Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have suffered immeasurable losses in different ways. This has led to an increase in remote businesses with changing models and technologies. Communication, collaboration, and event interpretation have now become very important. Most organizations now have more than 50% and up to 75% of their employees working remotely.

While there has been consistency in the level of productivity for many remote workers, others also struggle to find their productivity. For most people, some of the reasons for a drop in productivity relate to communication problems, difficulty accessing information or lack of access, etc. More people now spend more time looking for information.

From all indications, COVID-19 has affected knowledge management, which has led to an increase in the importance of trustworthy information with easy access during these uncertain times.

Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management is the process that organizations use to identify, capture, store, share, apply, and leverage collective knowledge for improving performance. It helps the organization coordinate and organize management actions and quickly identify people with expertise and transfer the necessary knowledge to people who decide how to deal with the crisis whenever needed.

Knowledge is a valuable resource for any organization. During a crisis that requires rapid responses such as COVID-19, appropriate knowledge management is essential to facilitate and enable effective management efforts. According to a top essay writing service and a knowledge com, managers can use effective knowledge management to use critical resources effectively to develop strategies to mitigate the damages as a result of the crisis and ensure that their organization survives and prospers.

Also, the use of information technology has become even more critical. It has become a facilitator of Knowledge Management and Crisis Management and can help organizations reach their goals.

During a health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare organizations tend to suffer the biggest hits, and the effects only get stronger. Therefore, finding ways to contain infections and also reduce exposure risks to reduce the damage is a problem that needs solving immediately. It has become apparent that there is a need to use IT to reduce the level of pressure in the front-line health workers, solve practical problems, and improve the prevention of an epidemic.

While there are Crisis Management frameworks that give organizations valuable instructions to help them manage crisis effectively, it is impossible not to state how important it is to apply knowledge in handling the COVID-19 crisis. A vital crisis management practice in making accurate and timely decisions related to preventing, preparing, mitigating, and recovering from the crisis. However, you can’t make any strategic decisions without having and applying critical knowledge. This is why it is essential to have knowledge management practices to use in handling crises.

It is common knowledge that IT always plays a good role in enabling critical knowledge management processes to support decision-making. In the same way, Knowledge Management is also a mechanism that adds value to the organization by applying IT. This enables the exertion of the full potentials within an intellectual asset and engenders an effective response to the crisis at hand.

How to Identify Knowledge Requirements

In a statement by Paul Tella, author of cheap assignment writing service, he mentioned that the most critical Knowledge Management task is identifying the required knowledge to successfully implement a plan to curb and prevent a pandemic situation such as COVID-19. The more we're able to learn the characteristics of an emerging disease that's infectious and spreads very fast, the easier and better it is to mitigate and manage its impact.

It is necessary to establish and deploy a Knowledge Management platform that collects and manages an updated knowledge. For covid-19, the needed knowledge is the clinical features of acute respiratory diseases, the world situation (such as the total number of confirmed and suspected cases), measures and norms of pandemic prevention, as well as government regulations.

The use of Knowledge Management platforms can help in enhancing the reliability, integrity, and accuracy of knowledge. This can help mitigate fear and panic, which misinformation causes and allows for disseminating critical knowledge, continuously refined and evaluated when necessary.

Also, the acquisition of critical knowledge is used to manage the crisis by learning and identifying past experiences and using it to cope with similar cases. An example of this is the outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003.

Healthcare organizations may create a knowledge base of best practices to deal with this crisis from past experiences. From the experience of the SARS outbreak in 2003, there were several deaths and infections among health workers and medical staff. Therefore, it is imperative to provide support to healthcare workers to reduce the risk of transmitting the disease among health workers and patients. This also helps to consolidate and maintain the achievement of prevention and control of the pandemic.

A normal IT infrastructure such as repositories, technology platforms, firewalls, and networks is critical for critical Crisis Management assets to facilitate Knowledge Management activities so that healthcare professionals don’t get infected with the virus. Knowledge Management activities that are supported by IT offer critical knowledge which relates highly to the current task. Getting the needed expertise from experts in infection control through internet-based learning platforms would be effective in helping individuals to improve their understanding of knowledge that relates to healthcare in different ways. Examples include the proper way to don and doff personal protective equipment and hand hygiene and promote adaptability by internalizing and translating this knowledge into actions.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world massively, and the most significant burden of it falls on the shoulder of healthcare organizations. The mortality and morbidity rate means that the demand for effective crisis management is crucial now than ever. The sustainability and survival of individuals and organizations relish on their knowledge to deal with this crisis. This has proven the importance of knowledge management to empower functioning knowledge necessary for surviving the crisis.

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Researchers in the field of health have been emphasizing the concept of mental and spiritual health along with physical health as an indicator and component of health and hygiene for many years. In such a way, mental and spiritual health positively affects physical health and accelerates the healing process.

Every event that happens in human life, whether bitter or sweet, contains experiences and lessons that, if learned correctly, can be helpful in the critical moments ahead.

Suffering from the illness of oneself or one's relatives is one of these events. Unfortunately, I also joined many patients with the lesser-known coronavirus. The severity of the disease was so great that I had to be hospitalized for some time.

What I realized from the beginning of the fight with this disease until the fair recovery and health was the importance and necessity of strengthening the psychological and spiritual dimension and strengthening the physical strength.

In fact, rather than weakening the human physical powers, the disease, due to the virus's direct and indirect mechanisms, attacks the human emotional and mental strengths and makes it weaker and weaker.

Therefore, maintaining hope for the future and vitality and trusting and believing in the metaphysical has a two-way effect on healing. On the one hand, it mentally makes the disease easier to bear, and on the other hand, it helps the body and the body's defense forces in the face of the virus.

Accordingly, psychologists and counselors' presence alongside physicians and nurses in the treatment of patients helps patients fight the disease.

Before I got this disease, I was probably less aware of the importance of counselors' and psychologists' presence - those who enhance patients' mental health - in treating this disease.

As a personal experience, the days of hospitalization, the presence of a psychologist in the room, and his one-by-one talks with patients gave a unique variety to the treatment process. He calmly began to talk with coronavirus patients and listened keenly to their words and concerns.

On the other hand, for those who were unwilling to accept the new conditions of the disease and this temporary lifestyle, he first revealed the truth and made them accept these conditions. And in the next step, with motivational and hopeful sentences, he prepared them to fight this disease and hope for a bright future.

He came to us, and it was our turn. We started talking; Maybe for more than half an hour. These direct conversations, albeit brief ones, helped to better understand the situation and deal with the disease.

Boosting immunity by Story-telling

One of the highlights of this counselor's approach was the use of stories and memories he witnessed during the nine months of counseling at the Corona Hospital and ICU. In fact, he knowingly or unknowingly used the same story-telling technique used in knowledge management. These true stories cause the patient to identify with the person whose great spirit story and his or her dominance over the disease being told.

Perhaps the experience will save the life of a patient!

Other notable points in the counselor's work style were the sympathy and questioning of patients who had gone through the difficult stages of the disease, were on the verge of recovery, and experienced the last days of their hospitalization.

Perhaps, he would no longer have the opportunity to talk to these people, and he would make the most of this opportunity for the remaining few days, asking about their experiences during treatment until they recovered.

He would ask

- What experience did they have during their illness?

- And what do they say to someone who has just contracted the disease?

And would record the patient's experiences.

He also asked the patients who were recovering completely to think about these questions. In his next visit, he repeated the same questions and wrote down the result of the patient's thought and intellectual conflict with the question.

His critical phrase to attract and persuade patients was:

"These tips and your experiences may be able to save another dear life."

Manage knowledge without taking the name of knowledge management!

At the end of our conversation, I thanked him and shared the concept of "knowledge management" with him. I explained that what he is doing is exactly in line with this concept of knowledge management.

This consultant may have been unfamiliar with "knowledge management" until then, but what he was doing and applying in practice was pursuing the concept of knowledge management and applying its tools and techniques, without naming knowledge management.

This is where we always remember the words of knowledge management experts who, in implementing knowledge management in life, home, workplace, and organization, emphasize on. First of all, promoting and consolidating the culture of knowledge management and paying attention to the principle of profitability of knowledge management on a micro and macro scale.

Illuminate the future path with the light of the past

Once we come to believe that "the past is a beacon for the future" (i.e., knowledge management), we set foot on the path, and step by step - with the help of experienced knowledge management consultants - the way becomes smoother and more transparent. As the famous Iranian poet Attar of Nishapur[1] says:

You stroll in the path of the goal and do not hesitate

The road itself tells you how, whence, and in which direction to go

Purpose of writing this text

1- Transferring the experience of dealing with the coronavirus; A virus has plagued the world for more than a year.

2- Gratitude to the hospital's medical staff, especially the less mentioned group of counselors and psychologists.

3- Experience in paying attention to knowledge management and using its techniques in treating coronavirus patients, referring to the method of one of the hospital psychologists.

4- Paying attention to the necessity of prioritizing belief and trust in the effectiveness of knowledge management in making individual and professional activities more productive.

Be healthy and fresh!

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Knowledge management is the practice of creating, capturing, storing, and making accessible all the information that helps an organization achieve its directives. The resulting knowledge base then becomes a priceless resource to people at every layer in the management structure. At least it will if there’s a disciplined approach. A good approach to knowledge management should be rules-based, so the following is accomplished:

●      Destruction of information silos.

●      New knowledge is propagated across the organization.

●      Processes are maintained and created according to up-to-date information.

●      Your team can relate to customers by using a clear and accurate understanding of their needs.

●      Recently hired, promoted, or transferred employees are onboarded properly.

Ultimately, a variety of people will be using and contributing to your knowledge base. Without some rules, things will become chaotic. Here are the steps you’ll want to follow for creating and maintaining your knowledge management system. Each action item is accompanied by a rule to ensure the step can be executed successfully.

1.   Identify Your Objectives

What is it that you want to accomplish with knowledge management? Imagine that your efforts are flawless, and you get everything that you want. What would the results be? They might include:

●      Ensuring that knowledge stays with the company despite personnel or organizational changes.

●      Empowering customer service agents to quickly provide accurate advice and insights.

●      Reduce turnover due to frustration over poor onboarding and training.

●      Identify inconsistencies in information across the organization.

●      Provide stakeholders with the opportunity to share or request information from all business areas.

●      Improve productivity, reduce errors, and increase efficiencies.

●      Eliminate redundancies.

Rule: All knowledge management changes should directly reflect an established business goal.

2.   Get Management Educated And on Board

An information base is only valuable if it is used, and if the people who have the knowledge are willing to share it. If managers don’t see the value in it or understand how it works, you are sunk. Not only that, but it is the managers who know where the existing information is. You need them to adopt knowledge management and to encourage their team members to do the same.

Rule: Managers must undergo training to ensure they have a full understanding of the knowledge management process and its benefits. They must also facilitate sharing of knowledge from their business area to others.

3.   Audit Your Current Knowledge Base

Even if your company is entirely new to the concept of knowledge management, you likely have something of a knowledge base already. Now that you have management on board, you’ll need to rely on them to conduct a current state analysis. You want to know what information exists, how it’s being used, and whether it’s accurate. Here’s a list of questions you might propose:

●      Where are your user manuals, policies, and other documents located?

●      When were they last modified?

●      Where do you obtain information to assist customers, employees, or other departments?

●      How do you request information from other business areas?

●      Are there roadblocks to getting the information you need?

●      What intrinsic knowledge exists within your department?

●      What are the gaps in understanding you see in other business areas?

Rule: An initial audit is important to understand the current state. However, that will need to be repeated over time to ensure the integrity of knowledge.

4.   Build And Organize The Knowledge Base

You may discover that the initial efforts to put together a knowledge management system are less about creating new repositories of information, and more about centralizing existing ones. Using the information gathered during the audit, it’s time to make some decisions about the design of the knowledge base, how it will be centralized, and the means that people will use to search it for information.

An essential part of this process is ensuring that information is communicated clearly and effectively. Readability is key. Consider the fact that the base understanding of the people who originally create or acquire knowledge may not be the same as that of other departments. Writing quality may not be up to par either. It may be worthwhile to use a business or technical writer from Essay Republic to ensure that all knowledge base documents are accurate and easy to read.

Rule: The way that information is organized, and its accessibility are as important as the information itself. Steps must be taken to assure anyone who needs to access company knowledge is able too easily.

5.   Provide Appropriate Training to Team Members

The purpose of a knowledge base is to create a centralized place where information can be accessed to allow for better problem-solving, customer service, and efficiency. This only works if employees know this exists and how to use it. They must also understand their role in the maintenance of company knowledge.

Rule: Knowledge is a company asset that must be shared by employees. To do this, adequate training must be provided by department heads.

6.   Create a Plan For Adding to And Updating The Knowledge Management System

Knowledge is never stagnant. There is information that is part of a company’s repository of knowledge that will become outdated and incorrect. New knowledge is being constantly acquired from a wide range of sources within the organization. There must be a way to facilitate adding and updating information.

On the other hand, the process for doing this must be disciplined. If not, the potential for disseminating bad or contradicting information is too great. There should be a formal process of submitting new information, along with a clear approval process.

Rule: Everyone within the organization can contribute to the company’s knowledge repository. A formal approval process will ensure that all information is accurate and consistent.

Final Thoughts

There is nothing more important to any organization than its knowledge. This is the information used to make products or deliver services. It ensures that customers are given accurate service and that employees know how to handle the challenges they encounter. With knowledge management, all the different types of understanding within the organization can be appropriately captured, organized, and accessed.

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Extracted from Radical Knowledge Management: using lessons learned from artists to create sustainable workplaces, in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence: AI in Business, Knowledge and Innovation Management Section.

Next Creative KM Certification class is coming up: Oct 15, 17, 22, 24, 2024 (half days, 9am-12:30pm EST).  Based on the "Radical KM" methodology and taught by the author of the program, Stephanie Barnes. Details here...

What is Radical KM?

Radical KM is a call to action for knowledge management to step outside the box and consider the needs of knowledge workers. What do knowledge workers need in order to be successful in the 21st century? What will help them deal with the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) of our organisations and economic systems.

While a balanced approach to people, process, and technology are what make knowledge management successful, technology, is, at best, an enabler, not the end point or even the point of knowledge management. Knowledge management is about connecting people to the knowledge they need to do their jobs. In the past this has been about processes to extract and share knowledge and the technology to store and facilitate knowledge transfer. It has been about stores of knowledge; however, the further society moves into the knowledge and digital age the less it needs stores of knowledge. Stores of knowledge maximized efficiency and effectiveness but minimized creativity and innovation. Artificial Intelligence (AI) drives this even further by being able to learn and perform human-like tasks.

One of the things that differentiates humans from AI is our creativity and yet, this is the very thing that has been educated out of us in our focus to be efficient and effective. It is knowledge management’s job to bring it back, to facilitate it within our organisations, this is the knowledge that people need in order to do their jobs in the 21st century. In the age of AI people will do the things that AI is not good at: creativity.

(Figure 1: Radical Knowledge Management)

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Search engineers work day and night to improve algorithms with one purpose - providing the most relevant information to searchers easily. It’s not about ranking websites or penalizing spam. Those are important processes, but they are just a part of a large task system active non-stop to offer results in half a second or less.

But your position as a part of the World Wide Web is slightly different. Yes, you want to provide relevant info to target audiences. Yes, you want to offer value for their attention, money, subscription, etc.

However, to get there, you need that ranking. And catering to an engine that doesn’t have the same purpose might be hard. That’s why SEO or search engine optimization was created. And it’s not just inserting a keyword or two in your text on the main page anymore.

The more difficult algorithms become, the harder your SEO team should work to accommodate the changes.

That’s where knowledge management enters the game.

The Importance of Knowledge Management

You know that KM is a complex system of actions and processes aimed at the proper distribution of knowledge throughout a company. Did your marketing team find out an inconsistency in your campaign? How long does it take for the content-makers to get that information?

Is there a database where different departments can find info for their research? How well do your teams communicate?

Ask a business person to answer all these questions honestly, and they will find out whether their teams need more KM adjustments, including:

●      Creation - proper form of knowledge, convenient for different people to comprehend;

●      Sharing - a system or database where every key worker has access to;

●      Using - the ability to ask questions about the info and using it properly for the goal of the department and the company;

●      Management - timely update of the data with notifications.

Digital Knowledge Management and SEO: The Correlation

It’s meaningless to highlight the SEO advantages for business because it’s the most important thing in your online presence. While high-quality content and media are must-dos, without proper optimization they won’t work.

Here are some things to think about when managing SEO knowledge within a company.

What Knowledge Should Be Managed SEO-Wise?

The SEO knowledge isn’t limited to finding keywords and using them properly. Adjusting for voice search and other IoT factors, avoiding blocks of content by large media content on the main page, and many other tips must be included.

The following simple explanations will help you focus on the right track.

1. Backlink Profile

One of the most important factors in SEO is a proper backlink profile. Getting high-quality links should be one of your top priorities. You can get them yourself, but the process requires a lot of time and negotiation. A professional team of the Adsy.com guest posting service can get you top-notch links from UK, USA sources, as well as those from other countries.

Having a pro team backing you up at all times, doing damage control to the backlink profile of your site is a life-changer.

2. Voice Search Optimization

The different SEO tools you have to mention in the base include voice search optimization.

The way people write requests and say them out loud differs. Your company has to be one of the first options on the list in both cases. When asking about the weather, the person needs a clear, concise answer. When doing so about your industry, niche, or company, you need the same result.

3. SEO Inclusivity in All Forms of Online Presence

Proper SEO management needs to be present on:

●      Your main website;

●      All social media accounts;

●      Third-party services that write articles about you;

●      The services that have even brief mentions with backlinks;

●      Google reviews;

●      Yelp reviews;

●      Blogs;

●      Partner websites;

●      Mentions by key team members, etc.

The footprint of the company online may be larger than you think. Knowledge management tools and software will help adjust that.

4. SEO Consistency

Inconsistent data about your company on any source, starting from the official website and finishing with the smallest mention on a third-party source, damage your reputation.

When you don’t update your address, emails, staff information, people see that you lack digital knowledge management. When someone online misspells your name in a backlink and you miss it, the consequences may not be pleasant as well. Don’t allow your company to seem sloppy online. Because being neat on the Internet is as important now as having a clean brand office.

5. Timely SEO Updates in the Knowledge Base

SEO last year and SEO now are two different things. You may have a base with all the knowledge about the last updates in the field. However, updating it regularly and triggering the process of accommodation in all teams of the company is crucial.

Along with proper knowledge base marketing tactics, you’ll achieve the best results in both ways: KM and SEO. Investing time and effort in creating smart snippets for your company, FAQs for visitors to see that you’re a knowledge leader in the market, and other seemingly small adjustments will show results in a very short time.

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