What Does Successful Knowledge Management Look Like? 11 Key Attributes

Originally published 29-Mar-17

In my book, Proven Practices for Promoting a KM Program, I shared 11 attributes of a successful knowledge ecosystem drawn from my experience at a large global technology company.

Although these attributes are drawn from a technology company, they are relevant to organizations of all types and sizes. This is what success looks like.

Successful Knowledge Ecosystem Attributes

1. Everyone uses the knowledge platform every day as a regular part of their job
2. Everyone contributes experiences, contacts, lessons learned, documents, and other knowledge nuggets whenever they can
3. Everyone regularly thinks about how a piece of knowledge or a deliverable can be reused, who could use it, how to make it more useful, and where it should be located for easy access
4. Knowledge capture is embedded in everyone’s job, and is not a separate process
5. No one thinks of starting a project without looking for prior examples, proposals, lessons, etc.
6. New pieces of content are regularly suggested and added to the knowledge platform
7. Everyone knows how to find the information they need, and it is readily available to them
8. The knowledge platform is easily accessed and updated
9. The knowledge platform is linked to other functions, systems, databases, etc. to make it easy to get information from anywhere
10. Knowledge managers in each division constantly add to and improve the knowledge platform and help others use it more effectively
11. Measurable benefits result from the use of knowledge assets, and all goals are achieved

For more, see Implementing a Successful KM Program.