In order to do this, you’ll need to understand the business you’re in from a profit and loss viewpoint. This helps your business credibility. What do your products and services cost to develop, build, test, and sell? Then understand with several concrete examples, exactly how knowledge access and preservation specifically helps reduce cost, avoid cost, shorten cycle time, spawn innovation, etc.  Anything that hits the bottom line. This requires having done the work on programs in the business side of the company that executes the work. Or learning enough about it so speak with some authority. Ultimately you’ll need support from business leaders to participate in a company-wide KM program, so it helps to speak their language and frame the KM program in their world. In a sense, it’s like earning a seat at their table. Otherwise, they’ll take a meeting with you, and will be polite (if you’re lucky), but won’t actually do anything, and your KM program will be nothing more than a paper exercise!

Example of Using CEO’s Vision: Examine your CEO’s vision for angles where your KM program can directly support it.  For example, in 2009 Boeing CEO Jim McNerney’s vision was to be “the best, and best integrated aerospace company.”  Looking at this statement from a KM view, one way to be the best is to have a stronger and more accessible knowledge base than your competitors. Furthermore, being integrated means connecting across organizational silos and sharing knowledge for the betterment of the company.  These may seem like obvious concepts, but just saying it doesn’t mean it will happen, even if you’re the CEO. There can be significant barriers to it in large companies.  For example, budgets to pay for collaboration support from IT, or employee’s time on tasks, could be managed and controlled in a decentralized fashion. That is, at individual locations, controlled by VPs that are incentivized locally, not globally at the corporate level. Cultures could be different and drive unspoken wedges between parts of the company. So the question is, how can one help the company be the best, and best integrated? A knowledge management program (as well as cross cutting organizational constructs) can provide a way to be the best, and better integrated.  The key is linking to the CEO’s stated objectives as the “why” for KM.

Example of a Strategic Imperative: If, like Boeing, your company is comprised of heritage companies that merged, or were acquired, then you probably have a very rich and diverse history. And a knowledge base that goes with it. You want to make that size and diverse background an advantage in the market place, as they all work under a single corporate umbrella. But sharing knowledge across these heritage companies can pose a challenge, particularly if they were once competitors because employees are trained not to use another’s proprietary information. Further, mergers and acquisitions likely counted on synergies like innovation through knowledge sharing.  There’s a good chance the full business potential of M&A actions is not being realized. So look for a story or two of opportunity where knowledge from one part of the company could have saved months or years of work in another part of the company.  Explain it simply with pictures of past programs from heritage companies and build a case for needing to “know what we know” in all those heritage companies. Surely someone, somewhere, knows the answer to our question. If we can tap into that knowledge base to solve today’s problems faster, and design a better tomorrow, we’ll be nimbler and more competitive, despite being a large complex company. The alternative for a large complex company is risking collapse under its own ponderous weight.

Example Using Workforce Retirements and Associated Knowledge Loss:  Drill a little deeper into what knowledge is at risk, and why a company might care. For example, Boeing’s B-52 strategic bomber contract was awarded in 1948, the plane entered service in 1955, and it’s expected to keep operating until 2040. That’s 92 years of knowledge continuity, which is roughly 3 generations. So there is a continuity of knowledge angle. There are also cases where the bench of expertise is just a few people deep. Connect with HR, and with industry sources outside your company, to get general retirement trends. In aerospace for the past 20 years I have heard claims of 50% of workers being eligible to retire in the next five years. I don’t think it’s happened to the extent people have worried it would. Nevertheless, it’s a real issue, or can be. HR should be able to provide you with some statistics generalized by function like engineering, finance, etc. Do not expect age by name, as that may be illegal for them to provide. But you may get average ages by generalized populations, or certainly years of service from which you may infer retirement risk.  Examine actual retirements vs. eligibility, and historical variation based on economics. This doesn’t have to be exact, but you should provide a general sense of the population that may choose to retire. Also, contact some business leaders in finance or engineering or supplier management and ask if they are worried about losing critical know-how through retirements.  If they are, ask what types of knowledge and percentages of employees are eligible. Use this direct information to form a real life story that goes with this “why.”

Succinctly communicating the “why” for KM is the goal. You are competing for attention with leaders who need to focus on other business matters, usually ones of immediacy. Unfortunately, for most leaders, KM is not glamorous. It’s also not a straight forward cause and effect, like changing the cure time for an adhesive resulting in lower stress between parts. KM is a long-term prospect filled with subtleties that collectively add up to benefits for an organization, especially a large complex global one.   

You can use a simple graphic of a KM program that is driven by one to two important imperatives, and that supports the company strategy.  Make KM subordinate to these company needs so you don’t inadvertently step on the toes of leaders who are also addressing those needs. Then approach some select senior managers who should support those company needs, possibly in corporate strategy, or near the top of key organizations. Don’t push your KM program, but rather seek input on some initial planning. There will be more laying of foundation with them and other stakeholders, we well as benchmarking later. But for now, you just want to make sure you properly understand some things the company deems important, like leveraging size to be competitive, retaining critical knowledge, and whatever elements of the company strategy you think a KM program could support. Start with these needs and say you’re working on some ideas around better access to experts, knowledge sharing across generations, etc. You can ease into the idea of a KM program if they seem receptive after ensuring you’re both on the same page in terms of company business needs and strategy. They may even have some great advice regarding company needs you hadn’t considered, or how to better depict your ideas.  Take in all advice at this stage.