Transform knowledge into action
Why is it so challenging for companies to make use of what they already know?
In every company, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of documents are created for different purposes, ranging from documentation to compliance, training materials to proposals.
Roughly 99% of these documents are retrospective, detailing past approaches for specific projects. But there exists a small subset (~1%) focused on mapping “the way of doing things” within an organization. These documents bridge the gap between accumulated knowledge and its practical application, facilitating the transformation of knowledge into actionable know-how. Sounds promising, no?
What if I tell you that these documents are usually referred to as guidelines? A term that got such a bad rep that it fails to convey the documents’ significance and utility, but rather bring up lengthy, archaic documents. Buried in digital-sometimes even physical- repositories, they are seldom used or updated.
What went wrong with the guidelines?
Within a typical company, the absolute number of guidelines only amounts to 1-2 guideline/s per employee. Whereas overall knowledge documents can easily go up to hundreds per employee. These guidelines, along with knowledge documents, are often stored in repositories such as Sharepoint, Notion, or Box. Within the multitude of documents and various methods used by different teams or locations, they disappear into the organizational clutter and finding the right guideline becomes akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.
This lack of transparency creates a vicious cycle. The employees who do not find the right guidance either resort to other sources like calling and asking other employees or creating their version of the document from scratch. This then leads to unaligned documents and processes, wasted time and resources, contributing even more to the clutter.
How to leverage guidelines to transform knowledge into action?
As current know-how management systems tend to be either unstructured or static (if not both), we developed a dynamic approach based on Lean 5S methodology, which is focused on creating a clean, uncluttered and safe workplace to reduce waste and increase productivity:
As current know-how management systems tend to be either unstructured or static (if not both), we developed a dynamic approach based on Lean 5S methodology, which is focused on creating a clean, uncluttered and safe workplace to reduce waste and increase productivity:
1. {SORT} Surface and declutter:
Due to the lack of transparency created by clutter, many organizations underestimate the number of guidelines they have and the different places they are stored. We had instances where teams estimated to have 100-200 guidelines, and we identified over a thousand after sweeping through different repositories. By assessing the quality of each guideline and removing any old or repetitive ones, we usually end up retiring 40% of these documents.
2. {Set in Order} Structure and contextualize:
After decluttering, our team of experts organizes guidelines based on the context in which they are required, such as the relevant topic, location, or job title. This categorization is then used to provide personalized information to each employee based on their context and responsibilities, making it easier to apply the knowledge effectively.
3. {Standardize} Establish ownership and align:
qibri creates communities of practice (COP) bringing together subject matter experts to align processes and standardize and improve them regularly. This collaborative approach transforms guidelines into dynamic and cohesive documents that can adapt to changing circumstances.
4. {Shine} Adopt a self-cleansing platform:
Creating a dedicated space for guidelines and organizing them according to their context can enhance their visibility throughout the entire organization. It facilitates dissemination of each guideline and allows for prompt recognition and correction of any deterioration in documents, ensuring constant content improvement.
5. {Sustain} Turn best practices into habits
Monitoring the adoption of guidelines plays an important role in ensuring their effectiveness and turning best practices into habits. It provides an important indicator on what employees find useful and what needs improvement.
Driving operational excellence with know-how
When properly organized and regularly improved, guidelines can become a crucial tool for the application of know-how, influencing employee behavior and steering organizational changes. They can be particularly helpful for:
Finding synergies & harmonizing efforts: bringing experts together to work on a common topic and goal, breaks down silo thinking and paves the way for alignment across the organization instead of within a single department and unit. With the visibility provided by qibri, teams can identify deviations and standardize processes, making guidelines particularly effective in post-merger integration efforts and high-growth companies.
Ensuring transformation reaches frontline: clearly defining ways of working and making them accessible to everyone in the organization, significantly improves change management within a company. When employees have a designated place to turn to for guidance and this guidance is updated regularly, transformations can be introduced gradually into the daily work of employees, reducing change resistance.
Creating a reliable foundation for Gen AI: if your employees are going to trust a platform for know-how and guidance on how to do their work, the foundation of the platform has to provide accurate, consistent, comprehensive, and regularly updated information. The promise of Gen AI working with unstructured data is too sweet to pass on, but faulty, outdated, or inconsistent documents will only yield flawed responses. Therefore, investing in a healthy know-how base will make all the difference in providing reliable results.
