Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

KM Desk Guide
An information resource specifically tied to job activity
Supports: knowledge retention, new hires, job transition, knowledge sharing, resource
management
LEVEL OF EFFORT
SIZE OF UTILITY
SCOPE OF WORK
MED
SCALABLE
WIDE
One of the most difficult parts of coming into a new position is figuring out what is and is not
known and available, and where all the required resources are located. A simple tool that
supports this transition is the KM Desk Guide, which helps to make knowledge explicit and
reusable. The Desk Guide contains specific information needs to successfully accomplish the
job, including such things as:
an organizational breakdown
project team members
regular meeting dates
processes for decision-making
applicable guidance and directive documents or descriptions of same and pointers to
their locations
technology systems accessed (and where data needed and used is stored)
individuals who can serve as knowledge resources (and their area(s) of expertise)
instructions for use of collaboration systems
To ensure necessary specificity, templates can be developed to match functions within the
drinking water utility that serve as guides for needed information. For example, when this
approach was used in the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) of the U.S. Department of
the Navy, guidance templates were developed (in the logistics group) for configuration/data
managers, logistics management specialists, and quality control managers. Each employee
was required to develop a Desk Guide—or continue building on one already developed—and
update it on a regular basis (at least annually), as well as two weeks prior to job departure. This
provides useful information for anyone new to the organization, or joining a new team within the
same organization. Further, an updated Desk Guide was tied directly to an individual’s annual
performance review, and considered a baseline requirement for performance awards.
A variation of this is the virtual Desk Guide which would make each individual’s Desk Guide
accessible to others across the organization.
The Sample Desk Book Template (1) focuses on Competency Manager turnover information.
The Sample Desk Book Template (2) is an example of a desk guide used for Configuration
Management and Information Management. See also the Interviewing Profiling Tool
Expected Outcomes:
Workers are aware of the essential information and contacts needed to do their jobs.
New hires come up to speed faster.
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©2011 Water Research Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.