… improve knowledge retention

Knowledge retention involves the capturing knowledge within an organisation so that it can be used later and  mitigate the loss of knowledge which inevitably follows when key employees leave.

Here are 5 ideas to mitigate that loss:

1. After action reviews
2. Interviews and exit interviews
3. Alumni groups
4. Job shadowing and mentoring
5. Leavers’ “success books”

 

Learn more about knowledge sharing and retention in “KM Handbook”, published by the Law Society, or arrange your own in-house training day with TheKnowledgeBusiness.

… inject more conversation into your KM plans

I’m a big fan of conversation as a means to share knowledge. It works *much* better for sharing complex knowledge than written documents.

Here are a few ideas to inject a little more conversation into your KM strategy:

1. Randomised coffee trials
2. Knowledge cafes
3. Agony-aunt / ask-an-expert coffee mornings
4. Talk rooms
5. Knowledge fairs

And if you are unsure about the ROI of conversation, have a look at this

http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/surprising-value-of-conversations

 

(If you are unsure about how any of these could work for your firm, e-mail me or arrange a time for a conversation!)

 

… be more human in your work twitter account

Twitter can be a great networking and conversation tool, with the potential to make clients, prospects, suppliers and thought leaders feel “closer” to your organisation.

But many lawyers I meet struggle with the idea of bringing their human-side into their work twitter account. They think it is risky and worry about being seen as less “professional”.

These are some simple ideas for the risk-averse to get a little more conversational in their work twitter feed, without feeling uncomfortable

1. Retweet someone else’s interesting (non-libellous and non-controversial) content with a short, one or two word, comment about why it is worth reading. Follow reputable news sources relevant to your target followers and retweet news articles which would be of interest to them.
2. Always send a personal thank you if someone retweets your material. If you want to engage with them, you can always add a relevant comment or ask how their day is going.
3. If you are preparing for an event, such as an open seminar, can you offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse of preparations, or share  your (non-proprietary, non-confidential) research as you prepare your talk?
4. If your firm sponsors charity bike-rides, local arts events or similar, include the human stories behind that and retweet the relevant tweets of other people involved.
5. If anything interesting is happening locally, which is relevant to your local clients, retweet details of that even if you aren’t involved in sponsoring it.

Concentrate on quality content that is of value to your target followers.

For personal advice and help, visit TheKnowledgeBusiness, or if you prefer to DIY, get your own copy of “Knowledge Management Handbook” from Law Society Publishing here.

… use twitter efficiently

I love twitter, but it can take up loads of time.  These are a few ideas to help you use it efficiently.

1. Use a tool to streamline your use of all social media (such as Hootsuite).
2. Diarise time each day to schedule some of your tweets, thank RTers and new followers and answer DMs.
3. Use lists to bring together all the profiles or topics which particularly interest you.
4. Use favourites and a social bookmarking tool (such as delicious) to identify the content that you need to look at properly, and diarise time to do this once a week.
5. Keep a note of twitter-related successes, so you can see the benefits clearly.

For personal advice and help, visit TheKnowledgeBusiness, or if you prefer to DIY, get your own copy of “Knowledge Management Handbook” from Law Society Publishing here.

… find the right connections on LinkedIn

Although I’m no LION, I’m a big believer in not limiting my connections on LinkedIn to colleagues and customers. I find those outside my sector help to challenge my preconceptions and stimulate original thought, and you never know who knows who…

This is my bite-sized 5 ideas to join with new connections on LinkedIn – which 5 new people will you connect to today?

1. Alumni – university, professional courses, post-graduate courses, sports teams, CPD courses
2. Interesting people that you’ve met at events
3. Interesting people from your personal life – friends of friends, parents of your children’s friends, book club friends, sports club members
4. People who are connected to your connections and are interested in the same groups as you, or live in the same town, or your first degree connections think you will get on with
5. People who you’ve connected to online and have enjoyed chatting to – on twitter, facebook, pinterest, goodreads, quora etc

If you want to learn more about leveraging your LinkedIn account, I’m hosting a day-long training event aimed at professionals.  More details here.

For personal advice and help, visit TheKnowledgeBusiness, or if you prefer to DIY, get your own copy of “Knowledge Management Handbook” from Law Society Publishing here.