What does it mean to champion knowledge management in our organizations?

I have based this post on knowledge management (KM) materials at UNICEF

And what is KM at UNICEF? It is “The capture, organization, sharing and use of knowledge to improve organizational performance towards development and development and humanitarian results for children”. – Global Medium-Term Strategy for Knowledge Management (2021-2022).

KM is recognized by UNICEF as a change strategy in the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan. It is one of the operational strategies that UNICEF will prioritize to support the achievement of development results.

KM Work Areas: KM is not an ad hoc activity, but should be deliberately planned to align with program, operational, or organizational objectives. The goal is to continually use KM to improve performance in:

• Planning our KM work
• Capture and document knowledge.
• Create, package and disseminate
• Manage content
• Knowledge sharing (within the office/organization/partner network)
• Spaces to learn and reflect
• Retain staff knowledge
• Evaluate the use of knowledge

What does it mean to be a KM champion? We can support and promote KM by applying the following three pillars:

1. Establish an enabling environment and culture to fully utilize KM

KM is an enabler to achieve results and should be aligned with the organization’s strategic priorities and existing work goals and objectives at both the global and organizational levels.

2. Promotion and participation in KM initiatives

People (staff, partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries) are at the center of KM, supported by technology and effective processes. In particular, that within organizations all personnel are owners and users of knowledge, therefore, the most important and valuable KM resource.

3. Take advantage of the organization’s systems to institutionalize knowledge management

KM must leverage existing institutional/corporate processes so that both the organization and its staff continually learn and improve. The role of KM is to ensure that existing processes maximize the use of knowledge and continuous learning to improve performance and results.

What can we do to make KM successful? What needs to be put in place for us to reap the benefits of doing KM? To fully benefit from KM, we need the following drivers of the KM framework : (a) Governance, (b) Resources (human and financial resources)-People, (c) Culture-Processes and (d) Technology

The following can help us apply and defend KM in the organization:

Anchor our KM work in the needs of our organization

Embed it into existing work

Bring our entire team or organization

Build on our KM efforts and achievements in subsequent years (quick wins)