Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
A Guide to Agency-Wide
Knowledge Management
for State DOTs
NCHRP Project 20-98
FINAL PRESENTATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SPONSORSHIP
PREPARED FOR NCHRP
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
This work was sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, in cooperation
with the Federal Highway Administration, and was conducted in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program,
which is administered by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.
SPY POND PARTNERS, LLC
ARLINGTON, MA
MAY 2015
DISCLAIMER: This is an uncorrected draft as submitted by the Contractor. The opinions and conclusions expressed or
implied herein are those of the Contractor. They are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the
National Academies, or the program sponsors.
Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
What is Knowledge Management?
• “Knowledge Management” (KM) is an
umbrella term for a variety of techniques
for building, leveraging and sustaining the
know-how and experience of an
organization’s employees.
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Information ≠ Knowledge
• Information
– Data and documents that have been given
value through analysis, interpretation or
compilation in a meaningful form.
• Knowledge
– The basis for a person’s ability to take
effective action or make an effective decision.
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
How Do You Manage Knowledge?
• Build it: provide opportunities for employees to
learn from their peers – both within and outside of
the organization.
• Leverage it: make sure that individuals and
project teams are learning from prior experience
and are not re-inventing the wheel.
• Sustain it: retain critical capabilities and
institutional memory as employees retire or
transition to other jobs-either within or outside of
the organization.
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
KM Methods
• Knowledge Capture (Codification)
– A technical expert can be interviewed and asked
to summarize important lessons and techniques
they have learned. These lessons and techniques
can be recorded and made available to others.
• Knowledge Transfer (Person-to-Person)
– A seasoned project manager can be asked to
mentor or collaborate with others as they tackle a
task or project.
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Why Should DOTs Be Interested in KM?
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Why Should DOTs Be Interested in KM?
• A strong workforce is critical to success
• DOTs are losing staff due to retirements
and downsizing
• Today’s workforce is more mobile –
changing jobs more frequently
• KM can reduce a DOT’s vulnerability to
loss of institutional knowledge and critical
skill sets
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
DOTs Can Use KM to…
• Build bench strength to improve agency
effectiveness and resilience
• Strengthen a culture of learning and
innovation – critical to respond to changing
DOT role and new expectations
• Build new skills and capabilities to support
needed organizational transformation to
meet changing expectations
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
An Agency-Wide KM Approach
• Strategic: Focus KM activities on the
organization’s greatest risks and
opportunities;
• Accountable: Expected outcomes are
clearly defined and tracked; and
• Agile: The most appropriate and effective
KM tools and techniques are applied to
achieve the desired outcomes.
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Key Elements of Agency-Wide KM
•
•
•
•
Leadership & Direction
Collaboration & Communities
Knowledge Codification & Dissemination
Succession & Talent Management
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Leadership & Direction
• Leadership…
– Understands how KM supports business
goals
– Shows support by designating a KM lead and
making resources available
– Establishes expectations and requests regular
updates on progress
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Collaboration & Communities
• Collaboration is valued in the agency
• Opportunities for knowledge sharing,
mentoring and problem solving are
provided – online and face to face
• Newer employees are encouraged to learn
from colleagues and know who to ask if
they have a question
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Knowledge Codification & Dissemination
• Mission-critical, unique and at-risk
knowledge is proactively identified and
captured
• Lessons learned are captured when
projects or other activities are completed
• As new activities are started, the
knowledge base is used and applied
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Succession & Talent Management
• Emerging workforce knowledge gaps and
risks are regularly reviewed
• Gaps and risks are actively addressed
through recruiting, employee onboarding,
training, and succession management
activities
• Information about the skills and training of
individual employees is made available to
enable the organization to make best
possible use of the available talent
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Implementing KM
Step 1:Assess Risks and Opportunities
Step 2: Develop a KM Strategy
Step 3: Create a KM Implementation Plan
Step 4: Monitor Results
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 1: Assess Risks and Opportunities
• Conduct a Knowledge Assessment to:
– Identify current areas of vulnerability
– Assess the agency’s current level of capability
and bench strength in key skill areas
– Identify opportunities for expanding use of
existing techniques for knowledge transfer
that are working well
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 1: Assess Risks and Opportunities
• Options:
– Quick “litmus test”
– Senior leadership workshop
– In-depth knowledge assessment survey
– Knowledge risk assessment
(see the KM Guide for details)
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 2: Develop a KM Strategy
• Purpose
– Define what the agency hopes to accomplish
through KM techniques and how
– Get key players in the organization engaged
and aligned
– Provide an opportunity for the agency
leadership to establish accountability for
moving forward
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 2: Develop a KM Strategy
• Activities
– Form a working group with broad agency
representation
– Establish goals for KM
– Identify strategies to meet goals
– Identify resources for first 6-12 months
– Seek executive endorsement and resource
commitment
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 2: Develop a KM Strategy
• Sample Goals
– Mitigate risks of knowledge loss associated with
pending retirements of experienced employees
– Build institutional memory before people leave or
retire
– Build bridges across “islands of knowledge”
– Stimulate innovation
– Strengthen agency adaptability and agility
– Increase employee efficiency and effectiveness
– Strengthen customer service
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 2: Develop a KM Strategy
• Include a balanced
set of strategies
• Provide the
motivation, means
and opportunity for
knowledge sharing
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Sample KM Strategy
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 2: Develop a KM Strategy
• Important to designate the right KM lead:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Champions KM across the organization
Works across organizational silos
Works well with information technology unit
Excellent communication and negotiation skills
Trusted by upper management
Can be located in: Research, Training, Human
Resources, Risk Management, Performance
Management or Business Support Units
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 3: Create a KM Implementation Plan
• Purpose
– Operationalize the strategy
– Make sure that the right people are involved
– Establish accountability framework
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 3: Create a KM Implementation Plan
• Activities
– Identify KM activities to carry out the strategy
– Identify metrics and evaluation methods
– Develop a detailed plan for first set of
initiatives
– Develop a communication plan
– Identify resource needs and develop a budget
– Establish a schedule of milestones
– Set up tracking and evaluation process
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 3: Create a KM Implementation Plan
• Tips
– Start small – use pilots to test different
methods
– Include activities for: startup planning, pilot,
evaluation, and evolution
– Think about how to evaluate and report on
each activity from the start
– Anticipate a mix of planned activities and
responsive services
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Selected KM Techniques
• Communities of
Practice
• Expertise Locators
– Tracking specialized
expertise or skills and
providing an online
“yellow pages” of
expertise in order to
locate appropriate
individuals in the
organization.
– Communities of
individuals with similar
roles in the
organization that meet
periodically to
brainstorm, problemsolve and share their
experiences.
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Selected KM Techniques
• Collaboration
Platforms
• Lessons Learned
– Collecting, reviewing
and publishing lessons
about successes and
unanticipated
outcomes that can be
easily accessed and
applied.
– Platforms for social
networking and forums
that allow people to
share views on related
topics of interest either in-house or
external.
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Selected KM Techniques
• Continuity Books
• Business Process
Documentation
– Writing the “how to do
my job manual,” or the
do’s and don’ts of
various organizational
processes, and
making them available
through a content
management system
– Mapping current
business processes to
provide a common
understanding of
steps, inputs, outputs,
and roles
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Selected KM Techniques
• Job Shadowing
• Mentoring
– A less experienced
employee follows a
more experienced
employee in the
organization
throughout the day,
learning through
observation
– A formal program to
link mentees (less
experienced
employees) with
mentors (more
experienced
employees) in the
organization
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Roles and
Responsibilities
Learning from Experience
Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 4: Monitor Results
• Purpose
– Provide accountability – necessary to sustain
KM
– Identify what is working, what isn’t, what
needs improvement
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 4: Monitor Results
• Key Questions
– Costs: What are we spending on KM support
activities? How much time is it consuming?
– Outputs: What are we delivering or producing?
– Exposure/Use: What is the “market penetration”
of the KM support activities? Who are we
reaching?
– Outcomes: Is the effort having its intended
impact? Are we accomplishing our goals?
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Step 4: Monitor Results
• Measurement Methods
– Costs: Track time spent by the KM lead (and others)
to plan, facilitate and support KM activities.
– Outputs: Maintain an activity log to track products and
services provided.
– Exposure/Use: Use a combination of manual methods
such as meeting sign-in sheets, and automated
methods built into systems (e.g., tracking of web page
hits or document downloads).
– Outcomes: Use surveys or interviews with
employees, or studies of specific business process
efficiency changes. Collect both quantitative and
qualitative information.
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Sample
Metrics
Learning from Experience
Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Learning from Experience
• See the KM Guide for:
– Transportation agencies with KM initiatives
– KM references relevant to transportation
agencies
– Sample implementation tools and templates
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Knowledge Management Guide
Understanding KM
Implementing KM
Learning from Experience
Where to find the KM Guide
• Print Version:
http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3666
• Web Version:
– http://sites.spypondpartners.com/kmdemo/index.html
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