Knowledge management can appear in many different forms within an organisation. A consultancy specialising in KM first assesses what knowledge is required for the company’s operations, and how that knowledge should be accessed. This may involve information storage, database systems, or even community-building. As Tibor explains, a good knowledge manager thinks in systems – supporting both the design and implementation of these structures.

For non-specialists, it is often easier to describe KM as organisational development with a knowledge management focus. This framing helps clarify its purpose: optimisation, development, and efficiency – delivered through KM tools. The approaches range from highly technocratic to strongly human-centred, each relying on different methods and solutions.

When knowledge fails: a case from banking

Tibor recalls a striking knowledge management problem in his own bank. Customer service was painfully slow. Once his turn came, he discovered why:

• The employee wasn’t sure what access rights she had.
• She began asking colleagues about different process steps.
• Eventually it turned out she wasn’t authorised to solve the issue at all. Tibor was redirected to another staff member, and finally the branch manager had to step in, download a set of instructions, and explain the procedure to the employee.

All this for a routine card fraud case – a process that should have taken seconds. This was a textbook KM failure: a well-designed knowledge base should have shown immediately what the procedure was and whether the staff member was authorised to execute it. Instead, the organisation wasted resources, time, and goodwill – and risked losing customer trust.

As Márton adds, this also highlights the importance of “ignorance management”: how do employees respond when faced with situations where knowledge is missing or difficult to access?

Listen to the podcast on Spotify or YouTube and subscribe for new content!

Creating knowledge

In most cases, knowledge creation means capturing and transferring effective practices. The first step is to identify value-creating processes within the organisation. Then ask: what knowledge does someone need to perform these processes? Do employees need to master this knowledge themselves, or is it sufficient that it be readily available when required?

This distinction often separates onboarding from the development of routine. As Márton points out, storage practices vary widely:

• In smaller firms, sticky notes may still serve as the “knowledge base” – sometimes effective at that scale.
• In multinationals, the problem is often the opposite: an overload of training materials in different formats and at different times, making them overwhelming to navigate.

Knowledge originates in people’s minds – at least until the emergence of AI models. The key question is: what happens next? At worst, it remains tacit and hidden; at best, a culture of sharing best practices ensures employees learn from each other. For larger companies, enabling thousands of staff to access the best practices is a matter of survival.

Knowledge mapping

As Tibor emphasises, mapping must always start from processes. The organisation needs to identify what is required to improve them, and then link this to knowledge mapping. The aim is to align organisational needs with existing knowledge.
Because this can feel endless, a criticality analysis can be useful – helping prioritise resources and avoid wasting effort on knowledge of little value. The mapping process itself often reveals inefficiencies or blind spots leaders had not recognised before.

Knowledge retention

Retaining the expertise of departing staff is critical. Few things are more damaging than losing a “key employee” without capturing their know-how. Knowledge retention is not a redundant HR process – it can safeguard the survival and profitability of a company or department.
Key questions include: does the employee even realise they possess critical knowledge? Are they willing and motivated to share it? Sometimes employees fear that by sharing knowledge they make themselves dispensable, so they withhold it. This runs counter to the organisation’s core interests and can even create risks of dependency. In other cases, the problem is simply the lack of methods and spaces for knowledge-sharing. Without these, the thought of sharing may not even occur.

Structuring knowledge and organisational culture

Whether IT-based or otherwise, any KM infrastructure must allow employees to enter knowledge and retrieve it easily. If this step fails, the system becomes overloaded with irrelevant data, blocking access to what truly matters. Next comes ensuring accessibility and usability for the “consumers” of knowledge – the employees themselves. Considering different learning styles (visual, auditory, etc.) also enhances uptake.
Management support is a critical success factor. Unless leadership recognises the value of knowledge capital, larger interventions are unlikely to succeed. Likewise, organisational culture plays a decisive role: a strong knowledge community rests on trust. If employees fear sharing, or see no benefit for themselves, change will fail. A culture of trust also requires tolerance for mistakes – because a learning organisation depends on experimentation, and experimentation inevitably entails error.

Measuring impact: ROI in knowledge management

In the corporate world, KM must demonstrate return on investment. That is why measuring impact is essential. As Márton notes, preventing losses (e.g. reducing errors or defects) often yields rapid measurable gains. But implementing KM without planning or measurement does not guarantee results – and fewer organisations today are willing to take that risk.
This is why companies are increasingly designing targeted solutions for specific areas or objectives, rather than attempting to build all-encompassing KM systems. These smaller-scale initiatives provide more tangible, measurable results – and can pave the way for the company’s gradual transformation into a learning organisation.

A closing question on knowledge management

What are your critical knowledges? As a teacher, trainer, or school leader, what makes you unique? Do you possess skills or insights that make you indispensable? If so, you may be a key knowledge holder.
To learn more about how groups can transform into true knowledge communities, tune in to the latest episode of the Knowledge Hub podcast!

Members of the podcast

Tibor Gyulay – Managing Director, Senior Consultant, Knowledge Manager at KM Expert

Tibor is an organisational development professional who has spent the past 40 years supporting the growth of individuals, groups, and organisations in a variety of roles: lecturer at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, trainer, OD consultant, and coach. For the last 15 years, his work has focused specifically on knowledge management. He is convinced that one of the most important organisational competences is the capacity to learn. As Managing Partner of KM Expert, he has successfully participated in both Hungarian and international projects aimed at enabling organisational transformation through proven KM tools. In 2022 he founded the CKO Academy – Hungary’s first Knowledge Manager Academy. For decades, he has worked to raise awareness in his professional and wider circles that investing in knowledge management systems is among the most profitable investments at both organisational and individual levels.

Márton Szabó – Junior Consultant, Knowledge manager at KM Expert

At the end of his very first job, Márton began systematically documenting his tasks and processes out of personal motivation – without yet realising that this was knowledge management in practice. During six years spent mostly in the financial sector, he consistently sought to adopt best practices, while gaining repeated confirmation as a team player that sharing individual expertise and raising it to the organisational level is critical. Time management is another field close to his heart, one he also researches as a university student in Leadership and Organisation. With interests broad enough to fill two extra lifetimes, he is especially conscious of how he spends this one: as a consultant at KM Expert, he supports the full lifecycle of client projects, organises company and community KM events, and represents the cause of knowledge management in the public sphere.”

Bertalan Péter Farkas, editor-in-chief and podcaster of Knowledge Hub podcast

Bertalan is a knowledge manager, consultant, trainer, and project manager – though originally trained as a geography and history teacher. In his daily work he oversees global knowledge management for leadership consultants, coaches, and international experts, while as an entrepreneur he works to advance the Hungarian and European educational landscape. He graduated in Geography and History at Eötvös Loránd University, taught for several years, and later joined state agencies (Educatio, EMET, Tempus). For nearly six years he headed the Knowledge Management Department at the Tempus Public Foundation. As Managing Director of Learnitect Design Ltd., he designs learning environments that facilitate knowledge transfer, develops both online and offline learning processes, designs community spaces, and manages international projects. He first conceived the idea of the Knowledge Hub podcast in 2022, which became reality in the autumn of 2023.