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The successful transition to and the gains from remote work settings has had some great learnings for businesses. One key lesson has been that companies that took no time to adapt to the new paradigm are anchored on an established ecosystem highlighting two prominent features – clear, seamless communication streams and employee empowerment.
Modern leadership has taste-tested that employee wellness, driven primarily by knowledge sharing and enablement, are the key drivers of success in the virtual workplace. Knowledge management (KM) is decisive in helping the workforce achieve optimum potential, and push their own boundaries. By leveraging technology tools and contributing to the employee culture, KM is vital in driving the success of onboarding, upskilling and employee collaborations in remote workplaces.
Ways to ensure the robustness of KM within your organization
Building relevance into your KM activities and driving them in an efficient manner is a tall call for leadership today. Relevance of content is more valuable than ever, given the plethora of information that reaches every employee at a time. Moreover, in the flood of digital multimedia channels and content, it is crucial that the knowledge distribution is aligned with business goals.
Following are some tips that business leadership can consider to build a rewarding and sustainable KM program:
- Revisit your KM goals periodically
Given that work set-up has changed, revisit your program goals and if needed, re-align them to the changing goals of your organization. This helps maintain the relevance of your content.
- Enable a unified distribution platform
Having a central, unified system for knowledge distribution brings in acceptance and makes it easier for employees to have a single point of reference for information. As a team, having a platform with a well-defined framework is also a sustainable model.
- Invest in digital tools that boost collaborations
The challenges of working without physical offices call for increased and more deliberate focus on collaborations. New investments that make virtual interactions richer and productive must always be on your company’s radar. Needless to say, ensure that your team members are proficient with these tools.
- Promote a mindset for experimentation
A knowledge ecosystem within the organization can be nurtured only if there is an innate culture and mindset for experimentation and innovation. KM, as a key enabling function of virtual ideation and collaboration, must also be willing to try and test new models. In fact, the unprecedented organizational challenges that remote work has posed, calls for novel solutions.
- Reinforce individual decision making
This may sound paradoxical, because the officeless workforce thrives on collaboration. However, this also implies that every individual must be capable of making independent decisions and be self-driven, in order to contribute to the success of the team. This can be achieved only if each member is equally enabled and empowered to be leaders. In this respect, your KM initiatives must focus on building individual autonomy within the team.
The below framework titled ‘6C’s of KM’ can be referred to, when you plan to implement or modernize your KM. The framework ensures that the right set of tools meet each element of KM and its needs. The Microsoft Office 365 set of tools including Sharepoint online, One Drive for business, Microsoft Teams, Power Platform, Delve, Sway, Outlook etc. are among the best options to meet the KM needs of your business. However, it is pertinent to ensure that the right, matching life cycle processes are enabled through these set of tools.
Bear in mind that crafting programs that meet the above descriptions call for mindful strategy and clear, concise action plans. Parallely, companies must have systems that are intuitive and accessible to one and all within the workforce. Crucial to the success of such plans is the willingness to be adaptive, futuristic, and above all, an overarching commitment to employee wellness.
