A compelling strategy and 3 year implementation plan was delivered ... needed to integrate and exploit their knowledge for successful innovation and continuous improvement.

Priorities

Our client was a UK based group with operations primarily in the UK but with some significant International programmes. As an outcome of their annual strategic business review it had become clear that a more systematic and integrated effort was needed to fully exploit the knowledge they already held as the basis for developing programmes of innovation and continuous improvement.

Knowledge management had principally comprised bringing together experts in a variety of situations to share their knowledge in addressing particular needs such as tender preparation, risk analyses, problem solving, technical reviews and as projects teams. Their largely informal approach to knowledge management which had served them well for many years and their working environment was supported with an ICT based collaborative tool. However, all these activities had not been developed within an overall strategic approach and the teams believed that this was beginning to limit their effectiveness at addressing new and important opportunities and competitive activities.

TRIMENTIS were invited to lead the development of a knowledge management strategy with the priorities to create an overarching framework to align teams, build on the current pragmatic activities of the business and lead them towards a higher capability through a three year development plan.

Approach

TRIMENTIS lead the implementation of our core Strategy Formulation Process. Guided by a series of workshops that introduced concepts and techniques the knowledge manager and various subject experts worked together to complete analytical stages of the process supported by use of our Excel based best-practice tools. TRIMENTIS acted to critically review and challenge emerging information throughout the process.

Strategy formulation was conducted as an iterative series of meetings and workshops involving a wide range of stakeholders to capture the teams' experiences, aims and ambitions. TRIMENTIS supported teams with our knowledge management subject expertise where approapriate. Finally, a programme of documentation and communication to secure a wide understanding and commitment to the strategy was completed.

Results

• A compelling strategy and 3 year implementation plan was delivered gaining wide acceptance, recognising that knowledge is vested in people and that for this client, four areas of supporting tools and structures were needed to integrate and exploit their knowledge for successful innovation and continuous improvement.
• The strategy formed a sound basis for ongoing strategic reviews being supported by rigorously researched stakeholders' needs, competitive best practices and other analyses.
• The Knowledge Manager and team had the vision and the story to communicate effectively with the wide range of stakeholders involved throughout the business, securing resources necessary to deliver the plans.
• The Knowledge Manager and team developed skills and experiences in a rigorous approach to strategy formulation and were left equipped with best practice tools and techniques for ongoing use and refinement.
• The business was able to monitor progress against the strategy using key performance indicators developed during the planning phase, enabling them to confidently release ongoing investments to enable the plans.