I think that the entire 21st century has been preparing us for “what’s next”. Right before the turn of the century in 1999, Y2K helped us see the unorganized state of our data, records, and information. Even with lacking technology, organizations met the task and transitioned to the next century. The tragedy of September 11, 2001 grounded travel for many in the United States. Still with not so great technology capabilities, virtual work was kick-started because we needed to stay connected. As we stepped further into the century, the global supply chain emerged along with the smart phone and the Internet of Things (IoT). This digital revolution has enabled remote work and social media capabilities that are keeping us connected.
As if the challenges of the first 19 years of this century weren’t enough, along came 2020. It is remarkable how quickly we ALL adapted to working and schooling at home, washing hands, social distancing, making masks out of everything from coffee filters to crown royal bags, and then wearing them!
Change is inevitable, and I think we can all agree that in the first few months of this year the nature of work changed dramatically. Where we work, how we work, and who works have impacted productivity as we emerge and move into 2021. We have learned how to blow through red tape, stay ahead of problems, and push knowledge so the right decision can be made.
Ultimately, knowledge management has been on the front lines of understanding and enabling productivity. We’ve lived up to the reputation of “KM as the 1st responder.” APQC has heard phenomenal stories about how KM teams have shifted to support their business during the pandemic and keep them productive.
Connecting People to People
Across the board, communities of practice rose to the occasion of helping the organization stay productive. People need other people to survive disruption, communities should be in place to forge those relationships before the crisis hits, not in the middle of it. Overnight, organizations had newly remote employees experiencing a flurry of digital interaction in email, community sites, and enterprise social channels. These digital updates and conversations quickly became overwhelming, and sometimes the information was off-topic or nice to have rather than critical. We saw KM communities and networks step in and help encourage the right contributions, provided clear guidelines on what to share (and not to share), as well as guidance on the best channels to use. Additionally, communities became the place its members could turn to for empathetic support, a sounding board, and ideas. Organizations like SNC-Lavalin that put in communities and networks as foundational to their KM programs were able to lean into the disruptions.
Digital Advocacy
At Mercer, a 2020 Excellence in KM recipient, the KM team has a good symbiotic relationship with the digital experience team. Digital helps KM apply the latest and greatest in terms of technology and data science, and KM provides important services to digital, including serving as the “voice of the employee” on digital projects and helping with training and communications for new internal technology. As COVID-19 forced Mercer to transition to virtual, asynchronous work, digital skills became a critical success factor. The KM team ensured a select group of senior leaders and subject matter experts were equipped to monitor and comment on incoming questions at a rapid pace. By having the KM team help these leaders increase their digital fluency, they have become more enthusiastic, engaged supporters of knowledge sharing.
Collaboration, knowledge transfer, and learning have been altered forever. The good news is that for years KM has focused on tracking leading indicators like participation, time savings, and reduced mistakes that can be correlated to productivity indicators, e.g., cycle time reduction and cost savings. These outputs meet the mark when making decisions about how to increase productivity. The question for KM should be “What else is needed to help business partners achieve success?”
Critical to supporting the productivity of the business, KM must also function at the top of their game to prepare for the continued chaos of known and unknown changes. Evaluating your KM program as a whole will help you accelerate KM improvements and investments to ensure ongoing productivity. APQC’s Knowledge Management Capability Assessment Tool 2.0 is now available to help you with your “KM checkup”! Armed with 10+ years of data and best practices collected from over 300 organizations, APQC has updated the assessment giving you a more objective view of the capabilities that define a KM function/program.
Remember, what gets measured is what gets done. My best advice to you is “don’t wait”! You never know what inevitable change is around the corner.