Think Clearly Blog

After one of Stan Garfield’s successful KM webinars, an audience member asked a question about Enterprise Social Networks and their value. It makes one think about the ways in which information consumption is changing and has changed over time—and how our personal habits are a key driver of this change.

In Part One of this series, we reframed knowledge management strategies in the context of strategies for improving the health of the knowledge ecology. We’re using the metaphor of building a nest (sometimes referred to as an intranet) where our eggs can hatch and ideas grow, and decisions improve in quality. Now let’s explore some strategies, tactics and frameworks for accomplishing this.

You don’t have to go it alone to sell KM to others in your organization. Take advantage of outside help by scheduling visits with others who are doing KM well, joining and participating in KM communities, using industry analyst reports, or using an outside consultant.

I once watched a robin build her nest from what was available around my yard. Her choices were interesting. She had lots of material to choose from, but kept picking up the shiny, silver tinsel from the discarded skeleton of our Christmas tree. Her nest was beautiful when done. It was also colder, and non-absorbent, and she was never able to successfully get her eggs to hatch. One of the morals of this story: Sometimes that which we find attracts us is not necessarily what’s best for the purpose.

In their interesting blog post, 10 Tips for Creating a Knowledge Ecosystem in your Organization, a group of Wiley publication editors share their insights on effective KM practices. As a result of seeking a “better understanding of how knowledge is constructed and how it is connected to prior learning”, they compiled a list of ten knowledge ecosystem elements.

One of Lucidea’s goals is to ensure a high return on investment for our clients. Per Wikipedia, “A high ROI means the investment's gains compare favorably to its cost.” Please read on for an example of how to think about and measure gains after implementing a Lucidea ILS or KM solution.

Even in a world of digital communication channels, it’s critical to hold annual enterprise-wide (or worldwide, if you work for a multinational organization) face-to-face meetings in order to get and keep all KM leaders informed, energized, and collaborating.

The Library Director at a mid-sized law firm implemented our Director’s Dashboard as an online business intelligence tool that would make it easier to manage library operations without having to perform the same search, run repetitive reports, etc.

RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden) is fully owned by the Swedish Government. The Institutes enable a competitive business environment and contribute to a sustainable society. RISE is supported by six libraries, the largest of which is within the RISE Innventia Group; it is a unique information resource for those with an interest in pulp, paper, graphic media, packaging or biorefining, offering a wide range of information services to customers worldwide, and—because of Presto—fast, efficient access to their content via the internet.

Library marketing has become a hot topic, with public libraries working hard to increase footfall and enroll new members. With regard to special libraries, some companies believe that since the library is in place, staff will automatically flock to it. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case despite the fact that their users are a captive audience.

Knowledge Managers know how to use KM tools, how to ask others for help, who should be connected to whom, who would benefit from a piece of information, and how to persuade others to use information effectively. Those who play these roles, and especially those who combine several of them, can function as “power knowledge workers”, facilitating knowledge flow throughout the organization.

“Information overload refers to the state of having too much information to make a decision or remain informed about a topic. It is often referred to in conjunction with various forms of computer mediated communication such as email and the web. The term was coined in 1970 by Alvin Toffler in his book Future Shock.” (Wikipedia)