Routes to impactful knowledge : transforming ideas into action

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Materials for this event hosted by NES Knowledge Services 1st - 5th September 2025.

Introduces the concepts of knowledge management and knowledge management techniques aiming to facilitate learning, collaboration and the sharing of knowledge across boundaries and hierarchies.

Expand your horizons, connect with colleagues, exchange ideas and unleash your knowledge sharing potential for yourself, your teams and your organisations.

Sessions were not recorded but slides are provided below along with links to further supporting material.

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Introduction to knowledge management or the power of a good conversation

Good knowledge management is all about communication and conversation is the most common and the most effective method of knowledge exchange. This introductory session will focus on the key benefits a conversational culture brings to organisations. 

By the end of the session, participants would be able to:

  • Describe how knowledge management improves knowledge sharing and communication
  • Recognise the value of different communication strategies
  • Compare options for sharing knowledge within your team
Getting started with knowledge management techniques

There are a range of techniques that can support you to engage in effective knowledge management more consciously and deliberately. This session will introduce you to a range of common techniques, describe how we have used them and give you the opportunity to discuss them. This session will include breakout rooms.

By the end of the session, participants would be able to:

  • Compare different knowledge management techniques and differentiate these from liberating structures
  • Discuss the impact on teams and organisations when a person leaves their job
  • Choose a knowledge management technique that may help in future
Knowledge brokers: connecting you to trustworthy sources

We all have gaps in our knowledge and understanding.  The role of a knowledge broker is to connect you to a trustworthy source to meet your information need.  While this trustworthy source may be a printed text of some kind, it can also be a person or network of people.

By the end of the session, participants would be able to:

  • Summarise the characteristics/roles of both knowledge managers and knowledge brokers 
  • Recognise different information needs 
  • Identify appropriate sources to meet that need

Links

Knowledge brokers: building your networks

In this session we will explore the importance of networks and communities for effective knowledge management, particularly how these can be deliberately utilised by people with a knowledge broker role to share knowledge. We will also look at potential tools and techniques to support network mapping. This session will include breakout rooms.

By the end of the session, participants would be able to:

  • Describe the principles of networks versus communities of practice 
  • Identify a time you have used your networks to meet an information need for yourself or someone else 
  • Explore social network webbing as a technique for mapping your networks
Connecting you to the information you need: a day in the life of a knowledge manager

What does a knowledge manager do?  What can NHS library services do for you? Come along to this session to learn more about the role of three very different NHS librarians.

By the end of this session, participants would be able to: 

  • Describe the role of a knowledge manager 
  • Identify key benefits of this service for your context 
  • Discuss knowledge management strategies to meet your information need
A lunch and learn journey: before and after action reviews

Knowledge Services at NHS Education for Scotland has made some highly successful changes to the way it delivers training. We carried out a before action review to identify objectives and lessons learned from previous experiences, while we used an after action review to evaluate how successfully we met those objectives and identified further lessons for the future.

By the end of the session, participants would be able to: 

  • Describe the features of before and after action reviews 
  • Discuss when these techniques would be appropriate for your context 
  • Create a record suitable for further review
Liberating structures part 1: facilitating a large group versus breakout rooms

There are times when you will want to communicate with a large group, while still collecting the reflections of individuals and promoting engagement. Other times you will want to use breakout rooms to encourage exploration and more in-depth engagement within small groups.  This session will provide examples of capturing information for both contexts, and you will have the opportunity to try out two liberating structures.

By the end of the session, participants would be able to:

  • Recognise whether large group facilitation, small group discussion or a mixture of both best meets your needs
  • Choose liberating structures suitable for your purpose
  • Identify tools suitable for recording the learning from your experience
Liberating structures part 2: creative breakout room techniques

Breakout rooms can be an excellent way to encourage engagement and generate creative and insightful solutions to problems. They can also be tricky to manage, especially in an online environment where technology can be unpredictable. This session will look at the pros and cons and you will have the opportunity to try out two liberating structures using breakout rooms in different ways.

By the end of the session, participants would be able to:

  • Identify liberating structures suitable for use with virtual breakout rooms 
  • Choose a liberating structure to meet your needs 
  • Record the learning gathered from the experience
Meet the experts: a conversation about communities of practice

Join us to hear from a panel of community of practice experts - colleagues who have been involved in building and engaging with communities - as they share their knowledge about the benefits and challenges. We will use a fishbowl format so participants will have the chance to discuss what they have heard and to submit their own questions for our expert panel. This session will include breakout rooms. 

By the end of the session, participants would be able to:

  • Engage in a discussion with Community of Practice experts 
  • Discuss observations and submit your own questions 
  • See it in action! Get to grips with the fishbowl technique