^The APQC Blog

Today I hosted a 30-minute Webinar to spotlight some of APQC’s best knowledge management content from 2011. (If you want to find out what’s new in the Knowledge Base, I recommend listening to this recording of the presentation or downloading the slides.) As part of the Webinar, I polled the audience to find out which knowledge management topics they were most interested in. I have to admit, the results surprised me.

A few weeks ago I had a thought-provoking conversation with a managing partner at a middle-market consulting firm. He shared the following dilemma: “I’m supposed to be signing off on bonuses soon, and I don’t know if I should be generous to reward those that stuck with us through the downturn in hopes of deterring turnover or opt to be more conservative and reserve cash in case 2012 isn’t as rosy. Our firm leadership is split. Our backlog and sales reports are sending us mixed signals. What would you suggest?”

Lately, I have been writing a lot about managing employee and executive performance.* Today, I came across an article in People Management magazine that got me thinking about a different kind of performance management—performance management for the HR function.

Last Wednesday I hosted a Webinar on the latest supply chain management and product development content in APQC’s Knowledge Base. We’ve added a lot of great content over the last six months, so I encourage you to take a look at the presentation or view the slides.

In my last blog post, I mentioned one strategy for persuading experts and other senior people to participate in knowledge management: include specific knowledge-sharing objectives in employees’ annual goals. Today I want to elaborate on this issue and mention some of the pros and cons of linking KM to the performance review process.

What trends will impact your business in 2012? Are talent shortages and generational discord on your list? APQC recently bylined articles on these trends.

Workforce Capabilities Fall Short

Is foreign currency exchange (FX) volatility a concern of yours? If you manage payables or receivables processes for a large organization that buys or sells in the Eurozone, you should be thinking “outside the box” when it comes to recent FX volatility. And you should pay particularly close attention to the outlook for the Euro. Chances are, your organization’s treasury managers are already developing contingency plans for funding procurement, paying suppliers, and collecting cash from customers should the unthinkable happen: the Euro ceases to exist.

Political and social environments in other countries can quickly affect supply chains, so supply chain visibility is a must for organizations. This is a sentiment repeated so much that it can be easy to block out. But that isn’t so easy when regulations appear that force organizations to take a close look at their suppliers.

2011 was a wonderful year at APQC, particularly in process management. However, I must admit that after a year in which we released a major process management report, hosted a process management conference, and launched a study on building strong process management capabilities, even I am ready for a change of pace. Luckily, we are gearing up for a new study on one of my favorite topics: measurement.

January is goal-setting time at APQC. This year, many of my coworkers are looking for ways to increase their efficiency and eke out more time for strategic thinking, creativity, and value-added contributions. For knowledge managers, it makes sense to think not only about personal productivity, but also about helping other employees streamline their knowledge sharing commitments.