Got knowledge transfer problems?
Maybe employee training is taking too long. Or maybe it feels like onboarding new hires just isn’t working. Or you have documentation but nobody is using your digital guides, or they are confused when they do try to read your guides.
Either way, you need a way to clearly transfer knowledge to your employees and/or customers so that they can handle procedures on their own.
Working for ScreenSteps — a knowledge ops solution — I’ve seen these knowledge transfer problems manifest themselves in many different companies and many different ways. Luckily, there are a lot of knowledge management and knowledge transfer software options that can help.
In this blog post, I’ll focus specifically on introducing you to what a knowledge ops platform is and explaining how you can use it to solve your knowledge transfer challenges. This includes diving into the different features, use cases, and benefits of a knowledge ops platform.
A knowledge ops platform is software that helps you manage and transfer knowledge more efficiently. It helps businesses do that in two ways.
1. Supporting employees with findable and followable digital guides
2. Supporting employee training with foundational courses
It is like knowledge base software in that it centralizes all your company information in one location and that it allows you to capture, catalog, and deliver that knowledge to your end-users. Additionally, a knowledge ops platform has some further capabilities.
These additional tools help you to operationalize your organizational knowledge. A knowledge ops platform is more equipped to transfer complex knowledge, such as complicated decision trees and troubleshooting procedures.
A knowledge ops platform needs to be able to do three main things.
With your knowledge ops platform, you can create, organize, and share digital guides. These digital guides are more than a PDF, Word document, or SharePoint article. Your knowledge ops platform needs to be able to support three types of articles:
The digital guides you create in a knowledge ops platform have interactive elements. This could mean you include foldable sections, pop-ups, links, or other elements that make it easier for the end-user to quickly get the information they need so they can handle a task.
Ultimately, the goal of the digital guides is to help your end-users perform a procedure without needing to ask for additional help. You do that by making guides findable and followable.
Employees and customers should be able to use the same guide the first time and the 100th time they need it. That’s why a knowledge ops platform’s documentation features include authoring tools that allow you to create dynamic guides.
Part of knowledge transfer is training your employees on what to do. Having integrated courses that are connected to your digital guides helps you connect the learning loop.
Foundational courses lay the groundwork for further training. They provide background information that prepares your employees to handle tasks.
In a knowledge ops platform, you can upload foundational courses. Employees can take these on-demand courses before or during onboarding or another continuous development training.
Then they are prepared for actionable training, such as role-playing or scenario-based training.
One key feature of a knowledge ops platform is user analytics and search reports. You want to be able to pull the curtain back and understand how your end-users are using your knowledge ops platform.
These analytics and search reports will help you identify where you have knowledge gaps (AKA which procedures you need to write digital guides for).
It will also help you identify where and how mistakes are being made. Did an employee make a mistake while following your digital guide, or were they not using the guide?
If it’s the first, then you probably need to update the guide for clarity. If it’s the latter, the employee may need more training.
Besides those three key features, a knowledge ops platform has other tools that help ensure you transfer knowledge efficiently to your users.
Some additional features that make knowledge transfer smoother include:
A knowledge ops platform has a feedback loop so that digital guide creators and end-users can communicate. Your end-users can provide feedback and suggestions within your digital guides. Then the content authors can respond and make changes according to the feedback.
For example, the end-user may point out a confusing step in a procedure or information in a guide is outdated or inaccurate.
With notifications, you can announce changes to your digital guides, meaning a policy or procedure. These announcements are pushed to your users.
It’s a bonus if you can track who has read your notifications. Some knowledge ops platforms allow you to require end-users to acknowledge they have seen an update. They do this by clicking an acknowledgment button.
Businesses experience adaptive change every day. Keeping on top of those changes can be difficult. A certification feature sets reminders and requires your content authors to review and confirm that guides are still accurate.
The browser extension allows employees to access the digital guides while they are working in another application or web window. This means employees don’t have to toggle back and forth between two tabs or two applications. The guide is right where they are working.
Your knowledge ops platform is a centralized location to store all of your company’s information and resources. The digital guides you organize in your knowledge ops platform include any resource your end-user needs to be able to access and will help your end-users do something.
Some different types of documentation that you can store in your knowledge ops platform include:
Why do you need a knowledge ops platform? How would you use it?
A knowledge ops platform helps you tackle challenges, such as:
As a knowledge management software, a knowledge ops platform can help almost any business. It helps businesses that need to manage and transfer knowledge from their experts to their employees and/or customers.
Some businesses where a knowledge ops platform is especially helpful include:
Of course, you can use a knowledge ops platform no matter your industry if you are creating a business strategy for employee support, knowledge management, training, etc.
When it comes to transferring knowledge, a knowledge ops platform has many advantages. Some of those benefits include:
The benefits of a knowledge ops platform are good on their own. However, technology alone will never solve your knowledge transfer problem. The results are amplified when you pair a knowledge ops platform with the right knowledge transfer methodology.
ScreenSteps is our knowledge ops platform, and it has all the features mentioned in this article. Our application has been specifically designed to support the Find & Follow Framework. The Find & Follow Framework helps your team develop habits that help you transfer knowledge quicker and more efficiently.
Training with Find & Follow takes 30 days or less. Our customers have decreased training times by as much as 75% and received millions in ROI.
Want to learn more about the Find & Follow Framework and how it works with your knowledge ops platform?
Download our free Find & Follow guide for new hire training. The eBook will walk you through the Find & Follow Framework, including how to set up your knowledge ops platform and how to train your employees.