Stage I: Strategic Planning

Knowledge management is not about managing knowledge per se or about managing knowledge workers, rather it is about managing the context within which knowledge is created, shared and used.

For effective implementation, a knowledge management initiative needs to be broken down into a number of small manageable projects without losing sight of the big picture.

Therefore, the implementation of any knowledge management project calls for a comprehensive understanding of the context in which the KM project is being undertaken. The task can be quite intimidating and overwhelming because of the complexity involved.

The Know-Net method aims to break a KM initiative into manageable projects without losing sight of the big picture. Stage I of the project, can be broken down into six smaller steps, each of which can be managed as a series of separate activities. This is illustrated in the figure and table below.

Stage I: Strategic Planning for Knowledge Management Steps Activities 1. Providing Leadership Meet the CEO/MD/top management Form & educate a KM Initiation Team 2. Link knowledge management strategy with corporate strategy Organise workshop/conduct interviews Analysis Identify vision, strategy and objectives Identify critical success factors Link strategy to critical success factors, improvement needs, key people and processes Select the key business area and process of focus 3. Perform knowledge analysis Determine knowledge orientation; current and desirable Identify critical knowledge assets Analyse KM infrastructure 4. Assess risk and change readiness Change Readiness Assessment Stakeholder analysis 5. Develop the case for KM Explain the need for knowledge management Project Description Provide solution detail Develop performance measurement and evaluation plan Determine resource and funding requirements Develop awareness generation and education plan Determine the implementation Schedule 5. Obtain top management approval Improve awareness of the executive group Present the KM proposal Form the KM team

Strategic planning is an important stage of a knowledge management project because it will help an organisation quickly focus on knowledge that counts and delivers value to the firm. Based on the corporate strategy and objectives a clear knowledge management strategy needs to be defined to help the firm set forth the criteria for choosing what knowledge a firm plans to pursue and how it will go about capturing and sharing it. A key deliverable of this stage I will be the creation of a business case which would set the scope of the project by designating critical knowledge for the business and identifying resources of critical knowledge. The focus of this stage would be to convince the top management of the need and benefits of knowledge management and gain their full-fledged commitment for the initiative.

Getting full-fledged support of senior management is critical to the success of a KM initiative. Therefore, the focus of the KM initiative in stage 1 will be contingent on the level of buy-in at the top.

There could be two different scenarios during the initiation phase of a knowledge management project.

1. The CEO / MD of the firm is convinced of the need for a knowledge management initiative and the project is initiated by her/him. S/he could either decide to form an internal team undertaking the project or hire an external consultant who would also be supported by an internal team. In either case, the information collection exercise becomes easier and the task of obtaining the top management approval should become mush easier.
2. A middle/senior manager in the organisation initiates the project. In this case, the success of the project will be contingent on obtaining full-fledged top management support. Therefore, the focus during the initial phase of the project should be on creating high awareness and garnering much more than word of mouth support from top management.

Step 1: Providing leadership

Step 2: Link corporate strategy with knowledge management

Step 3: Perform knowledge analysis

Step 4: Assess change readiness

Step 5: Develop a business case for KM

Step 6: Obtain top management approval

We provide tools, guidelines and lessons from the field to help the organisation effectively navigate these steps. However, the sequence and the emphasis on the steps might differ from organisation to organisation.