K is for Knowledge Management and Kindness #A-ZChallenge
Welcome to Day 11 of the #AtoZChallenge. Don't know what the AtoZChallenge is? Find out more here.
My theme is about Family History Societies. What they are, How they work, Who is in them, Why they exist.
And which ones begin with K!
My theme is about Family History Societies. What they are, How they work, Who is in them, Why they exist.
And which ones begin with K!
Societies beginning with K
Family Organizations beginning with K (from Family Search Wiki)
Some of these sites are really worth looking at in terms of design particularly the Joseph and Polly Knight one. It's clear and easy to read and very appealing to look at I think. What do you think? Are you excited by it?
Knowledge Management
When I studied my Master of Information Studies in Librarianship a while ago, there was much discussion of Knowledge Management. I think we have all worked somewhere where someone has walked out the door either due to retirement or to a new opportunity and we've all remarked, "There goes a stack of corporate knowledge". Suzy knew how to lodge a building maintenance request or look up that invoice in the impenetrable accounting system. Or she knew who to call to chase up that subscription. How do you ensure that Suzy's knowledge is captured in the organisation before she walks out the door? And not just Suzy's...everyone's knowledge.
We're talking about so much here aren't we? Where do we begin? If you look at the picture of a library above the Knowledge Management heading. Sure it looks overwhelming in terms of size. But you feel reasonably confident from looking at it, that it is organised and that someone working there will be able to help you find what you are looking for. Contrast it with the picture below and you'll see what I'm talking about. All the books below are no use to anyone if no-one knows how they're organised.
So a Society needs to be organized. It needs a plan. It needs to monitor its performance constantly against that plan and change it if necessary. Rather than worrying about a beginning and an end, remember that this is a constant circular process rather than a linear process. Because everything is changing constantly we need to be checking-in constantly with each other. We need to be working as if that bus will come and hit us tomorrow so that the next person can pick up where we left off. Is there a written procedure for how to sign up a new member? Or get the journal to the printer? Or get that event up on Eventbrite? Data informs decisions so we need to be collecting, organizing and sharing data about our Society to make effective use of it. Is your documentation/data/information easily accessible by decision makers?
Did you make a decision at your Committee Meeting? Who else needs to know about that decision?
We need to be sharing our learnings constantly, recognising that because change is constant, we need to update our skills constantly.
We need to understand that while our Society's resources be they books, CDs, maps, databases, a building, $ in the bank are valuable, ultimately it is the knowledge workers or our volunteers who know how to use these resources that are the real jewels in the crown.
Make sure that knowledge is captured, shared, accessible and used effectively.
Kindness
I have to remind myself (it seems nearly every day) to be kind. Many of us in this hobby are in advanced years and I am discovering that age brings with it all sorts of aches and pains and a different set of worries from those that used to plague us in our youth. Often people aren't as charming as they could be but I must not judge them because they may be coming from a place of pain or fear. Change is a constant these days it seems. Just when we've learned how to use our mobile phone, it decides to become obsolete and we have to learn all over again. Sites get hacked and we need to change our passwords AGAIN! Just when I master streaming video, the virus protector decides to ramp up its "protection" so I can't access my favourite channel. This leads to frustration and annoyance. If your computer crashes or your social media account gets hacked that is very frightening too.
Add all the worries of COVID to that - people wearing masks and all looking like bandits and you can see that people might not be feeling as secure as they used to. It's hard to see people smile with a mask on. We need to be extra kind at the moment to counter that fear.
Key
What do you think is the key to keeping a family history society running well? What are the pillars of sustainability as it were? I'd be interested in your thoughts. Thanks for taking the time to swing by my blog.
Comments
Dear Jenali Thank you so much for visiting my blog. Ooh yes, the knowledge our ancestors take with them. I hadn't thought of that. Wouldn't you just love to be able to access that? I am interested how much I have been clenching my jaw of late - not intentionally - but it must be subconscious worry about the recent outbreak we had. I need to do more meditation !So I can imagine with restrictions lifting that yes people would be much happier.
I inherited a group with very few files. I have been writing and storing procedures and notes on a Google Drive account that I will hand on the the next person who takes over my role.
My current task is entering the library collection into Librarything so we have a proper record of our holdings.