How do you design and implement a KM strategy that aligns with your risk appetite and objectives?

To improve your current KM system, observe how your team current shares information. Informal information channels reveal what is actually relevant to the organization.

One of the key assessments you should do at the beginning is asking your employees how they find the knowledge they need. You will be surprised: many knowledge highways are not official, have grown over years and some are siloed in certain departments. Before you start planning, learn as much as possible from people who have been with the organization for a long time and from those who have just joined in. You will be amazed about how much you will learn and these learnings must be part of your plan.

Firstly it should re-named as Design your current state at a higher level as assesing your current situation is just where you are and without a goal of the future state we dont know what to Design. Also the process of studying the current state involved feedback from stakeholders and one brilliant tool is Design Thinking and the Toolsets we can use. Empathy Maps is a great way to understand User Personas and then build on this through the Ideation journey to define the future state.

To properly assess your current situation, conduct a knowledge audit according to ISO30401. It must complete with a knowledge network - meaning you have to know how knowledge is exchanged. Following the traditional organizational chart is not enough.

In KM, you review existing knowledge tools, data quality, and collaboration methods. A company may find it lacks a centralized knowledge base, leading to repetitive work. This analysis helps tailor a KM strategy that fits your unique needs, ensuring smoother workflows and better outcomes.

I agree with the other posters. Vision and goals must be separate. Let your vision determine the long-term strategy. The goals can be accomplished one at a time..in different sprints. Knowledge Management is always happening so don't treat it as a traditional project that has one start date and one end date.

Start by envisioning where you want your organization to be in terms of knowledge utilization and risk management. Outline specific objectives like reducing data breaches by enhancing knowledge security protocols. For instance, a financial institution might aim to improve fraud detection through better knowledge sharing among compliance and IT teams.

I would separate vision from goals. Vision will drive overall direction of the KM system. It sets strategy. Goals follow later in the process.

This is the traditional software approach and most of the time encourages silos. We need to move towards a more agile driven approach and encourage prototype's early on to really understand what we are building and formulate a vision.

Having KM vision and goals is important. But even more important is it to align those with the company vision and goals. How is your KM activity going to contribute to the organizational goals? You need to specify this in more detail than: reduce costs, increase speed and more quality. Our KM activity (ABC) will reduce product development time by 10 - 20% due to improved collaboration.

Make sure that employees - the users - are part of your action plan. In my experience, having a group of "pioneers" as part of your action mal significantly reduces the risk of building something no one wants. And as we all know, the biggest risk for any KM project is rejection of the project.

Today the world is shifting to the latest Project Management standards and most users are open to capturing a lot of information. Yet these defined methods of action planning fail as we failt to augment the lessons learnt and improve our standards. We need to improve our KM processes and standards and drive policy changes in a agile fashion for sustainable KM.

Start by identifying key areas for improvement based on your goals. For example, if your goal is to enhance proposal quality, actions may include creating centralized repositories for proposal templates, implementing version control systems, and conducting regular training sessions on effective proposal writing. Each action should have clear timelines, responsibilities, and metrics to track progress effectively.

KM should collaborate with or learn from Change management practices. A lot of the action plans for KM programs are oriented towards realizing whatever KM solution or framework or standard without implementing the change into the people and organization.

Include periodic milestones for evaluation of your KM strategy. Try new KM practice at a small scale. If it works, scale it throughout the organization. If it does not, release it and explore a different approach.

Most importantly, measure how happy the users are with your solution. A simple NPS including the possibility for users to share ideas and comments can already make a huge difference!

Regularly track key metrics like knowledge sharing rates or problem resolution times using analytics tools. This data helps refine your strategy over time, ensuring it addresses evolving risks and supports strategic objectives effectively. Adjustments based on real-time insights keep your KM efforts agile and in tune with organizational goals.

Allow users to suggest additional features and functionality to the technology, listen to them more carefully than to other stakeholders.

Reviewing and improving your KM plan is essential for ensuring its effectiveness over time. Regularly gather feedback from stakeholders and users to identify areas for enhancement. For example, conduct surveys, hold focus groups, or analyze usage metrics to pinpoint pain points or areas of low engagement. Use this information to make iterative improvements to your KM processes, tools, and content. By continually refining your plan based on insights, you can better align with organizational goals and drive continuous improvement in knowledge sharing and management.

Considering that creating a knowledge strategy requires a significant investment of time and resources, knowledge managers may not wish to revisit it quickly. However, a strategy is only good until it is relevant, and in the present business environment, this duration is short-lived. How would you recognize whether a knowledge strategy is obsolete? When the knowledge strategy no longer serves the business strategy, and stakeholders are voicing new problems, it is time to work on the next one.

Find a C-suite sponsor and make that sponsorship visible (add a slide to the quarterly town-hall; etc) Find existing KM projects who don't call themselves KM (there will be active CoPs in almost any organization). Support and help them to thrive, maybe even spread the word on how helpful their activity could be for others. Separate hard and soft results. Make sure hard results (time and money) are assessed by relevant stakeholders. If the CFO signs off your monetary results, no-one will challenge those. If a COO or Senior projectleader signs of your time gains, no-one will challenge those. Mention non-tangible (also known as soft) results, but do not quantify those. You will lose that argument in the end.

Share smart, not all: Know what info helps, what's risky, and who needs it. Lock it up, but share the key: Keep info safe, but let people use it wisely. See what works, fix what doesn't: Track progress, learn from mistakes, and keep improving.

Designing and implementing a KM strategy that aligns with your risk appetite and objectives is like sailing a ship. A friend one told me how he did that. First, you start by charting your course—understanding your destination (objectives) and the conditions you'll face (risk appetite). Next, you equip your vessel with the right tools and crew, ensuring everyone knows their roles and the plan. Throughout the journey, you constantly monitor the weather and sea conditions, making adjustments to stay on course. By keeping a steady hand on the wheel and being prepared to navigate challenges, you ensure a smooth and successful voyage.

Knowledge is king but getting Knowledge Management on the road to capture, harvest and meaningful use is cultural. Develop a KM strategy which fits with the level of sustenance your organisation can commit to.