Answer to Question #209510 in Management for PAS

Question

SUBJECT : KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

During the implementation of a proposed knowledge management system in the organization what strategic planning is done regarding the vision , resource and culture?

Answer 1

• Establish a sense of urgency to move to KM. Start with your team! Let them know that a move to a KM culture is strategically important to your organization. 
• Form a powerful guiding coalition to lead the effort. Getting the right people on your KM planning and implementation project team, with the right skills and talent, is critical. Include members from various IT teams—technical management, applications support, operations, and the service desk—to get participation and “buy-in” across the organization.
• Create a compelling vision for transitioning to knowledge management. Your vision and mission statements for realizing a new, knowledge-driven service and support organization are fundamental cornerstones to your strategic plan.
• Create a compelling vision for transitioning to knowledge management. Your vision and mission statements for realizing a new, knowledge-driven service and support organization are fundamental cornerstones to your strategic plan.
• Communicate the vision—initially and continually. Having a well-thought-out communications plan is fundamental to the success of this major organizational change effort. It’s important that you tailor your message to each of your target audiences—support staff, technical and application teams, customers, and users.
• Empower others to act on the vision. Make it easy for contributors, reviewers, and consumers to participate. When your implementation requires practitioners and managers to take several extra steps to submit a knowledge article, or to retrieve information from the knowledge base, you are creating roadblocks to adoption and usage. Remove the roadblocks.
• Plan for and create short-term wins! One of the challenges to overcome when launching a major initiative such as the adoption of KM is the initial resistance and ongoing doubt about the likelihood of success. Plan for early, visible improvements that will create enthusiasm and a sense that the initiative will indeed succeed as it moves forward.
• Consolidate improvements, and produce still more change! Once you have been able to demonstrate these quick wins, your KM initiative will begin to pick up momentum. People will realize their jobs are actually easier and they are becoming more productive. Use this increased credibility to change and improve other supporting systems, tools, and processes.
• Finally, institutionalize the new approach! The goal is to make knowledge sharing and re-use “just the way you work.” In order for this to happen, you must build it into everything that people do as a part of their daily tasks For example, include it in your core values; embed knowledge contribution and re-use in core procedures; include contributing in your job descriptions; make KM part of monthly reporting, and recognize regular contributors