KNOWLEDGE CATALOGING: Knowing what you already know
All companies invest in or have access to some forms of business intelligence. That intelligence might come in the form of POS analysis, syndicated industry reports, internally-produced white papers or primary market research (to only name a few).
Over time, the amount of that intelligence should progressively increase. Like a student progressing through grades in school, the more intelligence a company amasses, the smarter it should become. Learning basic addition progresses to multiplication tables, which leads to learning algebra and calculus.
But organizations don’t maintain learning as well as individuals do. Organizations lack continuity as people move positions or leave the company. Different skill sets, different interests and different priorities cause distraction and the need to relearn old lessons.
To this end, companies need to address three challenges related to internal information:
- Organizing information to make it easier to access
- Providing tools so foundational knowledge is not forgotten as the organization changes and grows.
- Identifying where the market is driving the need for new knowledge.
All of these grow exponentially with the scope and amount of information being managed, and the size of the organization utilizing it.
KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW, AGAIN
We are big believers in intellectual sustainability based on two objectives:
- Reduce, reuse and recycle the knowledge you’re already invested resources to produce or acquire: It is not the quantity, but quality of information that has value. If anything, the more data a company has, the more difficult it can be to effectively translate that data into concise and actionable insight.
- Teach employees to apply intelligence that benefits the entire organization, not just the progression of one’s personal career: The more insightful information is, the more it should have application across the broader business. It should be easy and rewarding for employees to share and reapply learning across functions and teams.
To this end, we do the heavy lifting to compile and process the reams or gigabytes of data you already have to create a single knowledge repository. Depending on the particular needs, this may be:
A relatively simple filing system with tags and categories and a searchable table of contents to help companies quickly locate files that potentially contain the answers they seek (now or in the future).
A longer journey that starts with a list of business or research questions to be answered as the information is compiled and combed through.
A more complex software-based solution that utilizes Knowledge Hound or Tableau to create an integrated database for future analysis and visualization.
The production of materials (typically presentations) that provide foundational knowledge (like category overviews) to ensure all employees, existing and new, operate with the same basic understanding of the business, and to make it easy to translate this knowledge to external parties.
Of course, information does have an expiration. And incomplete information that is unknowingly incomplete can be very dangerous. For these reasons, we also use knowledge cataloging to help clients develop a future learning plan. Awareness of what and how information has been used in the past often provides helpful guidance related to what information will be most beneficial in the future.
TIME TO GROW YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Does your organization lack organization of its insight?
Is time wasted searching for information that is known to exist, but can’t be found?
Do you regularly feel the déjà vu of re-answering the same questions?
Do you have a growing list of questions needing answers?
Contact us to discuss how we can help catalog your knowledge and convert more questions into answers.