A Manager’s Guide to Knowledge Management Systems (KMS)

Knowledge management, in a nutshell, is how you gather, store, and organize information within your company. It’s how you capture knowledge from one person or team, and how you make that knowledge accessible to the rest of your organization.

For example, it could be the way your team organizes its Google Drive so that everyone can readily access the files they require to complete a project. Or how you share updates in a Slack channel to make it easily searchable for other teams. If you want everyone on your team to be able to share, find, and access knowledge freely, you need to have the right knowledge management system in place to organize it all.

What is a knowledge management system?

A knowledge management system (KMS) is a technology-driven platform designed to help organizations capture, store, organize, and share knowledge across teams and departments. The goal of a KMS is to ensure that valuable information is easily accessible to those who need it, fostering better decision-making, innovation, and efficiency. A KMS can range from simple document management tools to sophisticated AI-driven platforms that provide personalized insights and recommendations.

In today’s fast-paced business environment, having a robust KMS is crucial. It enables employees to quickly find the information they need, reduces redundancy, and leverages collective knowledge to solve complex problems.

A collaborative tool like Slack canvas is an easy way to improve your organization’s day-to-day information sharing efficiency, right where everyone’s already working.

Benefits of a knowledge management system

Implementing a KMS offers several significant benefits:

• Improved efficiency: Employees spend less time searching for information, leading to faster decision-making and increased productivity.
• Enhanced collaboration: A KMS fosters a collaborative environment by making knowledge-sharing seamless and accessible to all team members.
• Better decision-making: With easy access to relevant information, teams can make well-informed decisions, reducing the risk of errors.
• Knowledge retention: A KMS helps preserve organizational knowledge, preventing loss when employees leave or retire.
• Innovation boost: By encouraging knowledge-sharing, a KMS can spark new ideas and drive innovation within the organization.

Types of knowledge management systems

There are several types of KMS, each designed to meet different organizational needs:

• Document management systems (DMS): These systems store and organize documents, making it easy to retrieve and share them.
  • Example: Microsoft SharePoint
• Content management systems (CMS): These platforms manage digital content, allowing for easy creation, editing, and publishing.
  • Example: WordPress
• Learning management systems (LMS): These platforms are designed for training and development, enabling organizations to deliver educational content to employees.
  • Example: Moodle
• Collaboration tools: These facilitate communication and collaboration among team members, often integrating chat, file sharing, and project management features.
  • Example: Slack
• Knowledge bases: These are centralized repositories that store information in a structured way, making it easy to search and retrieve.
  • Example: Confluence

How to build an effective knowledge management system

To build an effective knowledge management system, it’s important to first understand the benefits it will provide, the challenges it can create among employees, and how to integrate it seamlessly into existing workflows. Then, you can decide on the KMS types your organization needs and the programs that are the best fit.

Benefits and challenges of knowledge management

Building an effective KMS involves understanding both the benefits and challenges of knowledge management. The benefits include improved efficiency, better decision-making, and enhanced collaboration. However, challenges can arise, such as resistance to change, information overload, and maintaining the accuracy and relevance of the knowledge stored.

To overcome these challenges, it’s essential to have a clear strategy and continuously update the KMS to reflect the latest information.

Integrating knowledge management into daily operations

For a KMS to be truly effective, it must be integrated into the daily operations of your organization. This can be achieved by:

• Encouraging regular use: Make the KMS an integral part of everyday tasks by ensuring it’s user-friendly and accessible.
• Providing adequate training: Equip employees with the knowledge and skills to use the KMS effectively.
• Aligning with business goals: Ensure the KMS supports the organization’s objectives and is tailored to meet specific needs.

Level up your team’s knowledge management system

Ready to improve the knowledge management at your workplace? Start off on the right foot by considering the following:

Create a culture of collaboration

A successful KMS relies on a culture of collaboration. Encourage your team to share their knowledge openly, reward contributions, and create an environment where learning from one another is valued.

Identify your experts

Every organization has experts with valuable insights. Identify these individuals and ensure their knowledge is captured in your KMS. This can be done through interviews, workshops, or by having them contribute directly to the system.

Focus on what’s meaningful

Not all information is equal. Focus on capturing high-impact knowledge that will drive results. Prioritize quality over quantity to ensure that your KMS remains a reliable resource.

Be adaptable

The business environment is constantly evolving, and so should your KMS. Regularly update the system to reflect new information, technologies, and processes. Encourage feedback from users to continuously improve the KMS and ensure it meets the organization’s needs.

How to maintain your team’s knowledge management system

“Having a knowledge management system [isn’t] productive at all,” said David Chaudron, an organizational psychologist and the Managing Partner of consulting firm Organized Change. “Using it is.”

Clearly, putting in place a knowledge management system is a must if you want to increase efficiency and productivity in your organization. But to successfully maintain that system, you need your entire team to get on board.

1. Keep things simple

A huge part of getting your team comfortable with knowledge management? Not overwhelming them with systems that are confusing or unnecessarily complex.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Keeping things simple will allow you to train your team quickly — and will make implementing your knowledge management systems a lot easier for everyone involved.

“Part of our ethos at RunRepeat is to not be bogged down by processes and tools that we don’t fully utilize, so we’ve designed a simple system using really only four pieces of software for most of the team: Slack, Google Drive, [Google] Hangouts, and Trello,” said Paul Ronto, the Chief Marketing Officer of RunRepeat, an athletic-shoe review site with a remote team of 55. “Between these four, we are able to really communicate and share knowledge and information in real time with the ability to pin, tag, assign, and attach any pertinent information.”

The processes, systems, and frameworks you use to manage knowledge at your organization are up to you — but if you want to increase efficiency, simplify wherever you can (your team will thank you!).

2. Involve your team in the process

“Allow your team to have a say,” said Erin Bailey, a Partner at the digital marketing agency Matrixx. “They’re the ones who will be dealing with knowledge management most, so it’s important to make sure they’re comfortable with the procedures. Plus, they may even have some better ideas.”

As Chaudron said, getting your team’s insight into what kind of knowledge management system they’d like to use is not only useful for decision-making but also reduces resistance to what’s ultimately chosen.

 

3. Create an environment of knowledge-sharing

It doesn’t matter what knowledge management systems you have in place: If you don’t foster an environment that promotes the free exchange of knowledge, your team may hold back (and play things close to the vest with their most valuable insights).

“In competitive work environments, employees try to outdo one another and are less likely to share what they know with others,” said Dana Case, the Director of Operations at document-filing company MyCorporation.com. “It’s important for organizations to adapt a knowledge culture where information is shared instead of safeguarded for professional gain or benefit.”

If you want your employees to embrace your knowledge management systems, encourage different teams and departments to work together and share what they bring to the table. Reward people for sharing ideas, and give individuals and teams the credit they deserve when they do.

“The more your employees understand one another, their varied backgrounds, and what experience they bring to the team, the better they’ll work together and share that tacit knowledge,” said Ronto. “As people begin to understand that all boats rise with a rising tide, they will be less likely to [hoard] their knowledge.”

4. Keep things consistent

For your team to embrace your knowledge management practices (and increase productivity as a result), you need to be consistent in how you share, store, and organize information.

“We utilize Office 365/OneDrive, which is where all client files are kept and organized by fiscal year and project,” said Bailey. “There is a firm structure for how files are organized and named to minimize confusion. Consistency is key, and needs to be applied across all client folders.”

5. Ask for feedback

The only way to be sure that the knowledge management system you’re using is right for your team is to ask them.

“Always ask for feedback,” said Case. “It’s important to know if your organization’s training tools or practices were effective. Do your employees understand how to use the new system? Does the training guide need to be updated?”

Feedback on your systems and processes will allow you to identify what is and isn’t working — and to continue to evolve until you have the ones in place that make the most sense for your team.