I've often wondered after the 20+ years I have been working in Knowledge Management, why are the same KM issues still happening in customer service organisations?

• Agents still need help finding the information they need.
• When Agents do find what they need, it's often overcomplicated and full of jargon.
• Customers still get an inconsistent experience across channels.
• Customers still get frustrated when agents put them on hold to ask a team manager.
• Team Managers are frustrated as they spend all their time dealing with agent queries and escalations.
• Back-office functions are still frustrated when the wrong form or incorrect details are used.
• Broadband Engineers get frustrated going to a house and finding no issue to resolve; the customer needs the correct knowledge.
• Senior Leadership get frustrated with poor customer service metrics as a result of poor knowledge management.
• Senior Leadership get very frustrated in having to deal with regulatory issues.

So why is this still happening? Why are organisations yet to get this right? Technology has come on leaps and bounds, so what's going on?

Possible reasons

Greater Complexity - In the last 20 years, organisations' Products, Services and Processes have become more complicated than before. A mobile phone 20 years ago may have had 30 things a customer may need to know. Nowadays, it could be hundreds or even thousands of different scenarios with different applications, interoperability with other devices, and multiple phone plans to handle.   

Also, the pace of change is far greater than 20 years ago. Software updates can come monthly, rather than every few years. In addition, promotions, campaigns and processes change far more frequently than before.

The belief in a Technical silver bullet - Over time, many organisations have overlaid technology upon technology to try and resolve their Knowledge Management issues and sometimes over-customise their software so much that it becomes unusable. This results in a large technical debt for the business, and end users are confused about which system they need for different knowledge.

Organisational Design - Many customer service organisations are siloed. For example the digital customer service team are separate to the contact centre team, who are in different division to the retail team, all with separate budgets and different goals and objectives. As time has moved on over the last few decades, organisations have added more channels (e.g. social, chat) to support customers than ever before, increasing the likely hood of siloes and making it easier for conflicts and confusion between the different channels.

Lack of Knowledge Management strategy - When organisations see KM as a technical problem to fix, the other components of a well-rounded Knowledge management strategy get neglected. It's easy to understand why, with the huge marketing from vendors offering the latest AI tech to solve all problems. Organisations prefer to pay a vendor to implement technology to resolve an issue than invest internally in a robust Knowledge Management strategy. 

Summary

These are my observations as to why the same issues are seen over and over again in Knowledge Management. Will these keep happening in the future? Who knows?

Organisations need a clear vision for Knowledge Management and combine that with a well-rounded Knowledge Management strategy , covering Content, People, Process, Technology, and Culture delivering the metrics and value to the end users.

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In my last blog on CX Strategy I spoke about designing an experiential KM system.  I touched upon aspects of Design Thinking to pay attention to customer feedback and reverse engineer the experience you want to deliver to your community of users. Building on this approach we spoke about using Creative KM aspects and building a team of KM professionals passionate with a customer experience mindset who engage at all levels through champion networks to ensure KM is engrained in all we do. Then where is the problem? 

Today, most KM systems are text based and don’t promote interactive learning and while rich textual content is curated we ourselves fall folly to not engaging in understanding learning practices that help in improving our cognitive abilities to how knowledge flow can transform KM.                                                     

 Let’s look at the below graphic and relate to what comes to mind when we consider our senses and apply the same to Learning. You clearly can see that as humans we assimilate better with a mix of both hearing and seeing and one great example of success could be social platform and how video based learning is becoming a part of our lives.  In this blog I share some new Learning Practices that can help us hone our own learning styles and transform KM through engaging our audience.
 

 Let us explore a few concepts and techniques that we can explore to improve our craft.

Practice Reflective Learning

Reflective Learning involves actively monitoring and assessing your knowledge, abilities and performance during the learning process.

Let’s begin with some questions that we could ask such as:

• Which part of the KM system do you find difficult to use and what are some of the ways we could improve this experience?
• Describe critical situations where you mostly use the KM system and consider it trustworthy over other sources they engage with?
• How enjoyable do they find the experience including the softer aspects such as engaging with champions?
• What are some ways in which you could contribute to the knowledge-base for showcasing their abilities better?

Now imagine you run this workshop for 25 sales leaders and through their reflective learning feedback you understand how tacit knowledge that they have gained through client conversations an actually help you visualize how to better improve your KM processes. So the obvious question is what it would lead us to. It would help us better engage in designing better experiential KM without the bias of relating KM to only a systemic approach and reporting metrics based on annual survey feedback of how users are visiting the platform.

Are you Knowledge-Telling or Knowledge-Building

If you ask leaders to engage in how Knowledge Management is enabling their business they suffer from the Knowledge-Telling bias where they depend on their instincts rather than Reflective Learning and helping us better engage with how we can serve better their teams. Knowledge-Building bias on the other hand is what KM Leaders and teams suffer from where we believe that Knowledge Sharing is enabling individuals to better learn as we are providing them with a readily available source of content that is curated by experts and delivered with a powerful search on their fingertips.

So how do we promote knowledge-building and make it a rewarding experience. It is through better engaging in sharing what we known with what we can learn from the larger community and one great example is through the activities listed in the cheat sheet below. There could be more we are familiar as it’s our own individual learning methods that we are sharing for engaging our teams.
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So does Knowledge-Building help with promoting KM. It helps Knowledge flow and improves on introducing us to our own biases. It helps improve how we assist others to better Collaborate through encouraging leaders to talk more about Declarative KM Practices and help their teams Know-Why they are KM advocates and build trust to foster Collaboration through CoPs and beyond.
 

In-time we can also see how KM is promoted with a mix of both knowledge-building where we see more champions engage in enabling others to better adopt KM practices and a mix of reflecting learning with leaders. This helps us move beyond just the larger community applying KM to realizing its benefits, acknowledging how it helps them advance / grow in their roles / responsibilities and contribute as business partners.

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What is Protégé Learning on transforming KM

Its incidental that in designing the KM strategy it’s never about measuring how much the KM team is learning because of the focus on improved knowledge sharing practices.

The ideal state for measuring KM adoption is to setup expert communities and facilitate learning. In the practical sense it is more around enabling Connections and enabling knowledge flow. Imagine a consulting firm that has critical knowledge and experts have no time to engage in social exchange and enabling authenticity of sharing information so how does learning thrive. The answer is the CoPs are marked In-active and the leaders fail to acknowledge that it’s missing a good Community Manager who is passionate about enabling Conversations through engaging in Protégé Learning.
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The protégé effect is a psychological phenomenon which helps a person to learn from information through teaching.  This has two forms Incidental where we facilitate knowledge sharing sessions and engage on researched topics around key themes to engage audiences. This could be webinars, knowledge talks or even podcasts. Contrary to this predictable approach there could be Intentional learning where we summarize a good pack of thought leadership articles and curate the content and share it in a newsletter to engage audiences to form better Connections and circle back to the CoP and enable knowledge-flow. 

In-Summary

In this article we learned about the difference between Knowledge Talking and how we can enable leaders to practice Knowledge Building. Through understanding our own biases and engaging with the larger community in Reflective Learning we understand more on the Ideal versus Expected state of Design of Knowledge Management and how we should not limit to just systemic processes and measure metrics around adoption.  In moving beyond Content and building a rewarding experience we discussed the importance of Protégé Learning and how we can engage in both incidentally and intentionally styles of engagement for enabling our broader teams to form Connections and Collaborate. Finally we learn better by teaching others and we as professionals are called to practice Interleaving and develop mastery of our existing abilities to become better Curators.

One of the most underrated and under-utilised aspects of Knowledge Management is its ability to lead to innovative solutions for customers and frontline staff. Below is a real example of award winning innovation from early on in my career at WDS (See my KM origin story)

Use Case

Whilst working for WDS, back in the early noughties, we created mobile phone knowledge for Network Operators (MNOs) and mobile phone manufacturers, as well as being an outsourced call centre for technical data queries.

We created, refined, simple and easy-to-use content for the end user. Still, some of the most time-intensive and complicated problems to solve for call centre agents and customers were setting up the Internet, WAP, MMS and Email on their mobile phones. And although we had the proper knowledge to talk users through the journey, it was still a timely process and involved the customers knowing their technical settings.

A couple of intelligent people at WDS identified this problem. So they looked for a more brilliant, innovative way to deliver customer knowledge to solve these issues. They discovered they could send components of knowledge and settings directly to the mobile phones through SMS and automatically set the customer up in a matter of seconds, instead of the 15-minute calls it would take in the call centre. Due to this innovation WDS actually won "Most Innovative use of technology in a small call centre 2001", what a great night that was. (In 2001!!!! I feel old). 

Anyway, after this innovation, WDS productised this technology and made it available directly to MNOs and Manufacturers for self-service channels. First, customers would get a new device. Then, go to the MNO or Manufacturer web site and send the settings they need directly to their phone. All from the same single source of knowledge where the original knowledge articles were housed.

This technology evolved even further over the coming years by embedding the knowledge directly onto SIM cards and Manufacturer devices. So the moment a user inserted a new sim card or entered their email address, the correct settings and configurations were automatically configured without the customer knowing it. Solving a problem before the customer realised they had one.

This technology saved millions of dollars in the cost to service customers for these particular problems. And customers nowadays take for granted that setting up email and the internet on your phone is easy and automatic.

Summary

A well-rounded Knowledge Strategy should have continuous improvement and innovation embedded as part of the process. It should look at customers' problems and how knowledge can help innovatively find a better solution. Don't just think about knowledge as a static piece of content. Think about how a combination of knowledge and technology can provide real customer benefits.

Knowledge Management, when done right, will help lead to innovation.

Innovation is a buzzword for organizations striving to be the best in the highly competitive world today. How do we use the collective brains of an organization to innovate?

The easy and the simplest answer is to break the knowledge silos that most organizations struggle with, more so with flexible and WFH culture becoming a part of the corporate world. And the fact of the matter is that Hybrid and WFH culture is here to stay so the organizations that fail to come up with ways to break these silos now should be ready to face even bigger and harder-to-solve challenges in the future in terms of knowledge loss and ability to maintain their competitive edge.

Overcoming knowledge silos requires concerted action to create a culture of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and openness within an organization.

So, what are knowledge silos? 

It is the long prevalent culture where knowledge and information from a team member or a team stay within the team with no protocols in place to take it to the whole organization.

The lack of knowledge management protocols and processes to ensure the distribution of knowledge across teams and countries costs an organization lot in terms of money with the amount of time spent in research and repurposing the knowledge, tools, and processes already available within your organization.

The result is redundant work, loss of time and productivity which would have otherwise been utilized for innovation, taking care of other key priorities, and opportunities for improving customer experience.

Why Knowledge Silos Occur:

The knowledge silos occur mostly because of a missing system to seamlessly integrate and distribute knowledge across the teams and organization.

Another critical reason for knowledge silos is the failure of the leadership to communicate the organization’s vision clearly to the organization. It trickles down to the employees who fail to embrace the knowledge-sharing culture and veer off in different directions blocking the road to innovation that comes when people from different backgrounds and skills bring together their brains.

The absence of seamless integration between departments might end up impacting the company’s credibility. For example, in the absence of a knowledge management system, the sales team might end up approaching a customer for selling a product or a service that is already used by the customer, due to a lack of sufficient documentation in place.

It also might be the case, that a sales proposal for a particular service is already in place as designed by another team, however, has to be recreated from scratch due to a lack of visibility of the available assets.

How to Break the Knowledge Silos:

Overcoming knowledge silos requires concerted action to create a culture of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and openness within an organization.

Integrate knowledge management (KM) in your organizational goals: The key is to have knowledge management, not as an individual entity but embedded into the organization’s culture and individual employees’ day-to-day work.

Embrace the collaboration culture: When you collaborate, you share and learn, this is the basis of sharing knowledge and breaking silos. Research proves that companies that actively collaborate definitely lead the competitive race.  Create opportunities for team members to interact and collaborate regularly.

Recognize and reward collaboration: The next step is to recognize and reward employees who are committed to collaboration and knowledge sharing. This can include bonuses, promotions, and other incentives that encourage collaboration and break down silos.

Promote a culture of learning: foster a culture of continuous learning and development by providing opportunities for employees to learn new skills, attend workshops and participate in training programs. This helps break down silos by allowing employees to understand other areas of the organization and how they contribute to the overall mission.

Promote cross-functional teams: Encourage cross-functional teams where employees from different departments work together on projects. This not only fosters collaboration but also helps employees develop a broader understanding of the company’s goals.

Having a KM lead culture is a sure-shot way to ensure the seamless communication of data, information as well as customer experience. When the whole organization is on the same page when it comes to sharing knowledge, experiences, and insights, the outcome is bound to be an exceptionally innovative and motivated workforce and delivery of high-quality customer experiences.

Whether implementing a new Knowledge Management initiative or maintaining Knowledge Management in BAU, customer service organisations need to consider the following roles for a Knowledge Team. 

All organisations are different, so the size and scale of the team may vary, and you may have individuals performing multiple roles simultaneously. 

KM Exec Sponsor – This person represents the highest position in the organisation for Knowledge Management. This person supports the ongoing strategy of Knowledge Management and represents Knowledge Management at the highest level.

Knowledge Manager – The Knowledge Manager is the most critical role for KM success. They are accountable for Knowledge Management within an organisation. They work with the KM Exec sponsor to set a KM vision and strategy and provide leadership to the rest of the team to manage knowledge effectively. A Knowledge Manager needs to ensure they deliver continuous value to customers and frontline staff and share the value across all relevant stakeholder groups.

Knowledge Workers (Knowledge Analysts / Knowledge Engineers / Knowledge Editors / Content Editors) – These will likely be the most numerous role in the KM Team. They manage new and updated knowledge for customers and the frontline across the content lifecycle. In addition, they drive ongoing end-user adoption and engagement. They continuously improve customer and end users' knowledge experience using metrics and insights. 

Knowledge Architect – This role will depend on the organisation and the systems in place. However, they are responsible for the underlying taxonomy of a Knowledge base. They usually represent the technical requirements of the wider Knowledge Management team and work closely with the Knowledge Systems manager.

KM Champions – These frontline users work together to promote Knowledge Management best practices amongst the frontline and represent the end user's voice to the broader knowledge management team.

Knowledge Systems Manager – If you use an out-of-the-box vendor solution, you won't necessarily need this role. It depends on the system you are using, but this could be an IT, Developer or UX person responsible for the ongoing upkeep and maintenance of the Knowledge Management platform.

Agile – If your organisation follows Agile, you may need a KM Product owner and Scrum Master to help facilitate Agile methodology.