In a recent blog post, I talked about how we are all seeing our organizations deal with an overabundance of change. And as Knowledge Management (KM) professionals, we are working very hard to achieve a culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration but are challenged to compete with these ongoing change phenomena. According to APQC research, change management has become one of the most important skillsets for most KM practitioners. Many of our members are asking for our help in building their competency to manage change successfully.

Change management is all about helping people transition through any change and should be considered before, during, and after the implementation of any initiative or project. For KM to make an impact, employees must change how they work by adopting new tools, processes, and/or behaviors. You can help by ensuring plans are in place to manage communications, employee resistance, engagement, coaching for leaders, training, and reward and recognition structures.

While mastering change skills within your organization may feel a bit overwhelming, Reinhold Niebuhr said, “Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.” I believe that with all change, there is the possibility of learning and discovering something amazing about yourself and those around you. Learning new skills and continually improving our skills for managing change helps us, as KM practitioners, feel prepared and confident in our ability to help others develop new behaviors and transition to a new and exciting way of working. 

This video highlights why change is important and the components that can help ensure successful adoption of your KM capabilities.

At this year’s APQC conference, there will be a new Managing Change workshop during our pre-conference training days that can help you understand why managing change is necessary, how it adds value,  and tips & tricks to engage and enable people across the life cycle of change in your organization.

To learn more about change management right now, you can access APQC’s resource library which includes tools, best practice articles, videos, case studies, and more in the Making Change Management Mindful collection.