“Knowledge in technologies of freedom” (that’s mobile to you & me)

Posted on June 2, 2015 by knowledge4lawyers

Are you wondering how the sprint towards mobile tech will affect your clients and lawyers expectations for knowledge on-the-go?

It seems to me that too many people are simply making their usual solutions available on mobile devices.

We need to go deeper than this. I think we need more help from the academics to understand better how people search, find and absorb knowledge and information, and whether/how this is different on mobile devices.

How natural is it for people to search on mobiles for knowledge (rather than just a phone number or contact details)? Do we need to think differently about knowledge systems now? Should we be focussing on connecting people (White Pages, knowledge maps, microblogging systems, discussion groups), rather than traditional knowledge database methods?

I’ve only just started to scratch the surface on this issue and I’m looking forward to learning more about research in this field from Dr Amit Mitra, Senior Lecturer in Information Management at UWE, at the end of the month (learn how you can come along too at the end).

If you can’t wait for my next instalment, can’t come to the training session or simply want to read more, try these

Dr Mitra’s event is a KNW event, so included in the price of annual membership of KNW, but £95 for non-members. Book via Eventbrite or email/DM/comment and I’ll get back to you.

Membership of KNW is £250pa and includes

  • 3-4 events (6-8 CPD hours) pa
  • Annual survey, White Papers & freebies
  • Exclusive discounts from trusted suppliers
  • November social event & chance to shape the following year’s events
    More here.
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What are your competitors doing in KM?

Posted on June 1, 2015 by knowledge4lawyers

The 2015/2016 annual Knowledge Network West survey into UK law firms’ KM plans is now *live*.

Please complete the survey and share your thoughts about the future of KM in UK firms.

If you are employed at a UK law firm use this link.

If you are self-employed/recently redundant/outsourced (or similar) KM-er, please use this link.

 

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LinkedIn – 6 handy resources

Posted on May 1, 2015 by knowledge4lawyers

I’ve been updating my LinkedIn training resources for a new client.

Nothing beats setting aside an hour or two just to wander around LinkedIn and look at the different groups, different profiles and company pages and see what people are doing and what seems to work, but I have also recently read these and found them interesting/useful as well.

 

If you need any training in LinkedIn for your law firm, I run interactive half day workshops suitable for beginners and intermediate/advanced levels, both of which are tailored to lawyers and knowledge professionals. I also run a day long workshop jointly with Mark Stonham of Wurlwind, a social-selling expert.

Give me a ring (07548 912 779) or drop me a line (helenerussell@theknowledgebusiness.co.uk) for a chat about it.
Contact details here.

Do you want an occasional (approx monthly) email with updates about my latest blog post and open training events? Sign up here.

I also talk about LinkedIn for knowledge sharing in my popular “KM: The Works” training session. The next one is on 28th January 2016. Find out more here.

Posted in Client-facing KM, Events, Internal marketing, Personal Knowledge Management, social media, Training and learning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Get the foundations right

Posted on April 20, 2015 by knowledge4lawyers

 

Do you fit any of these categories?

  • a lawyer who swapped from practice into knowledge work without any training in KM/someone who is about to make the change
  • a Partner who has taken on responsibility for Knowledge issues in your firm, maybe planning to write your first KM strategy
  • a Partner/Associate who is interested in making your team/department more effective but is not sure how LPM, KM, training etc all fit together
  • a trainee who wants to start their working life in practice with a really good grounding in what makes law firms work effectively
  • a lawyer looking to create a new practice, but unsure what aspects of training, library, online services etc are important at what stages/sizes of firm

The field of Knowledge Management is not at all straightforward.  There is a risk that  without a solid understanding of the basic theory and proven practice, you’ll waste a lot of time, money and effort.

To help combat this, I run three day-long training sessions each year on the foundations of KM in law firms.

 

It costs £400 + admin fees, with discounts for Women Lawyers Division members, KN-UK annual pass holders, unemployed PSLs, KM Handbook owners and multiple bookings.

Previous attendees have said the following:
“7/7” “very helpful” “useful practical advice” “well paced” “easy to follow”

If you’d like to speak to a previous attendee, let me know.

Find all my latest events on Eventbrite here.

Want to read more?

If you want to read a bit more about getting the foundations right, try these posts first.

You can also read my article “In the Know” for the Law Society’s Management Section here.

Do you want an occasional (approx monthly) email with updates about my latest blog post and open training events? Sign up here.

Posted in Events, KM, Professional Support Lawyers, Training and learning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Thoughts on influencing

Posted on March 3, 2015 by knowledge4lawyers

I’ve just read this interesting post from the research whisperer.

Although the focus is on influencing policy makers through academic research, I think it has a lot to say to us KMers trying to influence at different levels within our organisations.

If you struggle to get your fee earners to engage with your knowledge systems and struggle to get your Exec Board to understand which changes will have the best ROI (often something far duller than a shiny bit of new kit), have a look at the grey box half way down the post, and reflect on whether you are using the right tools to influence the different groups.

What do you think?

 

Do you want an occasional (approx monthly) email with updates about my latest blog post and open training events? Sign up here.

Posted in Internal marketing, KM, Professional Support Lawyers, Strategy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

RCTs – serendipity + conversation – what’s not to like?

Posted on February 9, 2015 by knowledge4lawyers

I’ve written before about RCTs.  They combine two things I feel often go missing in formalised KM systems – conversation and serendipity.  If you are interested in trying them out in your organisation, but are in need of a little more info and some reassurance from those who’ve already tried them out – here is some more reading for you:

“How Michael and I got RCTs going at Nesta”

Health Education North West – “Fancy a brew?”

“Lunch Roulette”

RCTs in government

 

And a video from the Red Cross introducing the idea to their volunteers.

 

Have you tried them out? I’d love to hear in the comments section how it went.

And do you want to give them a go but want someone to help you? If so, email me.

Alternatively, RCTs are one of the KM Projects in my new textbook – “Practical Projects”

Do you want an occasional (approx monthly) email with updates about my latest blog post and open training events? Sign up here.

Posted in collaboration, KM, Personal Knowledge Management, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Knowledge Network West programme of events for 2015 released!

Posted on February 4, 2015 by knowledge4lawyers

KNW has undergone a bit of a revamp this year and it looks fabulous to me!

Our new programme is available here.

With 4 knowledge sharing/training/networking events based on membership surveys of their needs and white papers/surveys/discussion groups, it is fantastic value at £250 pa.

At present KNW is only in Bristol, but if you want one in your city, email me at helenerussell@theknowledgebusiness.co.uk as I’m planning its expansion into other cities across UK at this very moment!

(And of course if you want your own in-house KM training for your PSLs and partners, I still do that of course).

Posted in Events, Knowledge Network West, Personal Knowledge Management, Training and learning, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Embed yourself?

Posted on November 3, 2014 by knowledge4lawyers

I still follow a blog by the “research whisperer” from my MBA days. He has written recently about his experience rotating around, working in all the different faculties within his Uni (you can read this here).

His comments about

  • the importance of corridor conversations,
  • the value in making connections rather than directed purposeful meetings, and
  • how embedding himself helped him to truly understand the different needs of the departments,

really struck a chord with me.

So… could you do something similar? Learn more about what your departments really need from their Knowledge Systems by embedding yourself amongst them? I know it is terribly comfortable at your own desk, but digital samurai such as yourselves should be able to move around with a minimum of fuss?

Anyone already done this?  Let me know how it went in the comments.

Do you want an occasional (approx monthly) email with updates about my latest blog post and open training events? Sign up here.

Posted in collaboration, Internal marketing, KM, Strategy, Training and learning, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Embedding change

Posted on October 13, 2014 by knowledge4lawyers

The next Knowledge Network West meeting will focus on how we can make change stick in our KM projects. Duncan Ogilvy of 3 Kites will talk to us and lead the discussion.

Find out more here.

And for all the latest workshops, click here.

Posted in Events, Knowledge Network West | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Randomised coffee trials

Posted on October 3, 2014 by knowledge4lawyers

I’m a fan of conversation to faciliate knowledge-sharing and build trusting networks. I’m also a fan of injecting a bit of serendipity into knowledge management generally.

As a result I’m a big fan of RCTs, which are … serendipitous conversations!

If you’ve not come across these before, RCTs (randomised coffee trials) began at Nesta and are a simple means to connect people randomly within organisations for short conversations.

This is how it works:

  1. Anyone interested in taking part sends their contact details to an administrator
  2. The administrator randomly pairs people up. This can be done simply by drawing names out of a hat, although there is software available which is designed for the purpose.
  3. The pairs then have their coffee and a 20-30 minute chat which is usually, but not exclusively, work-related, at a time/place that suits them. For international businesses, the conversation takes place over Skype.
  4. That’s it!

There are some pretty big organisations finding value in RCTs (Linklaters, Bank of England, BAE Systems, Red Cross Red Crescent).

Find out more and read some of the feedback from Nesta and the Red Cross Red Crescent’s RCT trial here
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/rcts

and more from Nesta here

http://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/institutionalising-serendipity-productive-coffee-breaks

If you have tried out RCTs, it’d be really interesting to know how you found them, so please do comment below.

Do you want an occasional (approx monthly) email with updates about my latest blog post and open training events? Sign up here.

There is also an RCT project in my latest textbook “Practical Projects …”

Posted in KM, Training and learning, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments