Knowledge Flow & Flourish

This post is part of my KM series, starting with Leading people to insights & effectiveness, an intro.

Remember what happens when you ask 100 Knowledge Managers how they define Knowledge Management (KM)? As I mentioned in my last post, there are potentially as many definitions of KM as there are Knowledge Managers. Considering disciplines that could also be categorized under the KM umbrella, such as Agile, Collaboration, Learning, or Communities, the potential grows for even more definitions (for more examples of related disciples and names for Knowledge Management, see Stan Garfield’s list at Knowledge Management: What’s in a name?).

Personally, I’ve not only struggled to define KM, I’ve even struggled to name it in the first place. I’ve struggled to put my finger on what this is all about even while sensing a need for something important. Many of us work in jobs that require knowledge for almost everything we do.

Think about it. Do you know something for your job that is crucial to teach someone else who would need to do the same job? Do you sometimes need to do something but don’t know how and therefore seek knowledge to complete your task? And in your job, wouldn’t it be helpful to have some sort of tools, process, or even people available to help you gain access to what you need to know? What would you call this if it’s so integral to your day to day work? How do you define something that seems like everything? How do you define something that people just do for their jobs?

So, is this really a profession, or is it something that is incorporated into everything we do as knowledge workers. Is it a culture or form of leadership? All of the above? Does it even matter if we define it? I say yes. Not only do we need to understand what this is, we need to spend some time focusing here to make sure we not only do it but do it well.

Defining Knowledge Management

I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that I wish I had an easy way of explaining to people what it is I do as a Knowledge Manager, an easy way to find roles that fit me, and easy way for others to join into the field when they have a desire and talent for it. Even 20 years after it was first named, the profession still feels nascent in the industry I work and love, tech.

To explore this question of “what is Knowledge Management” I interviewed several KM leaders, listened to my colleagues, read many articles and books, and thought about my experience.

To start, I’ve heard KM defined quite broadly, such as KM being an approach to life or KM being about solving problems. While I love that these broad definitions open up possibilities for KM and believe that they are true, there is room to distinguish KM from other disciplines that are also about how we think and solve problems, such as Design Thinking, Leadership, Research, and Product Management, unless we argue that these are all actually KM.

I’ve also heard other definitions that are more specific, focusing on how KM standardizes how we capture, store, maintain, and access information across an organization. This is also true and has focus on KM as information, which is very common, but are we now limiting the view?

From what I’ve seen in tech and other industries, many people conflate KM with Content or Document Management. Often, when people hear that my area of focus is KM, they talk about Knowledge Bases or Documentation. What about the exchange of knowledge that happens during meetings in conversation, in an online or in-person community, or even in someone’s head when they are appropriately primed to understand something? While information, content, and documentation are related to knowledge, and you might see information, content, and documentation as part of a KM strategy, my view is that there’s more and we shouldn’t limit ourselves.

What does KM do for you?

Before I even knew what Knowledge Management was, I was practicing it and passionate about it. I worked at a small company over the course of about 10 years, working in or with almost every department at the company. Regardless of which department or role I worked, I saw a similar challenge, and this challenge wasn’t unique to that company. People struggled to get their work done effectively when they didn’t know or understand what another person or department was doing or needed from them. I would often see unnecessary or duplicated work, or even blaming others for problems. When we started opening channels of communication between people and departments, whether through sharing documented information and knowledge, inviting people to meetings, or having more conversations, the blaming and problems went away. I wanted to know what this profession could be called and started my journey down the KM path.

In my view, I aim to solve the two-way communication problem that breaks down our understanding of what work needs to be done and how to do our best work, whether communicating in real time or over a long period through writing. This includes the exchange of knowledge through conversations in meetings, sharing of analyzed data & insights, and connecting documented answers or experts to questions. If we view an organization as a brain, I’m envisioning the creation of neural pathways to connect the different parts of the brain through these practices. By doing this, we are creating what I call Organizational Neuroplasticity, our ability as a workplace to effectively respond to and solve problems based on learning and experience. Pulling all of these ideas together, KM is about leading the effective exchange of knowledge within an organization to enable its ability to solve problems, make decisions, and do better work based on learning and experience. And with this definition, wouldn’t Knowledge Exchange Leadership be a better name?

From my experience, there is a real need to understand and solve the knowledge-related needs of an organization and there is a lack of investment in KM. Some people are solving knowledge exchange problems in isolated pockets. Without defining what this is, making it known, and sharing, knowledge workers are branching out into various related sub-disciplines across industries and are missing an opportunity to learn from their predecessors of over 20 years in this field. How do we spread the word and exchange this knowledge about KM? As Stan Garfield says, the term Knowledge Management has been around for a long time and already has substantial experience attached to it. Perhaps we keep the KM name as professionals for our own learning and research purposes, add the concept of organizational neuroplasticity to our storytelling toolkit, and describe it within our organizations to foster understanding and investment. I look forward to calling myself a Knowledge Exchange Leader, #knowledgeXL, where knowledge excels.

Please share

If you’re a KM expert, what are your thoughts? What have you learned and decided based on your experience? What do you call it within your organization and with your leadership? How do you describe what you do?

If you’re new to this field, have you heard of Knowledge Management? If not, do you see the need for this way of thinking within your organization, and do you see initiatives underway that could potentially be labeled as KM? What do you call it, and what would you call it?

I’m looking forward to hearing from you!