Building for the KM Archetypes at Your Company Taylor Paschal, Knowledge and Information Management Consultant at Enterprise Knowledge, and Jessica Malloy, Senior Knowledge Manager at Harvard Business Publishing presented on April 19, 2023 at the APQC Conference in Houston, Texas on the topic of Building for the KM Archetypes at Your Company. In this presentation, Jessica and Taylor define common types of personalities that are often present when building a KM program. Jessica and Taylor prompted attendees to think through the root causes of various behaviors and the approaches for taking these into account when driving KM forward in round table discussions supported by this worksheet (link). Attendees left with the ability to: Describe the importance of focusing on the unique culture of an organization when building and iterating on a KM program Recognize organizational archetypes and know how to adapt their KM program to them Conduct a cultural assessment of their own organization to ensure their KM program is meeting them where they are

1. Building for the Knowledge
Management Archetypes at
Your Company
Jessica L. Malloy & Taylor M. Paschal

2. Storytime

3. The Speakers

4. Get to know the Archetypes
• What each sounds like
• Root of the behavior(s)
• Approach for KM
Focus on Your Company
• Identifying the KM Archetypes
• Building for the KM Archetypes
Agenda

5. Describe: the importance of the
unique culture of your organization
when building and iterating on a KM
program
Recognize: organizational archetypes
and know how to adapt your KM
program to them
Conduct: a cultural assessment of
your own organization to ensure your
KM program is meeting people where
they are
What Youʼll Learn

6. Our 8 Archetypes

7. What is an Archetype?
n. A very typical example of a certain person or thing
Hero
Characteristics: strength, courage, stamina, faith, competing against the odds
Challenges: arrogance, delusions of grandeur
Explorer
Characteristics: independence, testing limits, bravery, non-conformity
Challenges: aimlessness, alienation, self-indulgence

8. The Hoarder
What it sounds like Root of the behavior Approach for KM
“I save everything on my
laptop in case someone
messes up the shared
folder”
• Lack of trust
• Lack of clear,
pressure-tested
processes
• Validate their concern
• Establish and
communicate a process
“My team created these
resources so we keep it
stored in our team’s folders”
• Pride
• Desire for credit
• It’s not apparent where
else to store it
• Provide guidance and
education around
thinking audience-first
“I’ve worked hard to excel in
my role. If I write down what
I know, the org won’t need
me anymore”
• Fear of job insecurity • Establish an incentives
program for sharing

9. The Sharing is Caring
What it sounds like Root of the behavior Approach for KM
Regular All-Staff Meetings • Culture of transparency
• Trust
• Support presentation
• Record information
shared
Posting in slack, “Hey, look
what I found!”
• Genuinely want to
improve the workplace
for others
• Values community
• Celebrate / recognize
behavior
• Capture or pin relevant
content
• Interview employee
“I was having a hard time
with this new workflow so I
created this guide”
• Thinks like an owner
• Aware of performance
metrics
• Resourceful
• Interview & connect
employee with SME
• Review guide & publish
in KB

10. The Wishful Thinker
What it sounds like Root of the behavior Approach for KM
“I’m looking for two slides from a
deck that was shared in a Slack
channel that was deleted before
you joined. I need the slides in
two hours for a client call. Where
are they?”
• Enabled by a “Sharing is
Caring” teammate
• High caseload
• Limited time
• Lack of resourcefulness
• Shift SME information
sharing approach
• Collab with SME on Client
Call Preparedness Checklist
• Provide education on KMS
best practices
“What do you mean you don’t
have a magic wand?”
• Positive experiences with KM
• Not involved in day-to-day
operations
Publish KM Planning & Roadmap
“We’re great at documentation-
we write everything down!”
• Not familiar with KM
• Good intentions
• Promote & educate content
creation best practices
• Provide various learning &
resource delivery methods

11. The Eeyore
What it sounds like Root of the behavior Approach for KM
“Someone else tried that before
and it didn’t work”
Past experiences with failed
initiatives or wrong investments
at the wrong time
Acknowledge what didn’t work by
compiling lessons learned &
incorporate in KM planning
“This is the third platform we’ve
had to learn. I’m not going to
waste my time because there will
just be a new one by next year”
• Burnout from changes in tech
stack
• “Lift and Shift” migration
• User Error
• If burnout: explore integrations
with existing tech stack, pilot
first, focus on the “why” &
audience-first outcomes
• If user error: train, hold
accountable, improve current
tools and processes
“That’s a bit optimistic. There’s no
way KM could make a difference
like that”
• Unfamiliar to KM
• Lacking success benchmarks
• New KM program
• Include quantitative metrics in
planning
• Campaign & educate team on
your KM program

12. The Rogue One
What it sounds like Root of the behavior Approach for KM
“We got this” • Unaware of ‘big picture’
• Past experience with
unfulfilled promises
• Siloed
• Encourage their drive
• Establish guardrails
*silence* • Blocked by leadership
• Competing priorities
• Processes that take too
long
• Unaddressed feedback
• KM storytelling
• Gamification
• Highlight success stories
in public forums
“No one knows our work
better than we do- we’ll
figure it out.”
• Burnout on past failed
initiatives
• Culture of “move fast
and break things”
Let them! But foster a
positive relationship so their
work can be captured and
shared

13. The Deflector
What it sounds like Root of the behavior Approach for KM
“That’s not my job” • High caseload
• Limited time and
resources
Show that KM work is part of
the process, not an add-on
burden
“I don’t have time to that. I’d
have to delegate that”
• High caseload
• Limited time and
resources
Encourage delegation to
team but highlight
importance of their
leadership in making this
work happen
Declined meeting invites /
ghosts DMs
• Missing context
• Competing priorities
• Mirroring leadership
behavior
• Ask for a representative
from their team
• Show contributions of
other teams

14. The Get Off My Lawn
What it sounds like Root of the behavior Approach for KM
“We don’t talk to them” • Burnout from unsuccessful
collaborations
• Poor reputation of other party
• Avoiding hard conversations
• Consult with team leadership
• Flag to HR / People team
• Celebrate people across
functions
“Those resources belong to that
other team”
• Intentional silos
• Leadership disagreement
• Workforce management
• Security classifications
• Consult with team leadership &
IT / Legal
• Interview & assess for fit
across functions
“This system is only for my team” • Distrust
• Competing priorities
• Change in structure/scope
• Insecurity or budget concerns
• Consult with team leadership &
finance
• Interview & assess for fit
across functions

15. The Generalizer
What it sounds like Root of the behavior Approach for KM
“We don’t need a
role-specific example.”
• Predictive content
creation vs. on-demand
• Human-centered design
Just ask! Survey or run
usability tests with your
audience
“This tutorial dives deep
enough for everyone”
• Assumptive
• Limited time & resources
Provide templates & connect
to SMEs to create
supplemental resources
“Everyone can have access
to everything. What could it
hurt?”
• New age
• Trust
• Good intentions
• Not engaged as
knowledge base user
• Governing Body /
Knowledge Council
• Usability Testing
• Advise on knowledge
structure & permissions
groups

16. Identifying KM
Archetypes at your
Company

17. Your Company

18. Company 1

19. Company 2

20. Our 8 Archetypes
Title Overview
The Hoarder Resistant to share, defensive due to pride, lack of trust or job insecurity
The Sharing is Caring Positive team-player that values community, thinks like an owner
The Eeyore Resistant to try, pessimistic in nature due to previous failed attempts
The Rogue One Disengaged, isolated tendencies from misaligned processes
The Deflector Unwilling to participate due to ambiguity in priorities, role and workload
The Wishful Thinker Optimistic with unrealistic expectations, over reliance on others
The Get Off My Lawn Siloed approach and priorities due to mistrust, disagreement or team structure
The Generalizer Promoter yet makes assumptions or oversimplifies approach
Share Your Results!

21. Building for the KM
Archetypes at Your
Company

22. If this, then that for
1. Top 3 are “Eeyore” “Rogue One” and
“Wishful Thinker” which have negative
lean. Find promoters, conduct pilots,
show results.
2. Partner with “Sharing is Caring” to
display benefits of this type of thinking.
Show Senior Leader buy-in and add
gamification and awards to highlight this
work and encourage others to follow suit
Company 1

23. If this, then that for
1. Can play into key presence of those that go
“Rogue”
2. Enable creativity & velocity by prioritizing Tech
& Infrastructure
3. Major blocker is ‘Get Off My Lawn’ in some
domains of provisioning customer-facing
content
a. Unblock new knowledge sharing processes in
context of enterprise KM Program via Incentives
program & recognition of cross-functional collabs
b. Find ‘Sharing is Caring’ to model behavior
Company 2

24. If this, then that for
Wrap up with mapping of the key
components of Global KM Standard so
you can leave with a priority scheme
based on your company KM archetypes
Your Company

25. Describe: the importance of the
unique culture of your organization
when building and iterating on a KM
program
Recognize: organizational archetypes
and know how to adapt your KM
program to them
Conduct: a cultural assessment of
your own organization to ensure your
KM program is meeting people where
they are
What We Learned

26. Build for Your People
Consider Assets Based Approach
Networking with a Growth Mindset
Call to Action

27. Thank You!