The Solution

Over a 5-month period, GCF partnered with Enterprise Knowledge to create a Knowledge Cafe program that addressed knowledge challenges and supported the organizational goals. The program was designed to encourage the cross-pollination of ideas across teams and enable new communication pathways to amplify learning and collaboration. Throughout the engagement, EK took an iterative approach, enabling the GCF team to ensure topics, deliverables, and training were aligned with their desired outcomes. 

In the initial phase, EK conducted discovery work to better understand the needs of stakeholders and ensure buy-in from leadership and employees. This was done through a series of interviews, in which business outcomes, desires, and topics of interests were discussed to tailor the approach. Desired outcomes for Knowledge Cafes included:

Figure 1: Expected Outcomes and Benefits of Knowledge Cafes at GCF

After the development of use cases and topics for discussion, EK facilitated two in-person pilot Knowledge Cafes to test different approaches to Cafe delivery and topics. These pilots were used to determine which Knowledge Cafe model would work best for GCF and to showcase different delivery modalities. EK also facilitated a retrospective of “lessons learned” that included pilot participant feedback and iterative sessions with the GCF team. EK used those lessons to develop a final version of GCF’s Knowledge Cafe Model and Manual.

Figure 2: In-person piloting of Knowledge Cafes at Green Climate Fund.

This Knowledge Cafe Model and Manual describes how to properly establish a Knowledge Cafe program. The manual includes details on all necessary considerations to deliver a repeatable, clearly communicated process. Lastly, EK delivered personalized training to prepare organizers and stakeholders for Cafe engagement. This training ensured a smooth transition of the Knowledge Cafe program to GCF at the end of the engagement to allow for the project’s long-term sustainability.

The EK Difference

The EK team’s discovery and analysis approach allowed the team to understand the workflows, pain points, cultural considerations, and desires of a variety of employees at GCF. EK utilized design thinking activities, including persona development and workshopping, to gain a better understanding of the needs, motivations, and hesitations of stakeholders. After learning about these needs, EK crafted tailored communications to accompany Knowledge Cafes in encouraging adoption of this new KM activity at GCF. 

EK also enacted an Agile approach that incorporated opportunities to engage in dialogue and feedback with GCF. EK utilized piloting techniques to validate assumptions, test different Cafe options, and gather learning. At the end of the pilot, EK performed a retrospective to adjust aspects of the Cafes to better fit GCF.

The Solution

To support the creation of a taxonomy for the healthcare organization’s call center, EK facilitated a taxonomy design workshop with key stakeholders from the call center, consisting of several succinct sessions with dozens of participants from across the organization. In order to gain a better understanding of the healthcare organization’s current user needs, EK facilitated five different activities: a Personas Activity, a User Stories Activity, a Content Types Activity, a Metadata Fields Activity, and a Taxonomy Governance Activity, using the online whiteboard tools Mural and RetroTool. EK also facilitated guided discussions on Taxonomy, Core Workflows, and Content Governance. EK compiled these findings into a Taxonomy Workshop Report which contained our recommendations surrounding baseline taxonomy design, content types, and information architecture, as well as suggestions for content management and taxonomy governance, including a proposed taxonomy governance model. 

Following the delivery of the Taxonomy Workshop Report, EK held additional sessions with the company stakeholders to better understand their current content management and governance processes. To summarize these findings and analyses, EK delivered a Content Governance Plan which provided detailed recommendations on how the healthcare organization could effectively store and manage their content in the short- and long-term. More specifically, the Content Governance Report included a Content Governance Model with associated roles and responsibilities that aligned to governance and KM best practices; governance processes and workflows for adding, updating, and archiving content; a structure for content governance team meetings; preliminary content management best practices for formatting and tagging content; and recommended next steps for the healthcare company to ensure optimal value was being derived from their call center content.

The EK Difference

To garner buy-in from users, EK facilitated multiple sessions following the delivery of the Taxonomy Workshop Report to answer both technical and non-technical questions about the report itself, as well as how the taxonomy would actually function within the knowledge management platform. By engaging in conversation with call center stakeholders, EK was able to answer pointed questions about specific aspects of the taxonomy report that otherwise would not have been addressed, further streamlining acceptance and adoption and allowing us to communicate the value of the taxonomy in business terms to a wide and diverse user group. EK also incorporated this direct stakeholder feedback into the Content Governance Report, highlighting and providing strong evidence for the most important and meaningful components based on what was learned during the additional sessions. 

Additionally, EK leveraged our years of experience and subject matter expertise in taxonomies and content management consulting to tailor our workshop agenda and materials to the specific challenges being faced by the call center, ultimately delivering more applicable and actionable plans that align with both industry best practices and the strategic goals of the overarching organization.

The Solution

Over the course of a four-month period, Enterprise Knowledge (EK) engaged with the client to perform a Technology Solution Recommendation that included a series of deliverables to address the client’s needs. EK first executed a current state assessment of the client’s technology and processes surrounding the management of the content. Following this assessment, and armed with the knowledge of the clients’ technological and business needs, EK devised a set of prioritized Business and Functional Requirements for the target state system, along with a business case for replatforming the client could use to garner buy-in and executive support.

Further, using the prioritized requirements devised by EK and signed off on by the client, EK identified three software solutions that would meet the needs of the client and developed a tailored recommendation. This recommendation was facilitated end-to-end by EK acting as the intermediary, reaching out to and facilitating initial conversations with potential vendors, arranging system demonstrations of the various products, and presenting a comprehensive, system-agnostic analysis of the options according to the client’s specifications/business case.

The EK Difference

EK’s approach to this engagement highlighted our expertise in the Knowledge Management (KM) space by combining several of our services into one offering. EK utilized our expertise in maturity assessments, use case and requirements analysis, and knowledge of the KM technology world to deliver a highly specialized and tailored recommendation to the client. Having seen similar use cases with previous clients, EK was able to quickly identify the type of solution sought after by the client and facilitate connections with multiple vendors within the span of a few weeks.

EK also utilized both bottom-up and top-down analyses by executing assessment activities from multiple touchpoints. EK recognizes the importance of a multi-faceted approach and therefore consulted with end users (bottom-up), the actual content in scope (bottom-up), executive leadership (top-down), and facilitated demonstrations of in-scope systems (bottom-down) to inform the final recommendation.

Lastly, EK fostered a working relationship with the client by holding weekly status meetings to check in on project progress and collaborating on various deliverables to ensure collective agreement. EK also acted as the intermediary with vendors to preserve the anonymity of the client and remained system-agnostic to ensure the client received unbiased and accurate recommendations.

The Solution

EK conducted a series of training activities over a multi-week period, focusing on organizational analysis and synthesis. In order to ensure that the organization’s leadership understood and accepted the proposed Target Organization Definition, EK conducted multiple feedback sessions with senior leadership to share the proposed organizational recommendations, gather feedback, and refine the model as needed. In these feedback sessions, EK elicited leadership’s perspectives on whether the proposed change practices were appropriately prioritized and covered the key initiatives and priorities of leadership. These sessions also allowed EK to identify and share problem points or bottlenecks in certain processes (e.g., lines of authority and decision-making, communications) and whether there were any opportunities to simplify organizational actions and processes. Following each of these sessions, the EK team made iterative edits and developments to the Target Organization Definition to ensure the organizational model remained up-to-date and in-line with organizational objectives.

EK also delivered a synthesized version of the Target Organization Definition as an executive briefing deck, to be used externally when updating current and future partners on the new organizational model. This deck provided the organization with a clean, marketable message to showcase their value to the broader federal agency and discuss planned changes to the organization. This executive briefing deck described the organization’s differentiated value, outlined why it is changing its approach to how it delivers its services, what its core offerings are, and what the organization is uniquely able to provide its partners. EK developed the deck iteratively, presenting leadership with a draft version from which to gather reactions and make adjustments.

The EK Difference

EK supported this organization throughout the entire project to design, develop, and implement the best possible solution for their needs. Beginning with the strategy and design phase of the project, EK conducted multiple rounds of workshops and focus groups to uncover the root of their challenges and discover the right people, processes, and content that should be included in the organizational model and involved in the change efforts. EK designed multiple iterations of the model to incorporate feedback from workshop participants and key stakeholders.

During the development process, EK leveraged Agile processes to maximize communication with organizational leadership and staff. User stories were expanded upon and business requirements were revised in a collaborative process between the design team and key stakeholders. EK began this engagement with a Current State SWOT Analysis, assessing the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for growth, and the roadblocks that could inhibit the project. This phase of work allowed EK a deeper understanding of the organization’s desired Target State. EK also provided change management, training, and a comprehensive transformation and roadmap plan to ensure a smooth transition and high adoption rate of new federal services and solutions.

The EK team displayed Agile approaches and methodology throughout this entire process, demonstrating to the organization’s staff how they should approach the implementation of the new organizational model. The model was developed iteratively, and at each phase, all stakeholders were given the opportunity to voice concerns and shift priorities. The change practices that EK advised to reach the Target State were supported by recommended actions and milestones, success criteria, and anticipated outcomes so that change management best practices would become second nature at this organization.