Tag: Organisational Learning
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Beyond Reports: The Significance of Lessons Learned in Development Programmes
In development work, project success is measured not by the activities completed but by the outcomes achieved and the knowledge generated throughout implementation. However, valuable experiences are often lost when projects end, staff leave, and reports are stored and forgotten. Without a deliberate process for capturing and applying these experiences, organisations risk repeating mistakes and…
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‘Too Busy for Change’, or How to Prepare for and Overcome Resistance to Knowledge Management
Knowledge Management (KM) plays an important role in helping organisations create, capture, share, and apply knowledge to improve organisational performance, innovation, and decision-making. However, the successful implementation of KM initiatives is often affected by resistance to change at both the organisational and individual levels. At the organisational level, resistance may arise from a lack of…
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Designing AI-Enabled KM for Decentralised, Multi-Partner Programmes
Knowledge Management (KM) in multi-country, multi-partner programmes is often designed for headquarters: operational teams, fundraising and internal compliance. Meanwhile, the knowledge needed to deliver impact is generated daily across local partners, in meetings, WhatsApp groups, and ad hoc documents that rarely make it into the system. The result is a proliferation of tools and channels,…
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Knowledge Management and Futures Thinking: Using Insights to Plan for the Future
We often use Knowledge Management (KM) insights to help adapt and adjust projects and programmes to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. But a hidden power of those insights is that they can serve as the basis for and inform long-term plans and strategies, and spark creativity and innovation. The practice of futures thinking involves anticipating, analysing, and…
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Why Knowledge Management is at the Heart of Learning
Knowledge and learning are inextricable. It is through learning that individuals and organisations acquire knowledge. Knowledge is an organisation’s most important intangible asset. An organisation must be willing to invest in Knowledge Management (KM) to harness the power of collective knowledge and learning. KM focuses on knowledge processes which include creation, acquisition, storing, sharing, and…
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In Order to Learn, Pause to Reflect Regularly
How do we learn in a work environment? From conversations with colleagues, partners, beneficiaries, documents, and multiple other sources. However, most of what we learn at work is through experience, our own and that of others. Through regular Pause to Reflect sessions, we can nurture organisational knowledge, draw lessons learned, and improve how we learn.…
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Four Key Reasons Your Organisation Needs Knowledge Management
Knowledge in any organisation, including in the international development and non–profit sectors, is a highly valuable but often under-utilised asset. It flows in and out through various mediums, from reports, policies and procedures, to databases, stories, and most importantly, the people. In the era of innovation, combined with uncertainty and a fast-paced, constantly changing environment,…
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Where Does KM Sit (or Should Sit) within an Organisation?
Knowledge Management (KM) experts are often asked where KM is best placed within an organisation, with no definitive answer. Experience shows that KM does not have a clear place of its own and is often placed in very different units. The key point is that KM is very much cross-functional and affects every unit and…
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Knowledge Management in a Remote or Hybrid Workplace – Which Tool to Use?
There is no denying that remote and hybrid work is changing the way we work. For many organisations, the COVID-19 pandemic forced a rapid evolution of technologies enabling communication and collaboration. For the most part, the technologies existed already, but they were slowly gaining ground in organisations. The pandemic forced a rapid adoption process, which…
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Embracing Failure
In project reports and other publications, the focus is usually on the successes – how many people reached, overall impact, changes achieved. Failures, mistakes, or underachievement are often seen and presented as difficulties, challenges, or unforeseen negative effects. They are also often understated or covered up, instead of being acknowledged as failures with clear lessons…
