One of the best ways to take full advantage of an organization is by maximizing all the available expertise within the system. Many companies are rich in untapped information and knowledge, just lying dormant within their workforce or siloed to department and individual staff. Therefore, companies need to come up with proper management structures to find and store information and make it easy to access. This is where the knowledge management context comes in.
Knowledge management is a responsive process of retaining, defining, sharing and structuring employees’ skills and knowledge in an organization. Organizations keep developing new and essential institutional knowledge as they expand and evolve into new fields and define their business approach. However, this information is useless to the organization without proper management. Because of that, both experienced and less experienced or new employees need to access this knowledge to maintain successful operations. The main aim of knowledge management is to ensure there is a link between employees looking for knowledge and the staff who have it.
Importance of Knowledge Management
When it comes to making decisions, knowledge management plays an important role in ensuring that the right thing is done at the right time. This management practice boosts the efficiency of an organization in decision-making. All the employees within a particular organization must have access to the overall skills and expertise. Therefore, there is a need for a smarter workforce that can make quick and informed decisions that benefit the company at large.
Thanks to knowledge management, innovation can grow seamlessly within an organization, reduce employee turnover and customers benefit from all the best practices. The benefits of knowledge management are increasing as more organizations consider it.
Now, more than ever, the marketplace is more competitive and the best way to stay ahead of everyone else is by building an intelligent and flexible organizational structure. Your organization should be able to spot a problem from afar and respond to solve using new innovations and information.
Different companies start knowledge management processes based on different reasons. Some want acquisition or a merger (the need to codify knowledge and sharing of skills among team members). In contrast, others want to transfer and capture important expertise as key employees retire. Also, knowledge management comes in handy during new employee recruitment since it assists during the training sessions.
How to Manage your Enterprise Knowledge
It is not easy managing your enterprise knowledge, but with the help of a system, you can capture knowledge resources within the organization and make them easily accessible and reused by other team members. To simplify things, enterprise knowledge management uses technologies to organize data into a readily accessible format.
Enacting effective knowledge management systems help the organization to break down silos that make your employees work in a disconnected way. Because of that, the information pathway will open, making knowledge pass easily within the organization instead of being held by single employees.
Enterprise knowledge management works under certain parameters that include:
Knowledge Capture
This is the ability of an organization to convert tacit to valuable information that every employee can access faster and easier. People or employees with higher levels of knowledge can capture what they know for future use. For any knowledge to be useful in the future, skilled employees need to transform it into an easily understood format. With the right knowledge management process, organizational knowledge will move from ephemeral and ineffable format to useful facts and skills ready for consumption.
Knowledge Storage
Using a knowledge management system, knowledge can be safely stored for future use by those in need, especially new employees. People within the organization can access stored knowledge through findability and searching. Information in the knowledge management system is structured and organized, making it easy for employees to find what they want at a particular time using the portal. Also, all content is sorted and properly indexed so that employees understand and navigate the system easily.
Knowledge Sharing
Knowledge has no meaning or value if it is stored in a system that no one can find or use. Therefore, employees need motivation and encouragement to find and use stored knowledge. A system that can uncover relevant information to the seeker is a perfect for sharing information. Employees need to share information using the right channels and ensure maximum adoption.
Do you Need Knowledge Management Systems
Yes, knowledge management systems allow the storage and retrieval of data kept within the organizational system. This will allow more effective problem-solving skills and better collaboration. You will have a knowledge management system with unique features based on your organizational needs. Some common knowledge management systems include: research files, feedback databases and shared project files.
When employees in an organization can capture, access, update and share knowledge, the organization can be more productive than ever. Employees can access the right knowledge at the right time thanks to knowledge management, stimulating innovation, collaboration and accurate decision-making abilities.
In a nutshell
Regardless of the reason for implementing knowledge management in your organization, it is evident that the process brings more tangible benefits that can drive up your organizational value. This can be backed up by a survey that shows how knowledge management can positively influence organizational performance and dynamic capabilities. To come up with proactive knowledge management strategies, you need a driving force: workforce movement.