After several attempts to get some Web 2.0 tools up and running in my organization, all of them unsuccessful, I have struggled to figure out a way to capture the expertise and knowledge of our employees. Yammer, wiki pages, blogs... none of them have taken off. There are 300+ employees who work for, or with, my business unit and I am a learning and development department of one. I can't know it all, so I hoped to get some tips from Neal's session today on "Intercultural Knowledge Management in Global Organizations."
It was reassuring to hear other attendees talk of their struggles to collect the knowledge in their own organizations and how to make it accessible to those who need it. Recruiting champions for this type of effort is the first place to start. Who needs this information and who will populate the database? Get those people behind the effort and you're more likely to succeed.
Use available technology, but do not let it become an IT project. It's for the people, by the people.
One activity I struggled with today was when we were asked to describe what our databases would look like. What kinds of information it would capture and share. I was uncomfortable coming up with the database structure knowing I wasn't the person who would be using the information. What about my "customers' " needs? What kind of information would be most helpful for them to have access to? How will they want to access/input information? What features would make them more likely to use it? These are questions I cannot answer, well, not if I want the database to valuable, anyway.
I appreciated having a framed discussion around what a knowledge management system would look like, but I guess this is another task I'll have to look to my coworkers for help in designing and implementing!
Hester Darcy
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