Knowledge Management and Building a Learning Organisation – London, 14–18 Jun 2027

Programme overview

Technical depth: Practitioner · Practical mode: Case study

Introduction

Critical expertise leaves with every retirement and resignation, projects repeat mistakes that another team has already solved, and lessons learned are recorded but never applied. Many organisations respond with a document repository that few people use. This Core Concept course equips managers to treat knowledge as a managed asset and learning as an organisational capability, using ISO 30401 and the established models of organisational learning. Participants apply audit, capture and sharing methods to cases from several sectors and leave with a Knowledge Management Plan, including an ISO 30401 gap assessment, for their own unit.

Course Objectives

• Assess the organisation's knowledge risks, learning culture and KM maturity using the learning organisation survey and APQC maturity levels
• Interpret ISO 30401 and the principal KM and organisational learning models to shape a knowledge management system
• Conduct a knowledge audit and map critical knowledge by role, process and knowledge holder
• Apply KM methods, including After Action Reviews, communities of practice and knowledge retention interviews
• Reduce knowledge loss and sharing barriers, and measure KM value with a scorecard
• Produce a Knowledge Management Plan with an ISO 30401 gap assessment

Target Audience

• Knowledge managers establishing or relaunching a KM programme
• L&D and organisational development managers responsible for organisational learning
• Quality and business excellence managers accountable for organisational knowledge in management systems
• Project and engineering managers responsible for lessons learned and technical handover
• HR managers planning for knowledge loss from retirement, turnover and restructuring

Course Outline

Day 1: Knowledge, Learning and the Organisational Case

• Data, Information and Knowledge Hierarchy and Polanyi's Tacit Knowledge
• Organisational Knowledge Requirements in ISO 9001 Clause 7.1.6
• Knowledge Loss Drivers: Retirement, Turnover and Restructuring
• Learning Culture Diagnosis with the Garvin, Edmondson and Gino Learning Organisation Survey
• KM Maturity Baseline Using APQC Levels of Knowledge Management Maturity

Day 2: KM and Organisational Learning Frameworks

• ISO 30401 Knowledge Management System Requirements and Structure
• Nonaka and Takeuchi SECI Model and the Concept of Ba
• Senge's Five Disciplines of the Learning Organisation
• Argyris and Schön Single-Loop and Double-Loop Learning
• Cynefin Framework for Matching Knowledge Approaches to Context

Day 3: Core Knowledge Management Methods

• Knowledge Audit and Critical Knowledge Mapping
• After Action Review and Peer Assist Protocols
• Community of Practice Design Using Wenger's Domain, Community and Practice Model
• Knowledge Retention Interviews and Expert Handover Plans
• Taxonomy and Metadata Design for Knowledge Repositories Using ISO 25964 Principles

Day 4: Barriers, Risk and Measuring KM

• Critical Knowledge Loss Risk Assessment Matrix
• Psychological Safety and Knowledge Hoarding Diagnosis Using Edmondson's Scale
• Organisational Network Analysis for Expertise Location
• Lessons Learned Closure Process: From Capture to Verified Process Change
• KM Value Scorecard: Reuse, Time to Competence and Avoided Cost

Day 5: Case Work and the Knowledge Management Plan

• Energy Operator Case Study: Retiring Engineers and Undocumented Expertise
• Professional Services Case Study: Project Mistakes Repeated Across Offices
• Knowledge Audit Build for an Own Unit
• Knowledge Management Plan and ISO 30401 Gap Assessment Drafting
• Peer Challenge Panel and Plan Defence

Skills You Will Gain

• Knowledge Auditing
• Critical Knowledge Mapping
• Tacit Knowledge Capture
• Community of Practice Facilitation
• Lessons Learned Management
• Knowledge Risk Assessment
• Taxonomy Design
• KM Performance Measurement

Why Attend This Course

• Return with a Knowledge Management Plan and an ISO 30401 gap assessment for your own unit, reviewed by peers
• Protect the expertise that currently leaves the organisation with each retirement or resignation
• Turn lessons learned from a filing exercise into changes that stop repeated mistakes
• Compare knowledge management approaches with managers from other sectors and countries

Conclusion

Organisations that learn faster than their competitors do so by design, not by accident. This course moves from the case for knowledge management and the diagnosis of learning culture, through ISO 30401 and the principal organisational learning models, to the audit, capture and sharing methods and the barriers and risks that decide whether they work. The final day turns that material into a Knowledge Management Plan and ISO 30401 gap assessment that participants take back to their unit as the basis for a funded programme.