SMR Knowledge

Building the Knowledge Culture

  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • About Us
  • The SMR Team
  • SMR’s Knowledge Services Blog
  • SMRShare

The Company’s Knowledge Services Focal Points – Your Critical Knowledge Services Custodians

September 22, 2015 By Guy St. Clair

There are many ways to establish criteria for knowledge-sharing success, to ensure that the convergence of information management, knowledge management, and strategic learning (the classic definition of knowledge services) falls into place. One of the best is the appointment of a team of knowledge services focal points throughout the organization. It’s a management technique that can work in a number of situations, simply because the establishment of such a network or community of practice gives knowledge services practitioners (and other knowledge workers) someone to turn to when a knowledge-sharing issue comes up for discussion.

In thinking about the work of the knowledge services focal point, a first step is to define the role.

Slide2In organization development, “focal point” describes any center of activity or attention, and in business and  organizational management, we go a little further, applying the term to the person within a business unit or department who is responsible for coordinating actions and tasks relating to a specific operational function (in this case knowledge services). The employee designated the “knowledge services focal point” has ownership responsibility for the function within the unit and practical authority for bringing that activity into play in the particular business unit. Thus the knowledge services focal point also has a certain level of oversight responsibility (or custodial responsibility, as I imply in the title of this post) and is positioned to coordinate planning and implementation of knowledge services activities within the business unit, including service delivery. [A slight digression: in technology management I’ve observed a broader responsibility for the focal point employee who, in that field, also acts as an escalation point (as I’ve seen the work described) for service delivery failures. I can see that application within knowledge services as well.]

In the business unit, the knowledge services focal point is a critical employee, a vital link between knowledge services—as a management practice or discipline—and other members of the department. The point person is usually a specifically identified employee, with knowledge services focal point responsibilities built into the job description. In some workplace environments the employee can be a current employee who is also assigned to carry out the work of the knowledge services focal point. This “assignment” arrangement, though, is not usually as successful as that in which focal point responsibilities are built into the job description from the time the employee is hired or is promoted into the job.

The work of the knowledge services focal point is fairly clear cut, although the employee’s responsibilities will vary somewhat, as determined in the organization’s management structure and culture. A primary responsibility for the knowledge services focal point is to serve as the chief advocate for monitoring and improving the status of knowledge services across the business unit and, as knowledge-sharing success grows within the unit, he or she will continue to function in this role. Typical activities include advocating and assisting in knowledge services policy formulation within the specific business unit in which he or she is employed, sharing and showcasing good knowledge services practices, and collaborating in the development of recruitment and promotion mechanisms.

In a particularly significant exercise, the knowledge services focal point participates in and supports a network of knowledge services focal points in different entities throughout the larger organization, providing guidance and advocacy for all knowledge workers employed in the company. As a result, this broader-based network of business unit or departmental knowledge services focal points takes on a significant role in the larger organization.

In effect, this group of knowledge services leaders is positioned to not only provide critical support to their own business unit or departmental management; they are also positioned to collaborate with other knowledge services focal points within their network for problem solving beyond the individual business unit. As a network of identified knowledge services specialists, the group can—in a very important role—influence the development of knowledge services policies for the larger organization and serve on working groups for studying and developing specific innovations, bringing a knowledge services perspective to those studies. Equally important—as a discipline-specific community of practice—the company’s knowledge services focal points can monitor the status of knowledge services not only in their individual business units and departments. They can, when appropriate, lead in the development of new and higher-functioning knowledge services delivery for the entire organization.

About Guy St. Clair

Guy St. Clair is the Series Editor for Knowledge Services, from Verlag Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin, the scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. The series subject is knowledge services, the approach to managing intellectual capital that merges information management, knowledge management (KM), and strategic learning, presenting and discussing new and innovative approaches to knowledge sharing in all fields of work.

With Barrie Levy, Guy  is the author of The Knowledge Services Handbook: A Guide for the Knowledge Strategist (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020). He is also the author of Knowledge Services: A Strategic Framework for the 21st Century Organization (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016). [Note: Go here for the free PDF version of this book: https://bit.ly/3msI27V. ]

Guy is also the author of Knowledge Services: Five Free Webinars from Guy St. Clair, available to anyone who wants to learn more about knowledge services. The webinars are offered at no charge.

Guy’s other professional writings are listed in SMR International’s corporate website, at SMRShare. 

Comments

  1. Dale Stanley says

    September 30, 2015 at 7:27 pm

    Thanks, Guy, for a timely post to the SMR Int’l blog (below)! It’s particularly relevant to our KMKS 105 Change Management students and anyone else implementing changes. Establishing these somewhat formal “Focal Points” can create “change agents”. What’s extremely powerful about this model is that it’s formality establishes accountability and stability: Since the focal point has the expressed responsibility for being a liaison or “focal point” or “power user” (or whatever term might work) having to do with “All things KM (or KS, or again whatever you’re calling your function), they are compelled and held accountable for being the change agent. Also, once the role has been established, you can come back to those persons again and again whenever you’re planning and implementing your next change initiative. It saves time developing the network. It also allows the focal points to develop expertise. You could even “train” the focal points in KS, and CM principles and the vision you have for KM/KS in your organization.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

SMR’s Knowledge Services Blog Archives (since 2009)

Tags

archives management Conversational Leadership corporate archives corporate records COVID – 19 Healthcare Hovell (John) IAO ICT ICT training Information Africa Organization information and communications technology information management information technology KD/KS KM KM KM/Knowledge Services KM training knowledge asset management knowledge development/knowledge sharing knowledge development and knowledge sharing knowledge networking knowledge services knowledge sharing Knowledge Strategy Knowledge Thought Leaders Manion (Kevin) organizational archives organizational behavior organizational effectiveness organizational management organizational records Peter F. Drucker records management social networking Special Libraries Association strategic knowledge strategic knowledge management strategic knowledge services Strategic Learning strategic planning strategy development The Knowledge Culture ” management

Contact Information

SMR International
10 Park Avenue, Suite # 4-F
New York, NY 10016 USA

+1 917 797 1500
info@smr-knowledge.com
www.smr-knowledge.com

Follow Us

  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Recent Blog Posts

  • Five Free Knowledge Services Webinars August 1, 2022
  • KM/Knowledge Services Community: Humanist Management and Knowledge Services (Part 2) January 24, 2022
  • KM/Knowledge Services Community: Guy St. Clair on Humanist Management and Knowledge Services ( Part 1) December 28, 2021

Copyright © 2025 · SMR International · All Rights Reserved