Sunday, June 28, 2015

What are the most Important Knowledge Management Skills

Digital Knowledge Management is not managing knowledge as an object, it enables knowledge flow, transcends into wisdom.


Knowledge is power! Today’s forward-looking organizations all claim they are in the information management business because the information is the lifeblood, knowledge, and insight are the true competitive advantage. Today’s digital workforce has to learn, de-learn and re-learn all the time, as on one hand, information is only a few clicks away; on the other hand, the knowledge life cycle is significantly shortened, hence, Knowledge Management (KM) becomes strategic imperative for business information management and talent management as well. What do you think the top three skills for knowledge managers are today? Which skills do you think will be in demand for five to ten years from now?


Holistic Thinking: KM means something different to many different people. The skills needed to depend on the specific job description of the KM in a Company. The emergent digital technology and Knowledge Management platforms are changing the way organizations do Knowledge Management. Digital Knowledge Management is not managing knowledge as an object, it is providing the management system that enables knowledge flow. Technology does change the way KM and KM platforms have evolved, the new technology has always been a driver. Managing information and knowledge becomes more critical than ever in the digital era, the static KM approach is too slow to adapt to the changes and dealing with exponential information growth, the more dynamic approach needs to well mix top-down structure & standard with bottom-up flexibility & customer satisfaction. This requires a strategic thinking and a holistic view of the entire knowledge environment and identifying how the KM initiative aligns with the company or business unit objectives. The idea of "seeing the whole"; or helping people reach a shared understanding of the whole, seems to be both a common thematic element for people who explore possibilities of effecting wholesale change and a necessary, powerful catalyst for doing so.


Soft-skills with People-centricity: Fundamentally KM is all about the people and these core behaviors won't change over time. The definition for KM is a rather wide one. There appears to be a wide consensus that soft-skills are the ones that are most in-demand! There is a set of underlying skills that will last over a 5-20 year time period. Emotional intelligence/people skills, an understanding of the underlying technology, and a willingness and ability to adapt to technology changes, communication, listening, self-reflection; It is also important to have the ability of multitasking combined with a WE-thinking approach, long-term strategy, and enterprise view, and do not to forget about patience! Knowledge and skills can be learned and acquired with the right attitude. Changing people's attitudes or behavior is so much harder than training them for the right skills or knowledge. Also some of the things mentioned in 'The Shift in Hiring: Hiring mindset and attitude: 'passion for serving customers', 'desire to learn.' Hire for attitude, train for skill and knowledge.


Wisdom: It takes wisdom to manage wisdom. Wisdom Management is a high level of Knowledge Management. Knowledge is Information or experience; it is a collection of facts and raw data. What one does with the raw data requires wisdom. Wisdom is an umbrella term, at its best, it is the amalgamation of thought, analysis, planning, prediction of consequences, and so on. It is necessary to educate people to become aware of the many dimensions of any particular initiative. Wisdom Management is to manage collective wisdom which gains more knowledge that creates more wisdom. Understanding of wisdom in the data, information, knowledge and wisdom spectrum is that wisdom is the application of knowledge to solve practical problems in running businesses more effectively.


KM is a lot about diplomacy - engaging and persuading people to take part so it can be delicate and it takes a long-term negotiation, but when people buy-in, they stay, The "rhythm" of KM needs to be synchronized with the rhythm of work, so that "KM thoughts and actions" are triggered as part of the working cycle. Hence, it takes a knowledgeable and insightful mind and learning agile attitude to manage knowledge more dynamically and holistically.

1 comments:

Very good insight in to how KM is and will play a key role in the upcoming years in IT & Business.

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