Event: 21st March 2018, Brussels
This consultancy has just successfully concluded a high-level study commissioned by the European Commission (EC) on the subject of facilitating collaborative work and enhancing management and sharing of knowledge at the EC. The findings, conclusions, and recommendations of this Knowledge Mgmt. study were presented to a cross-directorate audience at the EC in Brussels.
The study was lead, on the EC side, by Mr Stephen Collins, head of the Organisational Development Projects and Knowledge Management Unit in the DG for Human Resources & Security.
The key approach followed to gather information was to interview experts and active parties in the domain of knowledge mgmt. and collaborative working across a representative set of Directorate Generals (DGs). Some 18 persons were interviewed across 10 DGs; for the most part these interviews were carried out personally at the Commission premises in Brussels. It can be said that we were very positively received and that all interviewees displayed a genuine interest and involvement in the subject matter. There was a clear awareness that information sharing and knowledge management is very important for the general functioning of the organisation and for the interviewee’s professional environment.
In the course of our interviews we identified the common challenges and problems faced by users across a number of domains, such as user-friendliness of tools, ease to find the right tool, structure, functionality, and user-interface of tools, obtaining help and instructions for using tools, facilities for collaboration, information landscape, facilities to search and find needed information, and whether existing knowledge sharing-tools adequately facilitated timely sharing of up-to-date information to successfully prevent duplication of effort and ensure consistent and homogenous outcomes.
In our Final Presentation, we presented the key results of the interviews and feedback from the users, and provided a set of recommendations towards reaching the goals set out, improving collaboration, enhancing sharing of knowledge, and altogether increasing the effectiveness of work.
The presentation was well received and inspired lively and useful discussion. Following the presentation, our team was requested to engage again at a later date with key people playing a leading role in resolving knowledge mgmt. challenges at the EC in order to further discuss and amplify on our recommendations.
