Knowledge that stays

There is a decisive difference between what a person knows and what the organisation knows. As long as knowledge lives only in heads, it leaves the building as soon as a head leaves. For an organisation that is not bad luck but an avoidable risk, and reducing it is part of the leadership task.

Here a fine but important distinction is worthwhile, one that is often blurred. The clarification itself – working out the fundamentals, preparing information, developing proposals – can and should be delegated. Nobody expects leadership to gather every basis with their own hands. What cannot be delegated are the decisions that depend on leadership responsibility.

The preparation may pass through many hands; the decision stays with leadership. Drawing this line cleanly relieves and protects at the same time.

We structure and support the documentation of the information and documents needed for project leadership and project steering. For this we provide suitable project templates, checklists and structures. On request, approach, roles, templates and checklists can be bundled in a digital project handbook of the organisation.

However, we do not lay down in general where all project information or project results are documented. Subject-matter project results can continue to be kept in the systems, repositories and tools intended for them.

The boundary therefore remains clear: the Office is not the central repository for all project information and not a comprehensive knowledge management solution for the entire company. Its focus is on the leadership and steering information that makes projects traceable and leadable for the organisation.

How far an organisation has already come with this, from person-dependent to self-learning handling of knowledge, is shown by the maturity level in Chapter 7.