Knowledge Career

R.Kannan

Overview

• There can be multiple career paths within the KM field.

• At the various levels, any given knowledge worker within the Knowledge Management team, may have come from any number of other career fields, both within IT and also from many other fields, such as library science.

Overview

• At the top may or may not be a C-level, such as a Chief Knowledge Officer or CKO. If there is one, it's the CKO who is responsible for overseeing the entire organization’s knowledge assets, as well as strategic planning at the executive-level of the corporation.

Overview

• Depending on the depth and breadth of a particular organization, this team may be part of a small, focused group, within the IT department, or one individual wearing one of many hats in a smaller, more lateral organization.

Definition

• Although Knowledge Management itself is not a new career field, as such, KM, as an IT-specific career, has only recently becoming more explicitly defined.

• For instance, though the role of a Librarian has been an data management staple in the past, some organizations still use this term in their IT department.

Definition

• The newer KM title would be more appropriately referred to as the Knowledge Steward.

Definition

• Even at the new C-level, the title of CKO is still exceedingly rare.

• Each of these positions on the new KM career ladder has an equivalent which someone interested in entering the career field from another occupation may be able to map to their skills and experience.

The KM Career Ladder

• Since KM is still considered an ‘emerging’ career field, it’s up to the individual corporation to create the positions it may require, as well as the ‘ladder’ or progression that may take an entry-level KM worker up to the CKO or director-level position.

• Below is just one, suggested, ladder (lowest to highest)

The KM Career Ladder

• Knowledge Steward (aka Librarian) • Knowledge Analyst (aka Content Manager) • Knowledge Engineer (aka oftware/Application

Engineer) • Knowledge Manager • Senior Knowledge Manager • Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) or Director of

KM

Knowledge Steward

• A Knowledge Steward is the KM professional within an organization who is responsible for gathering, storing, and distributing knowledge. Knowledge is in essence, the basis of any organization.

• People grow, learn, and develop within the company and its industry.

Knowledge Steward

• Therefore, when they leave, they take their experience and knowledge with them; this has been dubbed by many as "[Brain Drain]".

• In order to stem this loss of knowledge, it's critical that organizations take a more active role in sharing and storing information for current and future work.

Knowledge Steward

• As part of the daily job, the Knowledge Steward collects this information, storing it for easy access and keeping it up-to-date.

Knowledge Steward

• Although few organizations require certification for this position, a career-oriented individual may want to consider pursuing additional education and eventual certification to remain current and a viable employee as KM becomes a sought-after vocation.

Knowledge Manager

• As the primary leader of the Knowledge Management team, the Knowledge Manager (aka KM) is primarily responsible for managing the organization’s knowledge assets.

Knowledge Manager

• Depending on the depth and breadth of a particular organization, this team member may be part of a small, focused group, within the IT department of a relatively small company, or, in a large corporation, the KM may wear one of many hats common to more lateral organizations

Principle Responsibilities

• Among the responsibilities of the Knowledge Manager is to manage the creation and delivery of IT (and/or business) knowledge, and, to support the utilization of this accumulated information by both the internal and external end-user communities. This may include any or all of the following duties and capabilities:

Principle Responsibilities

• Understanding the end-user’s information needs,

• Coordinating who is responsible for each knowledge asset,

• Where appropriate, communicating knowledge requirements to service providers,

Principle Responsibilities

• Planning and managing the delivery of knowledge projects, communicating the availability of knowledge to the end-user community,

• Monitoring the use of the knowledge assets and measuring the business value of the knowledge to the end-user community.

Internet-Specific Duties

• In an Internet environment, responsibilities may also include: – Constructing access paths to suites of information

(e.g., link pages) to facilitate access by subscribers, – Recombining authored content into views and

navigation structures aimed at particular subscriber groups or functions.

Associated Functions

– The KM-related functions may be divided among other roles, including, for example, some or all of the following:

– Responsible for the overall vision, direction, and global structure of the knowledge assets.

Associated Functions

• As an Individual Information Brokers, responsible for implementing the vision and understanding the requirements within local areas of responsibility (e.g., a subject area, a department).

Associated Functions

• As an External Information Broker (e.g., a Publicity firm), responsible for understanding how external users to the site would best access the corporate Internet site (for example, “click through” advertising, establishing a presence on search sites, and establishing links on influential navigation lists, such as Yahoo and Google)

Key Role Interactions

• The principal interactions of this role are with: • The Application Architect to convey the vision

and the business needs so that application requirements can be met.

Key Role Interactions

• The Technical Architect to obtain guidance and support on the implementation of specific technologies.

• The Content Author to convey the mission and vision so that the content meets the needs of the organization.

Key Role Interactions

• The Operations Manager (or ISP), where applicable, to represent the organization’s requirements for services to the operational services provider.

• The External Publicity Manager, where applicable, to define the requirements for the publicity campaign.

• The Quality Assurance Manager to review the findings of the testing process.

Professional Skills

• Capabilities• Performs the activities and tasks for which this

role is responsible, • Applies the techniques necessary to complete

the responsibilities of this role, • Uses the tools required by these activities,

tasks and techniques.

Professional Skills

• Experience• Worked with end-users and external agencies

to convey a corporate vision, • Provided key content subject areas on at least

one other project or work assignment, • Defined requirements and conceptualizing

solutions on a number of other projects or work assignments.

Professional Skills

• Certification• Although few organizations require certification

for this position, a career-oriented individual may want to consider pursuing additional education and eventual certification to remain current and a viable employee as KM becomes a sought-after vocation. Refer to [Knowledge Management Certification] for a complete description and resources for this advanced training.

Interpersonal Skills

• All team members require a high level of: – Personal attributes, and – General business skills.

Chief Knowledge Officer

• Overview• As the principle leader of the Knowledge

Management effort, the Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) charts the course of the organization’s knowledge assets.

Chief Knowledge Officer

• A CKO is a corporate officer charged with overseeing the entire Knowledge Management process within an organization. This executive ensures that an organization identifies and maximizes its intellectual capital.

Chief Knowledge Officer

• It is important to note that a CKO is not simply a CIO with knowledge management responsibilities and instead has a distinctly different set of responsibilities and reporting relationships.

Chief Knowledge Officer

• A CKO is a "C-level" organizational officer (i.e., C-level referring to executives or managers who have "Chief" in their titles, also referred to as a "CXO" officer).

Responsibilities

1. Create a knowledge management strategy based on organizational goals and objectives, considering the specific knowledge requirements necessary to achieve those goals and objectives.

Responsibilities

2. Create and share a vision for the organizational knowledge management effort, and develop strategy and coordinate activities that supports attainment of that vision.

Responsibilities

3. Developing an overall knowledge attainment and management framework across the business enterprise that guides the knowledge management effort.

4. Deploying and monitoring the knowledge infrastructure for the business enterprise.

Responsibilities

5. Innovating and optimizing the returns on investment in knowledge including people, processes and intellectual capital.

6. Develop, manage and measure knowledge assets.

7. Build, develop and support an organizational culture that supports the knowledge management effort.

Responsibilities

8. Providing a direction to the enterprise goals and acting as an agent of change for the business organization through the leadership, interpersonal skills and the strength of the knowledge.

9. Actively promote the role of knowledge and knowledge management agenda both inside and outside of the organization.

Qualifications & Credentials

• Unlike other senior managerial or executive positions which have more well-defined background qualification or credential requirements it is difficult to say with certainty what specific backgrounds will make for an effective CKO.

Training and Certification

• Since some commercial organizations began offering CKO certificate programs as far back as 1995, other programs such as the Certified Knowledge Manager™ CKM® or Certified Knowledge Leader (CKL)® programs could provide the necessary qualifications and background for managers to understand the requirements and responsibilities of the CKO position.