technology.

Tell me more.

Subject matter experts failed to provide technical knowledge to the contact center agents and the agents failed to adopt processes to add knowledge to the knowledge database or KM tool.

Why? Neither the subject matter experts nor the agents were incentivized by the organization to capture and share knowledge.

Huh? They received no positive reinforcement, no financial incentive, and no performance incentive to contribute.

Tell me more.

There was attitudinal resistance to change.

Why? Subject matter experts did not want to share knowledge because it reduced their power and took away the limited on-the-job recognition that they received.

Seriously? Yes. Customers were their only source of positive feedback. Agents did not regularly take initiative to recommend or write knowledge articles. A new team organization fostered knowledge sharing issues.

Tell me more.

Organizational performance and customer service suffered.

Why? Because knowledge was not readily available to agents, first call resolution was lower than targeted while average handle time and after call work were higher than targeted.

So what? Outdated and/or missing knowledge prompted agents to bypass the KM tool and provide erroneous answers to customers.

What does it mean?

Unhappy people are reluctant to identify, capture, structure, value, leverage, and share an organization’s intellectual assets to enhance its performance and competitiveness.

Let’s not forget...

6. Lack of leadership support.

7. Failure to capture lessons learned from previous project implementations.

8. Missing standard operating procedures.

9. Volume of information promotes knowledge loss.

10. Outdated knowledge.

Organizational Culture

Culture is defined as a set of attitudes, values, assumptions, and traditions that directly shape an environment.

Organizational knowledge is inherently bound to the organization’s culture.

Knowledge gaps and process gaps at the organization level have a direct impact at the individual level.

How to Engage People?

Interview employees to hear common concerns, to fully understand their jobs, and to learn how they use knowledge.

Perform job observations. Listen. Learn.

Recognize employees for sharing. The recognition does not have to be financial in nature.

Build KM into annual performance reviews. Qualitative and quantitative measures can work depending on your business.

Discard old knowledge. There is too much emphasis on capture and not enough emphasis on discard.

What about Leadership?

Executive level support is critical, but a self-directed team approach can be successful.

Never underestimate the power of building your own relationships.

Excuse me. Technology?

Technology is important. Yes.

But…

SharePoint

SharePoint is not the answer.

Say what?

SharePoint is not the answer.

Wait.

What are you talking about? Technology rules!

Include people in the decision-making process for KM tool selections.

Consider a liaison between the technical experts and the agents to encourage tool adoption.

Be ready to change course with technology in terms of support staff. Less is sometimes more.

What does it mean?

If you focus too much on the tool and not enough on the people, you risk disengagement. The tool does not matter as much as you think it does.

Finally…Next Steps

For Managers:

Put people first in your KM initiatives whether new or ongoing. You can change direction.

Strongly consider tying performance measures to knowledge transfer.

Lead by example with transparency, feedback, and setting clear expectations.

For Team Members:

It’s not you. Sometimes SMEs don’t share knowledge because of organizational culture or the reward and recognition structure. There may be bigger issues at play. Talk with your manager.

Talking about the customer service perspective or company competitiveness may encourage your SMEs to share knowledge.

Thank you

“Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies.”  -Oliver Goldsmith

The Missing “P” in Knowledge Management

Liz Herman, PhD, PMPliz@lizherman.com

319-430-6051