Passos para a Gestão de Conhecimento em empresas

Vale registrar a reflexão abaixo (feita por Lars, em uma lista de discussão) acerca dos passos para se conseguir algum resultado com relação à Gestão de Conhecimento em empresas.

My 2 cents on the subject after more than a decade in the field with a 100.000+ people global company:

First.  Take IT (both as an organisation and a technology) out of the equation. KM is NOT an IT issue (security could be, but then again, the security enforced by IT should be based on a security policy defined by users/service owners or "the business"). IT is only a service organisation.

Many of us tend to start looking at solutions before we have evaluated the real need or the real goal with sharing knowledge (is it increased capacity, preparations for outsourcing, "knowledge backup", formal documentation etc?). This approach will guaranteed lead to a system or application that only IT people can love (and run)...

Second.  Any KM tool is basically just a link between people. If the users don't see the reasons for sharing knowledge - this is where you should start. It is always easier to get users on-board if the professional/personal benefit is clear. Go low-tech and put people in the same room and moderate a workshop around how you can improve as a company by sharing what you know. Set a basic taxonomy to guide the discussions and focus around what types of information you need to transfer. This will give you valuable input when selecting system candidates to support the sharing process (synchronus vs asynchronous, text vs images etc.).

[sidenote: In my experience, a lot of basic KM could actually be done using "old school" technology (like mail and shared folders) - IF the users are committed to share what they know and IF mail groups and folder structure is set up in a sensible way. If they are not, no system can make knowledge sharing happen...]

Third.  Measure what you do. And don't forget to measure and follow up on the actual sharing that any one individual participates in. I am aware of at least four global companies that use some kind of knowledge sharing metrics in their development and salary discussions with all co-workers.

Fourth.  Celebrate the heroes and take "resistors" seriously. Listen to the "this will never work"-arguments and put energy in understanding the resistance to sharing. Sometimes the arguments seem silly to us in the business - but they are still valid for the resistors. Converting a reluctant user could more often than not give you a perfect advocate for making the change...

Best of luck

/Lars