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Knowledge Management "Know How To" guides

We have developed a series of "Know How To" guides to help you implement, embed and sustain good knowledge management practice in your organisation.

The guides give you the basics you need to understand each knowledge management technique and the actions needed to implement them effectively. Each 'Know How to' guide stresses the importance of measuring success and demonstrating the value of the technique to your organisation.

These guides are only one component of the assistance we can provide to your organisation. TFPL also provides:

• Public Access courses which give you detailed insight into these techniques and others.
• One to one and team coaching.
• Bespoke in-house training.
• Consultancy and advice.

Click on a subject heading below to access our free Know-How to guides and learn more about how we can support you:

• Knowledge Harvesting
• Knowledge Transfer Baseline
• The Gifted Network
• Knowledge Assets
• Communities of Practice
• Understand, Support and Improve Knowledge Flows
• Align and Blend the enablers of Knowledge Management New

Knowledge Harvesting

We provide practical assistance to help you embed harvesting into your organisation's routine approaches for managing leavers, movers and joiners. This can include:

• Scheming a harvesting toolkit with you.
• Leading on harvesting activity for a few high priority staff with you providing support and learning by shadowing.
• Coaching you to take over the harvesting lead role and providing support until you become self sufficient, ensuring that you have clear measures for your programme before we leave.

For some organisations we then act as trusted partners and check on your performance from time to time so that you continue to develop your approach and keep up to date with the new techniques that are always emerging.

To read more about our Knowledge Harvesting training course, go to Capturing and transferring knowledge from those who have it, to those who need it.

Download guide

Knowledge Transfer Baseline

Establishing a knowledge transfer baseline is a key step in planning any knowledge management or knowledge transfer programme. TFPL's Knowledge Health Check tool takes this approach a little further. The Health Check process:

• Considers the objectives and strategies of your organisation.
• Examines in depth how its current approaches to Knowledge Management are supporting these objectives.
• Advises you on the KM steps that will increase the performance of the organisation.

We can help you to undertake health checks yourself or work with you to undertake them. The results will highlight strengths and weaknesses of your organisation's approaches to exploiting its knowledge, experience and information. This evidence then underpins critical recommendations for action including a practical Knowledge Transfer programme.

To read more about our Knowledge Transfer training course, go to Knowledge Transfer – making Knowledge Sharing real.

Download guide

The Gifted Network

Ensuring that new staff becomes fully effective in their new job in the shortest possible time requires more than a well thought out induction programme. Often formal inductions overwhelm or don't seem relevant at the time.

On the job training or coaching often has to be delivered under pressure with little space for the individual to recognise what they aren't being told and need to know in order to perform well. This is why TFPL's approach is so useful.

So what is a Gifted Network©?

• Identifying the key individuals that it will be helpful for a new employee to meet before they start – the people who have the knowledge they'll need most.
• Ensuring that these contacts are ready and willing to help.
• Providing the person joining the team with the contact details of each network member and why they will be useful to know.
• Encouraging the new starter to make contact and build relationships with their network from Day 1.

The Gifted Network approach can work for people joining a project or programme team too.

TFPL can help you review the effectiveness of your current approach to induction and can help you get Gifted Networks©? up and running in your organisation.

To read more about our Knowledge Transfer training course (which includes how to create a Gifted Network©?), go to Knowledge Transfer – making Knowledge Sharing real.

Download guide

Knowledge Assets

A knowledge asset brings together guidance and processes, core documents, good practice and experts to provide a sped up effective induction. The asset aims to enable staff to work efficiently and reliably and to prevent knowledge loss as people change jobs or leave the organisation.

We have established a unique 9 step action plan that will help you:

• Identify where assets are needed.
• Design assets for your organisation.
• Ensure their use.
• Measure their impact.
• Establish basic principles for ensuring assets remain current and relevant.

We can also coach you through an assets programme and develop assets for you using SharePoint and other online information management tools.

To read more about our Knowledge Transfer training course (which includes Knowledge Assets), go to Knowledge Transfer – making Knowledge Sharing real.

Download guide

Communities of Practice

These are exceptionally good enablers for facilitating knowledge sharing across organisations and with partners. The evidence for their effectiveness spans the public and the private sectors and a wide range of organisations.

Planning and starting up community programmes requires support from stakeholders in several parts of an organisation. TFPL can help you:

• Plan how to obtain this support.
• Enlist senior champions.
• Coach you in developing communities in key areas.
• Facilitate communities and manage them through their life cycle.
• Establish community leader networks.
• Communicate the added value communities are contributing to your organisation.

Our support ranges from simple advice to full involvement in your community activity.

To read more about our Knowledge Transfer training course (which covers the basics of Communities of Practice), go to Knowledge Transfer – making Knowledge Sharing real.

For more detailed training go to our course on Launching Sustaining and Measuring Communities and Virtual Networks.

Download guide

Understand, Support and Improve Knowledge Flows

Knowledge is the lifeblood of an organisation – and, if an organisation is to operate effectively and efficiently, its knowledge should flow freely and quickly from the parts of the organisation that have it to the parts that need it.

TFPL's approach to helping organisations understand, support and improve knowledge flows is helpful for all organisations, regardless of their size and complexity, and is vital given the current challenging economic climate.

Our approach is centred on 9 simple steps that will help you understand and map the flow of knowledge in your organisation. The steps are based on the flow of knowledge through the cycle of:

• Creation
• Sharing
• Transfer
• Retention

Also included in the Know How To guide is a list of tools and techniques that can be used to enable the flow of knowledge through the cycle and a 5 Top Tips based on our experience and lessons learned.

Download guide

Align and Blend the enablers of Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management activities are at their most successful when supported by three essential resources: Organisational (people based), Process, and Technology enablers. Knowledge Managers need to know how to align and blend these enablers to connect people to people, people to the information and knowledge they need, and to the tools and technologies that help them collaborate and store and find information and knowledge.

TFPL's approach to helping Knowledge Managers achieve the desired blend of the enablers – the blend necessary to help their organisation meet its objectives – is covered by a five point plan. This Know How To guide explains each point of the plan and links the reader to other TFPL know how to guides that underpin this approach.

Download guide

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