As a manager, it is essential for you to foster and support knowledge sharing throughout the organization. There is a role for you, regardless of the company’s size and industry. In its simplest form, knowledge management is having a system that centralizes knowledge for sharing in an organization. There are four components of knowledge management: content, strategy, and people. Bringing these components together is the essence of knowledge management.
Many founders don’t realize that company knowledge is a unique resource that should be protected. It is part of the recipe or “secret sauce” that can keep a company agile in its decision-making. If a company doesn’t start with this in mind, it should be your goal to implement it. There are many software solutions on the market that create a dynamic database for notes, wiki, and project information. Rest assured, a software product on the market will accommodate your unique needs as a company.
Keep in mind:
- Start small, with relevant and easily accessible content, and keep adding so the process does not get overwhelming.
- Once implemented, it is your role to be the cheerleader. Employees should first search the knowledge base to see if existing resources will help them do their job before going to a person in the organization.
- “Garbage in garbage out” – if errors are not corrected in the knowledge base then employees will not use it.
- Measure the results of your system to keep things on track and incentivize employees based on the results.
- Your knowledge management program should align with your company’s goals and culture in order for it to be successful.
- Once you have a working system, exploit it to give your company an advantage over your competition.
To learn more about implementing knowledge management, take our course.