Knowledge Management - Creating a Sustainable Yellow Pages System
Nonetheless, these systems can be fraught with difficulty in their implementation, and often end up as out-of-date, glorified intranet telephone directories. This article, drawn from a best-selling knowledge management fieldbook by its author, identifies ten important steps involved in generating and sustaining an effective, employee-owned yellow pages system.
1 Maintain a clear and distinctive vision. Be cautious about what it is you're attempting to achieve and prevent compromise. Everyone will need a slice of this action - do not lose sight of the overarching goal of your system - which makes it easy to locate people who you don't know.
2 Strive for individual ownership and upkeep. Create a procedure whereby only the people concerned can make and update their entries. This may drive a far deeper sense of ownership throughout the population.
3 Strike a balance between informal and formal content. Invite people to share non-work information about themselves along with valuable company information. Look at prompting for this with"fun" questions such as:"what was the first single that you bought?" .
4 Support the photographs wherever possible. Nothing is more powerful and private than a photograph. It speaks volumes about the person, raises the curiosity rates of others also generates personal ownership of the content. If possible encourage people to include a casual photograph. The security-pass-rabbit-in-the-headlights shots rarely show people in their very best light! Better to have a picture which says more about the person and what inspires them.
5 Ensure that your product design is flexible and inclusive. Realize that different people relate to templates, prompts and structure in various ways.
6 Start using a customer-facing pilot. Critical mass is all important, so begin with a group of individuals that have a natural need to be more visible to internal clients. This may include things like encouraging purposes, existing communities or networks, or even business areas with new leadership.
7 Deliver through local enthusiasts. Centrally-driven push isn?t consistently the perfect way to engage the work force. Tap into local fans and winners if at all possible? They'll understand how best to"sell" the idea locally.
8 Utilize success stories as a marketing tool. Reinforce the usefulness of this knowledge directory at every opportunity. Publicize any successes or examples widely, and early, to reinforce your undertaking. That is a culture change project, and culture change happens one tale at a time!
9 Encourage use, but lead by example instead of edict. Avoid mandating the population and use of this information directory. People will provide much better quality articles if they think they are volunteering the information. In the end of the day, you can?t actually conscript knowledge - you can only ever volunteer it.
And let?s face it, there is little point in finding the 1 person with experience or expertise that you need, if when you call them on the telephone, they're unwilling to speak!
10 Embed into people procedures. Search for procedure and intranet"hooks" that could initiate and sustain the use of your information directory (e.g. recruitment or induction of new staff, the launch of new networks, any reference on an intranet site which mentions a individual's name can become link with their personal page.
1 Maintain a clear and distinctive vision. Be cautious about what it is you're attempting to achieve and prevent compromise. Everyone will need a slice of this action - do not lose sight of the overarching goal of your system - which makes it easy to locate people who you don't know.
2 Strive for individual ownership and upkeep. Create a procedure whereby only the people concerned can make and update their entries. This may drive a far deeper sense of ownership throughout the population.
3 Strike a balance between informal and formal content. Invite people to share non-work information about themselves along with valuable company information. Look at prompting for this with"fun" questions such as:"what was the first single that you bought?" .
4 Support the photographs wherever possible. Nothing is more powerful and private than a photograph. It speaks volumes about the person, raises the curiosity rates of others also generates personal ownership of the content. If possible encourage people to include a casual photograph. The security-pass-rabbit-in-the-headlights shots rarely show people in their very best light! Better to have a picture which says more about the person and what inspires them.
5 Ensure that your product design is flexible and inclusive. Realize that different people relate to templates, prompts and structure in various ways.
6 Start using a customer-facing pilot. Critical mass is all important, so begin with a group of individuals that have a natural need to be more visible to internal clients. This may include things like encouraging purposes, existing communities or networks, or even business areas with new leadership.
7 Deliver through local enthusiasts. Centrally-driven push isn?t consistently the perfect way to engage the work force. Tap into local fans and winners if at all possible? They'll understand how best to"sell" the idea locally.
8 Utilize success stories as a marketing tool. Reinforce the usefulness of this knowledge directory at every opportunity. Publicize any successes or examples widely, and early, to reinforce your undertaking. That is a culture change project, and culture change happens one tale at a time!
9 Encourage use, but lead by example instead of edict. Avoid mandating the population and use of this information directory. People will provide much better quality articles if they think they are volunteering the information. In the end of the day, you can?t actually conscript knowledge - you can only ever volunteer it.
And let?s face it, there is little point in finding the 1 person with experience or expertise that you need, if when you call them on the telephone, they're unwilling to speak!
10 Embed into people procedures. Search for procedure and intranet"hooks" that could initiate and sustain the use of your information directory (e.g. recruitment or induction of new staff, the launch of new networks, any reference on an intranet site which mentions a individual's name can become link with their personal page.
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