Lessons Learned and Ditches to Avoid

Judgment is Required

The idea that a good knowledge base will allow the organization to deliver answers using lower skilled, lower cost resources is false. The Solve Loop practices of Reuse, Improve, and Create require people who consistently exercise good judgment. If, in the process of solving an issue, we find a KCS article we feel resolves the issue, we should review the article to ensure that it is relevant and accurate. We must exercise judgment, and we are responsible for the advice we give. If we are uncertain about a situation, we need to get a second opinion, just as we would before KCS. The knowledge base does not reduce the need for good judgment.  In fact, the need for good judgment increases.

What did you learn from your KCS adoption?

Some thoughts from experienced KCS Program Managers.

• "The way it is sold to the knowledge workers is important.  They need to understand the big picture as well as what’s in it for them."
• "Clear accountability – the managers have to own KCS success. It cannot be viewed as a staff function, or viewed as something extra or additional to handling incidents. KCS has to become a core competency, integral to the business.”
• "Wish we had a better understanding of what we needed for success before we went shopping for a tool.”
• "Understand engineer workflow before switching a new tool."
• "I'm glad we piloted the process and content standard with the tools we already had before purchasing a new tool."
• "Can’t sustain KCS without continuing change and improvement."
• "Have resources aligned. You can not over-communicate what KCS is about and why you are doing it.”
• "The biggest skeptics turned out to be our biggest evangelists...once they experienced the benefits."
• "Reuse counts helped us get the right information on the self-service website."
• "The KCS Practices Workshop was high impact and an important element in our success.”

Lack of management ownership

• It is important to have a strong staff or KCS Council to support the KCS adoption.  Ultimately, the ownership for KCS success must lie with the managers. As a domain moves from Adopting in Waves to Building Proficiency, there is a need to overtly shift the accountability for KCS success from the KCS Council to the managers. KCS is a bigger change for management than it is for the knowledge workers. Having a plan to coach the managers can be helpful in making this transition. 

Ineffective coaching program

• An effective way to pick the right coaches is to survey the organization about who they trust.  Coaches need to have a belief in KCS and strong influence and interpersonal skills.  They don't necessarily need to be subject matter expert.
• Give the coaches time to coach!  It is an investment that will pay off.

Not having the knowledge workers design the workflow and content standard

• Let the people doing the work (the knowledge workers) own the workflow and content standard, and keep both simple! While there should be management representation on the KCS Council, management should not be the owners of the workflow and content standards. When management owns those they often over-engineer them. 

Not changing the metrics as we expand from Building Proficiency to Optimize and Innovate

• Once KCS has been implemented in an organization, that organization must transform its measurements from transaction-based to value-based.  The health and contribution of the value being created can no longer be measured by the time and number of transactions processed.  The value must be measured in terms of the effectiveness of the knowledge flow and collaboration that goes beyond the traditional boundaries of the organization, in all directions.
• Traditional support measures will show dramatic improvement in the early phases of adoption.  As we start to deliver a high percentage of what we know through self-service, the traditional event-based measures will all go in the “wrong” direction.  We must reset executive expectations and understanding of the traditional measures and introduce measures that include customer use and success with self-service. 

It's a Matter of Balance

As we said in the introduction, the adoption of KCS represents a transformation. It requires a shift in the organization's culture, values, and focus. It requires a balance of:

Individual        and         Team

Activity            and         Outcome

Completion     and         Evolution

Content           and        Context

Knowing          and        Learning

Management   and        Leadership

We hope this guide has helped launch you your KCS journey.  KCS adoption is not a trivial undertaking.  It requires both patience and persistence; change is hard!

The KCS Practices Guide reflects the collective experience and thinking of the many dedicated individuals and organizations who make up the Consortium for Service Innovation, as well as the academic work reflected here. We continue to learn and evolve our understanding. The evolution is a function of our Members' courage to try new and therefore unproven ways to address the challenges of change.  If you like what you see in the KCS Practices and would like to contribute to its ongoing evolution, please join us. The journey continues!

This guide comes from lessons learned through the collective experiences of Members of the Consortium for Service Innovation, who have also created a Field Guide for KCS Program Management (Member login required).  

KCS continues to evolve. If you would like to be part of creating the next version of KCS, become a Member of the Consortium for Service Innovation.