Using Knowledge
Management to increase Third Sector Resilience: a Third Sector Special Interest
Group discussion (The OR Society)
by Ruth Kaufman and Nigel Cummings
Whilst there has been much talk about the need for third
sector organisations to collaborate, there has been scant coverage of how to
manage the shared information and knowledge flows that underpin such
partnerships. The Third Sector Special Interest Group (SIG) was therefore
delighted to host a joint presentation from Dr Gillian Ragsdell, Senior
Lecturer in Knowledge Management at Loughborough University and Moya Hoult, Chief
Officer of Charnwood Citizens Advice Bureau, describing a knowledge management
application aimed at doing exactly that.
Charnwood Connect is a project spearheaded by Charnwood CAB
and funded for two years by the Big Lottery, bringing advice and advocacy
services in the area together into collaborative service provision. The aim is
to make the best use of resources in the current environment of funding cuts
and statutory service restructuring. Successful knowledge sharing is clearly
key to successful collaboration.
Gillian started by tapping her head and explaining “It’s all
about getting what’s ‘up here’ into a format that can be used by an organisation.
So, capturing knowledge is important because, when personnel leave an
organisation, knowledge leaves with them.” She went on to discuss different
strategies for managing knowledge – one that focuses on knowledge as an asset
and one that emphasises social processes – and stressed that the Charnwood
Connect project consciously embraces both. Gillian highlighted that Knowledge
Management has changed considerably since its beginnings. “Today we are
managing knowledge in a world where there is a huge amount of information,
where we connect with people in different time zones through different media,
and so on… All of these changes have
made Knowledge Management more exciting and even more necessary, but also more
challenging”.
Gillian went on to illustrate the processes involved in
Knowledge Management and, in particular, why many lessons can be learned from
the ways in which the voluntary sector manages its knowledge, and the holistic
approach adopted for Charnwood Connect. Picking
up the story, Moya had much to say about the challenges of Charnwood Connect,
and how Knowledge Management techniques had proved useful. The focus of how
Citizens Advice Bureaux dealt with public problems had, she said, “changed, considerably
over the years. It used to be all about crisis management but now considerably
more emphasis is placed upon preventative work”.
Moya gave some examples of changes introduced as a result of
the project. The change to collaborative service provision meant that it was
important to set up robust referral systems with partners, and to investigate
new ways of connecting with clients. One of the most effective ways, she said,
was to remind clients of their appointments by sending out appointment reminder
text messages. This and the implementation of a ‘Connect Card’ were being
tested over a three month period. Early results had been very encouraging: the
text message approach for example, had resulted in reducing “did not attend” figures
considerably whilst the Connect Cards had proved to be extremely effective aide
memoires for clients.
Moya also discussed the development of an IT Knowledge Hub
for Charnwood Connect: an essential
component of the system for sharing best practices.
Cultural differences between collaborating organisations
also need to be allowed for, and Moya gave the example of the role of volunteers.
Whilst volunteers are the core of a CAB service, other partners in Charnwood
Connect had mainly used volunteers for “back office” duties. All partners were being encouraged to use
volunteers in “frontline” positions. Volunteers gain valuable skills and
experience whilst the organisations can benefit from an increase in resources
and capacity.
The presentation had been preceded by the General Meeting of
the Third Sector SIG, summarising what they have been doing since the last
meeting in 2012, and flagging up some of the plans for next year, including a
half-day meeting focusing on young people’s services, and joint meetings with
Regional Societies. Find out more about
the SIG and ORS’s third sector activities on the website (http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/SpecialInterest/ORThirdSector.aspx)
or follow Felicity McLeister on Twitter @FMcLeister
