In every business big enough to have partners or employees, each person knows a little something that colleagues do not. To succeed in the long term, businesses must properly manage this wisdom. To do this properly, you'll need a successful knowledge management system, so:

1. Start small.
2. Identify a specific goal employees can relate to.
3. Create a method for capturing knowledge data.
4. Create a method for transferring knowledge data.

To start, ask employees to focus on something tangible, which will help them share their knowledge. Capture that knowledge via email discussions, collaboration knowledge management systems (sometimes called "knowledge networks") or document repositories. Then, set up a method to allow your employees to access the data or learn the lessons. There are software solutions that can help, but don't be afraid to innovate based on your own business culture.

Action Steps for Knowledge Management Success
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Increase your understanding of knowledge management

Knowledge management is a huge topic with many branches that may or may not fit your organization. Before you invest in expensive solutions, extra research may be in order.

I recommend: Start by browsing through CIO's Knowledge Management Resource Center, destinationKM.com, My X Finder's Knowledge Management Guide, The Knowledge Management Resource Center and elsua: The Knowledge Management Blog. Another good place to start is Business.com's general knowledge management page.

Create a knowledge repository

You need a place to store data. It can be as simple as a centralized file storage location on your server or a dedicated knowledge software application. Knowledge management case studies can be very instructive.

I recommend: Check out Intuit's QuickBase or KMWorld Buyers Guide and Capterra's Knowledge Management Software Directory for more comprehensive, and sometimes expensive, solutions. Business.com maintains a consistently updated list of knowledge management software vendors.

Create collaborative knowledge networks

An online or software-based knowledge management system can help you share knowledge and store best-practices documents and data.

I recommend: Check out KMWorld Buyers Guide and Capterra's Knowledge Management Software Directory for the most robust solutions. A simple option is a wiki-based solution, such as Atlassian's Confluence. Business.com lists providers of groupware software.

Tips & Tactics Knowledge Management

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Encourage your employees to tell stories about how their ideas and experiences worked – it's a good way to elicit good ideas, and stories usually provide a context to the knowledge that helps others learn.
• •  There are many options out there – consider hiring an IT consultant to install or help you learn to use the solutions.