Digital, Cloud, Intranet Part 2 — Effective knowledge management, teams are engaged and happy.

In part 1 we looked at the frustrations we have in business when it comes to disseminating information to our people, where we store it and how we access it.

Here in part 2 I’ll give you some great tips on how to manage all those things in a better way.

This isn’t a ‘magic bullet’ fix, it’s a look at how we can build better systems for our information that work for your business and people.

I want to make one assumption here about human behaviour generally.

We all like routine. (well most) It may not seem like it sometimes, as we want to be sporadic, but we feel ‘safe’ in a routine. Brushing our teeth, routes to work, certain foods we eat, watching specific TV programmes.

The Example.

I can guarantee, that the first time you start a new job, you will take the route to work on your first day that you took to the interview. (unless a mini drama ensues!).

You’ll keep that route for a while, until it makes you late. You analyse, you create a new route (say for heavy traffic). After a year or so, you will probably have 3 or 4 known routes to work, and you will pick the relevant one for the weather, traffic conditions or time of year/day.

Ok, why is this important? Because it’s an embedded behaviour that has grown, improved and strengthened around a single reason; ‘getting to work on time’.

Let’s make our own single reason

‘Accessing, communicating and using important information in a business system’.

The Ultimate Aim — A system that guarantees engagement from all your people.

The key here is not assuming that everyone is a ‘tech super user’, as we are talking about digital, intranets and technology and access to them,

Back in part 1 I mentioned 3 groups of people, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials.

These groups span an age range of late teens through to over seventy. Your workforce may well have that kind of range.

How about we make the access and use of our data as intuitive as possible and ‘easy’ for all those groups, up front.

Technology misunderstood can make us feel uncomfortable at best, and stupid at worst. (sorry to all the nerds, me included. ‘Over technical’ isn’t sexy for most.)

Aim stage 1 — Building our new digital knowledge management system; let’s start with some basic lists:

Those questions that drive its existence:

Who needs to see the information?

Why do they need to see it?

When do they need to see it?

Where do they need to use it?

How can they access it?

Rule — the design is user driven. Ask the people who will use the system those questions.

(Note — if you buy a system solution, digital, cloud or otherwise, and have not looked at these questions, it’s already going to be challenging to make it effective.)

Those questions that drive how it’s used:

What are user habits with technology in the team?

Why will they use the system?

Which devices will they use to access the system?

When will the team need to access the information?

How much time do they have for the information?

What do they expect the system to do?

Rule — gather all the metrics. When you launch any business tool collect metrics that include; use frequency, device used, areas visited, etc.

Aim stage 2 — Making sure all our people understand it, love it, use it;

A few great tips for on-boarding:

Tip 1- The Starbucks queue test. — “I’m 4 people down in the queue, about 1 minute or so from ordering my skinny, extra hot, macchiato. What can I do on the new work ‘knowledge management’ system that’s meaningful?”

Answer: access, read, move, add, select something that I need to do, with the least amount of clicks and hassle. The need to feel like a task was ‘completed’ is critical for users.

Tip 2- It’s the same everywhere! — “I need to read this document in the taxi…(phone), now I need to show it to the client… (tablet), now I need to edit the content at home…(PC/Mac). How can I make sure it’s always up to date, live and accessible anytime anywhere?”

Answer: store the business knowledge in a single place, a direct source of truth. That’s always on, secure, that will be accessed easily and is fast on any device.

Tip 3- Give training, but supply self help tools. — “Here I am, on the train, trying to access a document and make some amends… I can’t find the instructions for updating online docs anywhere! They must be on the file server in the office. The I.T. team aren’t answering my calls (sorry I.T. you’re busy), arghhhhh, technology is so frustrating!”

Answer: Store the self help documents or information right where the access point for the system is. Help people to help themselves, they feel empowered, and will get used to using the system a bit at a time. ‘Deep end’ learning rarely works, especially under pressure.

Aim stage 3 — Keeping the system simple and easy to use, that improves over time;

Thinking about knowledge management from a size and scope perspective.

Someone asked me a question once, or I read it somewhere (NLP rings a bell actually).

“How do you eat an elephant?”

“One piece at a time!”

We as humans love bite size information.

If the Knowledge system at work has a massive amount of information it’s overwhelming. (*sigh* compliance etc etc)

If the system it’s all stored on is overwhelming in its complexity. (*cough* Sharepoint anyone?)

And, my ability to access it has an overwhelming number of steps and hurdles and hoops or a specific device. (*grrrrr*, can’t log in… wrong password… wrong folder… wrong server….)

Why on earth would I use it….

How can we make sure we get initial traction?

Trial it.

So, why don’t we launch our new knowledge management system to a small set of employees, one team. They can feedback and we can tweak. Some really easy areas of the business, start small, think modular.

Train it.

Let’s make sure that before a department gets it, that they all know it’s coming. Have awareness training, manage the denial that it’s needed, the resistance when people feel it’s forced upon them. Look for some people to be early adopters and advocates in the teams we are rolling it out to.

Track it.

Monitor the uptake and use of the system, so we can pay attention and find out why use may be falling off. Maybe make some small tweaks from user feedback. Lets keep it rollin rollin rollin.

The Upshot.

“Will all this really help? Can’t I just buy a complex, sandbox style, super expensive intranet, have my I.T. team install it, roll it out everywhere and have all my people use it? (Just tell them to?)”

Well… You could, lots of companies do.

But there are alternatives. Simpler, modular solutions that don’t require an army of technicians to build and manage. That users actually enjoy using because they have been involved in the ‘shaping’ of the solution.

That when they have been using the system a while, and your metrics show stellar engagement, they will wonder how they ever managed without it.

Win.

We all need to embrace the march of digital knowledge management.

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Mark Lloyd — Coach, Trainer, Mentor, Consultant.