INSIGHT KIM Matters
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If you feel a pull towards KM you will be welcome if you have endless curiosity and a passion for continuous learning.
The winding road to KM I
first thought this was a terrible idea when Information Professional asked me to write a few words about routes into Knowledge Management (KM). Even though I’ve been embedded in the profession for 16 years now, my route was circuitous and I question whether I am a typical KMer. So, I looked to my colleagues on the K&IM special interest group committee for inspiration and found a surprising variety of journeys which I hope will be inspirational for those who are interested in this fascinating field of work.
My story – Hélène Russell I began my career as a lawyer specialising in medical negligence litigation defence, representing the NHS. After seven years I swapped to in-house KM work inside my law firm and three years later I set up as an independent KMer, advising the legal sector. These days I write books, advise on strategy and people-focused aspects of KM, and train the next generation of KMers.
I learned the basics of KM from Juliet Humphries, an early adopter in the legal sector. I’ve found experiential learning, reading widely and discussion very useful and my exec-MBA included a KM module which helped fill the gaps with a year researching legal-sector knowledge-sharing antecedents for my MBA dissertation and it also helped me to understand generally how to align KM strategically for more profitable businesses.
Rory Huston Rory, Global Head of Knowledge Management at Cundall Johnston and Partners; a global multidisciplinary engineering consultancy with 950 staff, spent the first 10 years of his career as an acoustic consultant, providing engineering consultancy to clients, including schools, offices, transport buildings and TV studios.
When a one-year internal secondment came up into the KM team he thought he could ‘pop into that role for a year, fix a few things that would make life easier, and
18 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL
then go back to engineering’, but almost immediately found that he loved it. The best thing about KM for Rory? How multi-faceted it is. He enjoys the way that KM provides the opportunity to improve collaboration, support hundreds of people deliver better projects and reach their potential.
Mandy Webster Mandy, Information Services Manager at Browne Jacobson, a large firm of solicitors, is another legal sector KMer who has taken the other common legal sector KMer’s route.
Mandy gained a law degree initially,
then, after a few library-related jobs, undertook an MA in Library and Information Studies and joined a law firm as a librarian, back when collections were primarily print-based. Mandy obtained her CILIP librarian chartership in 2001 and her KM chartership via the conversion route in 2021.
Mandy’s advice to students? Take every opportunity that is presented to you; even when things don’t work out, you will learn. The KM sector welcomes those with curiosity and a commitment to life-long learning.
Dion Lindsay Dion’s career in KM began when he was an information manager in the Civil Service following library school, having the opportunity to expand his role to lead storytelling and KM sessions. An early move to a health charity as a first time Knowledge Manager enabled him to deliver on the KM strategy he’d designed, then work as an associate consultant for TFPL. Since TFPL stopped using associate consultants in the same way, he has worked as a freelance trainer and consultant. Dion’s advice to new KMers? Big organisation experience can be especially useful and can enable you to understand business process designing that can be hugely valuable. This remains true even if, like Dion, your heart is really in helping medium-sized organisations on a growth spurt.
Hank Malik Hank began his career in Learning and
Development as an Educational Course designer and developer. An interest in collaboration tools led him to join Lotus Development, catching the bug for KM through early automated learning and collaboration. He has led KM and Collaboration Projects for major Management Consultancies and has just finished 10 years leading KM teams in the Energy sector in UAE and Oman.
He now has a consultancy focusing on KM and says future KMers need to be multi-skilled and, ideally, specialists in a particular industry. He says the multitude of KM training and education courses now available means choosing wisely and suggests – alongside academic qualifications – a professional KM one such as Certified Knowledge Manager or Chartered Knowledge Manager, preferably aligned with an agreed KIM Career Pathway e.g. UK GOV KIM.
All welcome
So, there is no one way to qualify into KM. Never be discouraged if it interests you but you feel you don’t have the right background. The sector is comprised of a wide variety of people. If you feel a pull towards KM you will be welcome if you have endless curiosity and a passion for continuous learning. KM work has lots of challenges and crosses many boundaries, but there are very few boring days. IP
July-August 2021
Hélène Russell, TheKnowledgeBusiness, specialist in Knowledge Management in the legal and other knowledge intensive sectors.
knowledge4lawyers.com.
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