Introduction to knowledge management and digital technology

1. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Knowledge management

2. INTRODUCING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

3. Knowledge Management
What is it?
› Definition of knowledge: Information plus experience*
o Information that you interpret internally based on your experiences
o Mental processes that you can share only as information
› Knowledge cannot be shared (because it is personal) but the process of
creating, finding and codifying knowledge can be managed, as can the
process of sharing information
*Information is Data plus context. Knowledge is Information plus experience. Wisdom is Knowledge plus synthesis.

4. Knowledge Management
Knowledge and experience
› We all see the world in different ways depending on recent and past
experience
› What does the word “pitch” mean to you?
› Playing field
› Slope
› Sales spiel
› To throw
› Slope
› If I tell you something you won’t interpret that information in exactly the
same way as I interpret it: in other words it will mean something slightly
different to you

5. Knowledge Management
Why use it?
› To create more flexible organisations with workforces that have more
knowledge and that can react to opportunities and threats better
› To allow more effective new product development processes, due to more
information being available
› To enable faster production and business processes, due to better and
quicker decisions
› To enable faster and better problem solving, underpinned by greater
knowledge
› To build more connected organisations, as employees engage with one
another in order to share and build on information

6. Knowledge Management
When to look for knowledge
› Project wash-up meetings
› Collaborative projects, especially with multifunctional or international
teams
› Task and job handovers
› Community conversations

7. Knowledge management
What Donald Rumsfeld teaches us about knowledge
› Known knowns: things we know we know (explicit knowledge)
o We can share these with others
› Known unknowns: things we know we don’t know
o We can learn these from others
› Unknown unknowns: things we don’t know we don’t know
o These are dangerous and hard to manage
› Unknown knowns*: things we don’t know we know (tacit knowledge)
o Knowledge management can help us uncover and organise these
*DR didn’t talk about these!

8. KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION

9. Knowledge management
Knowledge to information to knowledge
Create K
Uncover K
Discover I
Share I Internalise K Use K
Confirm I
Organise K

10. Knowledge management
Activities: creating and uncovering
› Create knowledge - through thought, innovation, work, learning and
collaboration
› Uncover knowledge – find the things you didn’t know you knew though
interrogation and analysis
Create K
Uncover K
Discover I
Share I
Internalise
K Use K
Confirm I
Organise K

11. Knowledge management
Activities: organising
› Organise knowledge – so it is easy to navigate, easy to build on, and easy to
compare
Create K
Uncover K
Discover I
Share I
Internalise
K Use K
Confirm I
Organise K

12. Knowledge management
Activities: turning knowledge into information
› Codify knowledge so it can be shared as information – through written,
spoken, and video documents
› Discover knowledge that has already been codified – though learning,
workshops
Create K
Uncover K
Discover I
Share I
Internalise
K Use K
Confirm I
Organise K

13. Knowledge management
Activities: internalising information
› Internalise information so that you can create your own knowledge
o This won’t be the same as someone else’s knowledge because your experiences will
be different
› Confirm your understanding of information if you are unsure of its meaning
or validity
Create K
Uncover K
Discover I
Share I
Internalise
K Use K
Confirm I
Organise K

14. Knowledge management
Activities: using knowledge
› Before you use your knowledge you need to be sure that it is:
o Accurate
o Relevant
o Complete
o Unaffected by inaccurate or irrelevant information
Create K
Uncover K
Discover I
Share I
Internalise
K Use K
Confirm I
Organise K

15. MANAGING KNOWLEDGE

16. Managing knowledge
Creating knowledge
› New knowledge
o Innovation processes
o New experiences – role, technology, processes, teams
o Research
o “Listening” to what is happening – feedback, analytics etc
› Combining and improving knowledge
o Communities of practice
o Multifunctional teams
o Personal skills: inventiveness, scepticism and the ability to question

17. Managing knowledge
Extracting knowledge
› Formal request (pull) – asking for knowledge sharing on an ad hoc basis
when required
› Volunteered (push) – knowledge shared as a way of extending influence,
gaining allies, or doing good
› Enhancing the amount of people who push knowledge out is an important
part of knowledge management
› Provide an opportunity
› Provide responsive and appreciative audience
› Give positive feedback
› Codify the information permanently to show it is important (and so you don’t lose it)

18. Managing knowledge
Barriers to sharing
› Knowledge is power
› You already know that don’t you?
› What I know isn’t important enough to share
› What I know might not be true
› I can’t be bothered to tell you (because I will have to codify it)
› I didn’t know I knew that

19. Managing knowledge
Managing people
› Enabling people to turn tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge and then to
codify their knowledge as information
› Incentivising people to share their knowledge with others
› Giving people the opportunity to learn from others
› Changing culture so that people feel empowered to question existing
assumptions and discover new ways of thinking
› Providing opportunities to create new knowledge and then to codify and
share that knowledge
› Identifying times when knowledge should be transferred e.g. leavers’
interviews, project wash-up meetings, new employee induction sessions etc

20. Managing knowledge
Supporting through effective processes
› Creating intranets and knowledge communities
› Bringing together cross-functional teams to create best practice
› Ensuring the departure of key individuals or teams, or the completion of
projects, doesn’t result in the loss of knowledge to the organisation
› Ensuring quality in the codification of relevant knowledge with adequate
documentation supported by metadata (keywords, indexes etc)
› Allowing information to be transferred through formal and informal
learning and discovery
› Allowing knowledge to be used by empowering individuals and teams
› Ensuring any risks associated with new ways of working are managed

21. People, processes and technology
Knowledge management tools
› Tools can help stimulate knowledge creation, facilitate information
discovery, and enhance knowledge use
o Groupware and intranets
o Workflow tools
o Collaboration tools
o Document and content management systems
o Search tools
o eLearning tools

22. THANK YOU
Jeremy Swinfen-Green, Charlotte Childs
hello@mosoco.co.uk
07855 341 589