People-focused knowledge management

Build and Operate Expert Networks. Provide formalized capa-
bilities for workers in the field to consult or collaborate with
topic experts on complex or unfamiliar tasks. Several mecha-
nisms and infrastructure elements may be used to create and
support an expert network. They include: (1) guides to “who
knows what” in the form of “yellow page” systems on intranets,
knowledge inventories, or knowledge roadmaps; (2) policies
that permit knowledge worker access to experts; (3) budgets for
experts to help knowledge workers; (4) communication chan-
nels that range from on-site expert visits, face-to-face meetings,
telephone consultations, e-mail, groupware-based communica-
tion, video conferencing, and so on; (5) learnings capture
systems to build frequently asked questions (FAQ) help systems;
and (6) outcome feedback analysis and capture systems.
Capture and Transfer Expert Know-How. Communicates 
concepts, judgments, and thinking by exceptional performers
and experts to other knowledge workers to help them develop
improved “this is how we do it” knowledge to perform better.
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One approach uses experts to demonstrate, identify, and char-
acterize their work methods. By observing experts at work 
and in simulated situations, the experts communicate directly 
with workers. They explain their approaches, thinking, and 
perspectives for handling routine and particularly, nonroutine,
situations and engage less experienced workers in discussions
and explorations. This approach allows these workers to 
learn by building and internalizing new knowledge. They par-
ticularly build mental models in the form of beginning routines,
operational models, and scripts for how to perform the new
tasks.
Capture and Transfer Expert Concepts to Other Practitioners.
Similar to the capture and transfer of know-how but instead of
focusing on how to perform work, it focuses on the concepts,
thinking, and reasoning foundations for why work may be per-
formed in different ways under different conditions. A typical
approach is for experts to describe, identify, and characterize
their associations, concept hierarchies, mental models, content
knowledge, and metaknowledge as best they can — first by
telling the other practitioners and, as sessions evolve, by being
drawn into discussions. This approach allows practitioners to
build and internalize new knowledge by building mental models
Examples of Knowledge Management Practices and Initiatives
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in the form of operational models, scripts, schemata, general
abstractions, and metaknowledge.