On Second Thought

Remembering times past stimulates the mind and helps give perspective and a sense of who we are. Social reminiscence is a gain in performance without practice. (No. 105 | August 2011)

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Critical Thinking

The quality of our lives depends on the quality of our thoughts. Critical thinking is the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving it. Excellence in thought can be cultivated and fertilized with creativity. (No. 99 | February 2011)

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Taxonomies for Development

Organizations spend millions of dollars on management systems without commensurate investments in the categorization needed to organize the information they rest on. Taxonomy work is strategic work: it enables efficient and interoperable retrieval and sharing of data, information, and knowledge by building needs and natural workflows in intuitive structures. (No. 91 | September 2010)

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The Critical Incident Technique

Organizations are often challenged to identify and resolve workplace problems. The Critical Incident technique gives them a starting point and a process for advancing organizational development through learning experiences. It helps them study "what people do" in various situations. (No. 86 | May 2010)

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Harvesting Knowledge

If 80% of knowledge is unwritten and largely unspoken, we first need to elicit that before we can articulate, share, and make wider use of it. Knowledge harvesting is one way to draw out and package tacit knowledge to help others adapt, personalize, and apply it; build organizational capacity; and preserve institutional memory. (No. 81 | April 2010)

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Showcasing Knowledge

Information has become ubiquitous because producing, manipulating, and disseminating it is now cheap and easy. But perceptions of information overload have less to do with quantity than with the qualities by which knowledge is presented. (No. 74 | February 2010)

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Glossary of Knowledge Management

The knowledge management discipline can be cryptic. These Knowledge Solutions define its most common concepts in simple terms. (No. 39 | April 2009)

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Writing Weblogs

A weblog, in its various forms, is a web-based application on which dated entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video are posted. A weblog enables groups of people to discuss electronically areas of interest and to review different opinions and information surrounding a topic. (No. 35 | March 2009)

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Staff Profile Pages

Staff profile pages are dynamic, adaptive electronic directories that store information about the knowledge, skills, experience, and interests of people. They are a cornerstone of successful knowledge management and learning initiatives. (No. 32 | February 2009)

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Assessing the Effectiveness of Assistance in Capacity Development

Feedback is the dynamic process of presenting and disseminating information to improve performance. Feedback mechanisms are increasingly being recognized as key elements of learning before, during, and after. Assessments by executing agencies of the effectiveness of assistance in capacity development are prominent among these. (No. 29 | February 2009)

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Monthly Progress Notes

Feedback is the dynamic process of presenting and disseminating information to improve performance. Feedback mechanisms are increasingly recognized as key elements of learning before, during, and after. Monthly progress notes on project administration, which document accomplishments as well as bottlenecks, are prominent among these. (No. 26 | January 2009)

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Conducting Exit Interviews

Exit interviews provide feedback on why employees leave, what they liked about their job, and where the organization needs improvement. They are most effective when data is compiled and tracked over time. The concept has been revisited as a tool to capture knowledge from leavers. Exit interviews can be a win-win situation: the organization retains a portion of the leaver’s knowledge and shares it; the departing employee articulates unique contributions and leaves a mark. (No. 2 | October 2008)

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