Knowledge management and sharing of knowledge across different local authorities and other sectors and developing best practice standards through consensus among colleagues are priorities in her role as the new Head of Knowledge and Learning at IDeA.
Q1 Could you give us a brief overview of your new role?
In brief, the job is about connecting local authority colleagues to local government knowledge, to experts and to peers so they can easily find information which will help them do their jobs better.
All managers in local authorities face the challenge of managing the corporate memory and knowledge so that the organization can learn from past mistakes and move forward on a solid foundation of evidence of what works well.
My job is to work with LA colleagues, drawing on knowledge of best practice from the private and public sector to identify best practice in knowledge management appropriate to the sector. Then the job is to support implementation across the sector of the most effective and cost-effective ways of managing and sharing knowledge about what works.
In particular, I will be ensuring that all local authority staff and IDeA staff have access to the best knowledge available when making decisions in their area of work. To do this, I will be taking a strategic overview of how technology can be harnessed to support sharing of best practice and learning across the sector to ensure that all of us working in the local government sector can find the latest knowledge – particularly evidence based best practice – and the experts for our area. I will be working with IDeA colleagues and local government colleagues to identify which of the plethora of knowledge management tools are ‘must haves’ for the sector and to share best practice in the use of these across the sector. In most organizations, some staff will use at least some of these techniques already but perhaps not systematically.
How do LA staff currently access best practice in their area? Apart from printed publications, there are numerous websites which will be relevant to particular professional groups. It is time consuming, not to say irritating to have to regularly search across these to find what is published in a particular area and many colleagues may not have the time to do this.
We are making available easy to use software tools which allow personalization of the web. For example, one tool – the IDeA personalized search tool – on which we are working allows you to focus a web search on those knowledge banks/databases on the web which are of particular personal relevance. For most professionals these will include sites where statutory documents, professional and academic articles and best practice are published. We will first of all test this our with our people to people connections service – IDeA communities of practice. For information email communities@IDeA.gov.uk.
The communities of practice tool provides private spaces for LA colleagues and if appropriate other experts eg academics, VCS colleagues, colleagues from government agencies, working in the area to network to share ideas and documents and to create next practice by building on existing practice. Where such networks include a range of experts in the area, then the next practice being developed will be grounded in evidence of best practice.
These ways of working facilitate rapid knowledge transfer across the system and can ensure increased VFM from the rapid dissemination of outcomes from R&D projects and innovation ie self improvement based on evidence of effective practice.
Q2 Do we have an adequate infrastructure to facilitate knowledge development and sharing across local authorities? If not where are the bottlenecks?
We do have adequate technological infrastructure. The E-gov investment has had a significant role to play in building this. The KM techniques of the 21st century use the technology that sits on the desk of local authority staff, or that councilors and members of the local community can access through schools, libraries or home.
The bottleneck is now in the identification of best practice in KM relevant to the LA sector and sharing this sector wide. My job is to facilitate this development and sharing of effective practice.
Q3 How do should participation in knowledge development and sharing activity be encouraged across the public sector?
When we have clear guidelines, tested in practice, about which KM techniques work most effectively in local government, then there will be a strong case for engagement in KM across the sector.
Clearly the KM initiative which may require changes in the working practices of the whole organization provide a major challenge for senior staff. Managers have to lead by example – adopting the language of KM and adapting work processes to ensure systematic KM is part of working practices.
Many local authorities have been developing approaches to KM and we will work with them and other interested authorities to develop appropriate models and exemplar case studies for the whole sector. Improving performance and demonstrating improved performance is part of the every day work of councils and effective KM is a key component in a continuous improvement strategy. Any authority considering allocating precious resources to KM will need to weigh up the costs and benefits for their particular organization. Drawing on case studies of successful authorities will provide evidence to underpin decisions made and the approaches taken.
Authorities involved in the first phase of the sector wide KM strategy will also be contributing to its evaluation. Those who have not yet embarked on a KM strategy across the authority will want to make a considered judgement about the benefits for their authority from the evidence available.
Q4 How will public sector get the access to the knowledge of the VCS and other sectors to enhance knowledge development and sharing?
There are already many good examples of the VCS working with councils to improve services for communities. KM approaches support connections between organizations for example, sharing knowledge can be done effectively through employing the Communities of practice model - linking members of the VCS with local government officers with similar interests. Other KM techniques such as ‘Peer Assists’ where all interested in an area are brought together to collectively work on a problem can be particularly helpful in reminding all of us to build new projects on what has been done before. A number of KM techniques eg After Action Reviews or Retrospective Reviews can be keep as standing items on agendas as they remind everyone to take stock of programmes of work regularly and examine what has gone well or not gone well.
Q5 What impact would you like to see knowledge development and sharing have on the public sector in the long-term?
Effective knowledge management supports collective problem solving – linking people in the community with their council, linking officers or councilors with peers elsewhere who have dealt with similar problems or are dealing with them. It. will improve the quality of services delivered and ensure their ongoing improvement based on evidence of what works. It will enable staff to have greater satisfaction from their work as they build on the accumulated knowledge of the sector rather than being in the position of wondering if someone else where has solved the problem they are confronted with. Where communities face new challenges, it can facilitate engagement of local neighbourhoods and our different community group in collective problem solving. Young people can be more easily engaged in shaping the communities of the future in which they want to live eg through communities of practice virtually linking young people at school with their local councils.
The technology we now have at our fingertips in the 21st Century can support us in more effective ways of working – building on the knowledge of yesterday to create the knowledge for tomorrow rather than going around in circles but we all need to grasp the nettle of change if our organizations are to benefit from the investments in technology which have been made and the opportunities for effective knowledge sharing which result.
