Role
Knowledge Management Lead
Defined
The Knowledge Lead leads the creation, dissemination, and management of knowledge within the organization.
Challenges and Opportunities
In your role, what are the most critical challenges and opportunities? Looking across the agency, what capabilities are required to successfully take them on? How can you help build the necessary capabilities? The first step is to understand these challenges and opportunities in terms of the major change forces that are driving them.
Change ForcesChallenge/OpportunityYour Responsibility
Technology AdvancementNew technology like connected and autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and machine learning impacts the types of knowledge needed by the organization.Aligning Skills to Needs. Understand the likely future needs of your organization over the next 5-10 years and help to develop a strategy for building new knowledge – through partnerships, workforce development or recruiting efforts.
Legislation, Regulation, and FundingBudget cuts may threaten KM initiatives and continuity in the organizationAligning Skills to Needs. Facilitate the agency’s response to new requirements to rapidly tap into available expertise.
Workforce EvolutionNew technology like AI, CAVs, and machine learning impacts the types of knowledge needed by the agencyAligning Skills to Needs, Technology Adoption. Leverage the skills of early-career employees to move the organization forward with respect to use of technology.
Advance collaboration and knowledge capture techniques to minimize knowledge loss associated with employee turnover.
Shift in Role and FocusConstruction, maintenance, materials, policy and planning are all functional areas where KM is neededAligning Skills to Needs, Operations Focus. Work to enhance the agency’s knowledge base in these areas, facilitate opportunities for employees to learn from both internal and external experts.
Public ExpectationsAs new skillsets are needed by the agency, KM resources can help find and disseminate that informationAligning Skills to Needs, Transparency. Facilitate mentoring or shadowing opportunities to strengthen communication and collaboration skills.
Work to improve content management practices and search capabilities to reduce time requirements associated with public information requests.
Strategies and Resources

What strategies can you apply now to meet today’s challenges and prepare for future opportunities? What resources are available to help support these efforts?

Where to Begin

  • Review relevant knowledge management guidance documents
  • Make contact with knowledge management leads in other DOTs to get ideas and guidance on successful practices
  • Conduct a risk assessment to identify the most pressing concerns to be addressed
  • Interview agency managers to understand emerging skills gaps (in collaboration with HR leads)
  • Identify existing knowledge management initiatives in the agency that may not be explicitly called “knowledge management”
  • Create an implementation plan to address key risks

Strategies

Knowledge Management

  • Knowledge Audits - to understand existing workforce skills and abilities
  • Communities of Practice - to share knowledge and develop new practices required to respond effectively to change forces
  • Reverse Mentoring - to enable newer, more “tech savvy” employees to share their knowledge with employees who are not as comfortable with technology
  • Knowledge Bases - to gather guidance and examples of successful practices at other organizations that would help the agency to implement changes.
  • Expertise Directories - to facilitate connections to employees and outside experts with specialized expertise.

Resources

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