5 Knowledge Management Best Practices that Lead to Real-World Efficiencies

Is a formal knowledge management (KM) program the key to unlocking efficiency within your firm? It could be, especially these days with everyone working from home or outside the traditional office setting.

As firms continue to focus on improving operational efficiency through technology, many are implementing KM strategies and technology solutions to provide better, faster and safer access to information. However, the success of these efforts depends on user adoption – and you have one chance to get this right before attorneys and staff check out and decide it’s not for them.

So, how can you ensure that your KM initiative is a success? Here are a few best practices to consider:

#1: Start small, get quick wins

There are many different KM projects that can bring about efficiencies to your firm, but it is not prudent to tackle them all at once. KM should be seen as an ongoing process of improvement, rather than an attempt to “eat the elephant in one sitting”. Start with a small, but achievable, KM project to gain the confidence of stakeholders at the firm and serve as a proof of concept for additional KM improvements.

#2: Solve a problem

Given that there are so complexities and possibilities within KM, legend of the KM industry and head of Fireman & Company, Joshua Fireman suggests approaching KM by identifying a problem that you need to solve: “When you do, you find lawyers have basic needs: they want to find their own documents, or colleagues’ documents, or manage their matters differently.”

#3: Have a strategy.

KM should not be approached through one-off behaviors, such as implementing a technology solution or changing a policy. Firms should formalize their KM strategy based on their long-term goals and align resources and planning to address all aspects of KM success including, but not limited to, technology, organizational culture, change management, budget, security, and more.

#4: Understand attorney behavior.

Your attorneys and their behaviors should be front and center in any decision making related to KM. How do they work? Where do they work? Which apps do they use? What do they need? How can you introduce a KM solution that will require the least amount of training and complexity, maximizing convenience? Through a deep understanding of your attorneys’ needs, you’ll be able to deliver a solution that they want to adopt.

#5: Attach metrics to the problem you are solving.

Identify the key performance metrics attached to the problem that you are solving and measure the results of your KM project. Whether it is the amount of time your attorneys spend searching for documents per day or dollars in revenue that come from billable hours per attorney, find a way to quantify your effort and compare to baselines.

With this in mind, the best way to get tangible results from your knowledge management initiative is to roll out a program that is value-driven and targeted to the needs of your attorneys – even if that means starting small.

Have you recently implemented a knowledge management program at your firm? Share your best practices with us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

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