3 reasons why your process management is the ultimate knowledge repository

"Knowledge is power " - man has known this for at least half a millennium. And even if the German phrase "Wissen ist Macht" (knowledge is power) is certainly a little too... dictatorial for ordinary consumers, it nevertheless makes it clear that knowledge has always been a valuable treasure that must be protected and preserved at all costs.

Knowledge must be protected, regardless of the context. This also applies, of course, to any company, be it the gigantic New York corporation or the small baker on the corner who has held his own in a village somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Germany. The topic becomes even more interesting when you start to consider how diverse the topic of knowledge, or information in general, is in the corporate context: production techniques, market experience, discussion guides, supplier data, or even just when regular customer Mr. Alm Öhi's birthday is - you can hardly run out of examples here.

At this point, we will now take the (admittedly wide) arc back. The question that unites our two rather opposing players: how exactly do we actually store knowledge in the company? And how do we deal with the fact that knowledge comes in so many different forms? Let's give it a try...

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Since a company is made up of a wide variety of processes, it makes sense to link knowledge to them. It's like using the existing building blocks to tell a story (if that's not enough of an allusion, I'm referring to this beautiful image). So can we store something like knowledge in a process-related way? Yes, yes we can.

Confronted with the previously defined hurdles and prerequisites, process management is even predestined for the task of serving as a store of knowledge in the company. After all, everything here revolves around the planning, implementation, control and optimization of processes in the company. By definition, process management requires knowledge about all processes in the company in order to function efficiently. So why not take advantage of this characteristic? In the following, we have listed 3 reasons why a process management system is the ultimate knowledge repository for your company - and compiled 3 tips to make your process management system a better knowledge repository!

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1. documentation of processes and procedures

We have already touched on this first point, but it needs to be explained in more detail here: your process management system documents and visualizes all business processes, workflows and procedures in the company. In this context, detailed process documentation is essential: it stores not only the knowledge about processes in general, but also the expertise and direct procedures of the responsible employees. The more precisely a process is documented, the better it is understood.

Our tip: Make sure that there is a detailed description of every important process in the company - if possible also visually represented. This way, nothing gets lost and the stored knowledge can be passed on more easily at the same time.

2. standardization and knowledge transfer

In the context of detailed documentation of processes, this point can be seamlessly incorporated: Not only does process management promote the standardization of processes, a documented process also facilitates the transfer of knowledge from experienced employees to new colleagues. Process documentation makes it possible to record proven, existing procedures to ensure that they are not lost over time. Proper process documentation ergo records current "best practice" and can thus almost be understood as training material. At the same time, this capture of employee knowledge and experience brings another advantage, since knowledge is thus made company-related rather than employee-related.

Our tip: Keep your process documentation as understandable as possible. Use clear language, including flow charts or diagrams if possible. The process must be understandable for all employees, not just for you. The better the employee experience with a process, the more suitable this process is as a source of knowledge.

3. continuous improvement

The harnessing of employee knowledge also provides another point in favor of process management as a store of knowledge: Not only is the knowledge of existing colleagues about proven processes saved, but also their experience about possible bottlenecks, problems or inefficiencies within the process. Since problems can, of course, always be understood as "thorny opportunities" as well, we therefore have here a way in which improvement potential for the entire process can be uncovered at the same time. Tapping into and accessing this knowledge naturally also brings with it a certain employee integration, even "empowerment", which is also always an advantage in today's working climate.

Our tip: Don't be afraid to regularly challenge your employees to reflect on their processes in order to get better suggestions for optimization. Another way to improve the company as a whole would be to facilitate employee training sessions by employees themselves: Empowerment and workshop in one!

Conclusion: Processes are knowledge.

So by tying our company's knowledge to our processes in our process management system, we enable it to be used much more efficiently. The harnessing of corporate knowledge, as is common in the practice of process management anyway, offers many advantages for companies - not least that corporate knowledge is thus condensed centrally in one place and presented in a way that is comprehensible to everyone involved. On the basis of processes, a knowledge management system can be built that not only strictly collects information, but one that immediately puts it into context -process management builds us our le- no, brand name: our Klemmbaustein house.

At the same time, process management makes it possible to use the existing knowledge about the current state of the company for improvement measures at the company by updating a discussion guide and by knowing that it is Mr. Öhi's birthday and that he will probably leave more money in the store today if this is also acknowledged. The company can therefore turn its knowledge into power through detailed, continuous process management.

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