Our Knowledge Management Processes

A Learning Organisation

The Fundamentals

In order to becoming a true 'learning organisation' we have designed our company from the ground up, putting the critical elements in place to facilitate the acquisition, transfer and application of valuable knowledge for the benefit of our clients. Of prime importance is our knowledge-based approach along with the culture we have created and the organizational structure we have implemented. These are explicitly designed to facilitate our main strategic goal, which is to create a knowledge-centric company.

In addition to these fundamental elements, we have put the same amount of thought and effort into the processes that we use internally - everything we do is aimed at generating, capturing, transferring and applying knowledge for the benefit of our clients.

Networking

We use cutting edge Web technologies to enable our operation as a virtual company. The technology allows us to stay in touch with one another wherever we are and to share recently acquired knowledge. We are already using some of the most modern internetworking tools that allow remote collaborative teamworking and knowledge sharing.

Knowledge Base

We have developed a very powerful, comprehensive yet accessible knowledge base. This is available to everyone within the company - both to draw upon and contribute to. It is accessible to our consultants wherever they may be so that they can make use of the most recent knowledge that the company has gained. The processes that surround the access to the knowledge base are all designed to ensure that not only do people share knowledge they have acquired but that it is shared as soon as practicable after its acquisition. This highly dynamic means of capturing knowledge can then be exploited on a daily basis by our consultants.

Active Debriefing

To exemplify the way we work, one of the knowledge processes we routinely undertake, active debriefing, is summarised below. Active debriefing is done on completion of any assignments undertaken by our consultants to extract the knowledge that they have gained during that work so that it can be re-used to the advantage of future clients. The key features of active debriefing are described below:

Speed - the active debriefing process must begin as soon after the assignment as possible so that the knowledge is still fresh in the mind of the consultant or team.

Involve Everyone - everyone who had an input to the assignment, whether internally or as part of the client-facing team, has to participate in the process.

Openness - to ensure that we can learn any lessons it is essential to highlight mistakes as well as things that worked well. This can only be done in an atmosphere of complete openness where participants are encouraged to be frank. Personal criticism is allowed but all criticism must be constructive.

Familiar procedure - the process is run to a familiar and re-usable format. This has several advantages: people get to know what will be required in the active debriefing sessions so they learn how to critically evaluate what they and their colleagues do on an assignment. It also encourages a way of thinking and a way of working that is highly effective.

Output Captured - the object of the process is to capture new knowledge and continuously improve the way we do things. The format for recording the lessons to be learned is also predetermined and therefore becomes familiar to people. It also allows easy comparison with the output form any previous active debriefing activity to avoid duplication across our cellular structure.