Knowledge Management for Chief Knowledge Officers Training Course

Course overview

Chief Knowledge Officers are expected to turn fragmented expertise, unmanaged content and poorly governed records into organisational assets that improve decisions, reduce operational risk and preserve institutional memory. This requires more than deploying a collaboration platform or writing a knowledge policy. CKOs must align knowledge strategy with business priorities, define ownership, establish records controls, measure adoption and demonstrate value to executive sponsors. This course addresses the practical leadership challenge of building a knowledge management operating model that works across functions, locations and technology environments.

Participants examine the full CKO remit: knowledge strategy, governance, knowledge flows, taxonomy and metadata design, expertise location, communities of practice, records retention and defensible disposal. They learn to assess knowledge maturity, identify high-value knowledge risks, create a target operating model, select meaningful metrics and build a funded implementation roadmap. The course also addresses the relationship between enterprise knowledge management and records management, using ISO 30401 and ISO 15489-1 to establish accountable, auditable practices.

Teaching combines instructor-led briefings with structured workshops, case analysis and peer review of real organisational scenarios. Participants work through a CKO-led transformation case involving legacy repositories, critical expert knowledge and inconsistent retention practices. By the end of the week, each participant leaves with a board-ready Knowledge and Records Management Strategy Pack: a maturity assessment, governance model, priority use cases, KPI scorecard, risk register and 90-day action plan. The course is suited to leaders who need an implementable programme design rather than a purely conceptual view of knowledge management.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Conduct a knowledge and records management maturity assessment using a scored capability model
• Design a CKO operating model with defined decision rights, accountabilities and governance forums
• Map critical knowledge flows, knowledge-loss risks and control points across a business process
• Create an enterprise taxonomy and metadata governance approach for findability and classification
• Develop retention, disposition and legal-hold controls aligned to ISO 15489-1 principles
• Build a knowledge measurement scorecard using adoption, reuse, quality, risk and business-value indicators
• Prepare a phased knowledge management roadmap with prioritised use cases, resources and dependencies
• Present a board-ready Knowledge and Records Management Strategy Pack with an investment case

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Chief Knowledge Officers and aspiring CKOs — who must establish enterprise knowledge strategy, governance and measurable value
• Heads of Knowledge Management — who lead knowledge services, communities and content transformation programmes
• Information Governance Directors — who need to connect records obligations with knowledge-sharing practices
• Chief Information Officers and Digital Transformation Leaders — who sponsor platforms and operating models for organisational knowledge
• Records and Information Management Managers — who must modernise retention controls without blocking useful knowledge reuse
• Enterprise Content Management Leaders — who govern repositories, taxonomy, metadata and information lifecycle design

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience leading, sponsoring or designing knowledge management, information governance, records management, digital workplace, content management or organisational learning initiatives. Familiarity with concepts such as taxonomy, metadata, retention schedules, information lifecycle, stakeholder analysis and business cases is assumed. Participants should be able to interpret a process map and discuss their organisation’s repositories, collaboration practices and governance structure. Prior experience administering SharePoint, Microsoft Purview or another records platform is helpful but not required. No coding, data science, legal qualification or formal ISO certification is required; the course focuses on executive-level design and implementation decisions.

Training methodology

The course uses instructor-led strategy sessions to introduce CKO frameworks, ISO-aligned governance concepts and measurement methods, followed by practical application. Participants analyse a multi-business-unit case, map knowledge dependencies in a critical process, draft governance decisions and test retention scenarios. Small groups compare operating-model options and defend priorities as if presenting to an executive steering committee. Individual work throughout the week develops each participant’s Knowledge and Records Management Strategy Pack, which is reviewed against a structured implementation checklist on the final day.

Course outline

Day 1: The CKO mandate and knowledge strategy

• The CKO role, mandate and enterprise accountabilities
• Knowledge management versus information management and organisational learning
• ISO 30401 knowledge management system principles
• Knowledge maturity assessment dimensions and scoring criteria
• Business-aligned knowledge strategy formulation
• Knowledge asset identification and criticality analysis
• Executive stakeholder mapping and sponsorship planning

Workshop: Participants complete a baseline maturity assessment and produce a one-page statement of the knowledge challenge their organisation must address.

Day 2: Governance, operating models and knowledge risk

• Knowledge and records management target operating models
• Decision rights using RACI and governance charters
• Knowledge owner, steward, curator and records manager roles
• Communities of practice and expert network governance
• Knowledge-flow mapping across priority business processes
• Expert departure and institutional-memory risk analysis
• Knowledge risk register design and treatment planning

Workshop: Participants map a critical knowledge flow and create a risk register covering loss, duplication, poor access and uncontrolled disclosure.

Day 3: Findability, content architecture and records controls

• Enterprise taxonomy design and controlled vocabularies
• Metadata schemas for discovery, ownership and lifecycle control
• Content types, document classes and file-plan alignment
• ISO 15489-1 records management principles
• Retention schedules, disposition authorities and defensible disposal
• Legal hold, privacy and access-control considerations
• Microsoft Purview and SharePoint information governance capabilities

Workshop: Participants design a taxonomy, core metadata set and lifecycle rules for a high-value knowledge and records repository.

Day 4: Adoption, measurement and investment decisions

• Knowledge-sharing behaviour and adoption barrier analysis
• Knowledge capture methods for tacit and operational expertise
• Content quality standards and curation workflows
• KPI design for findability, reuse, quality and participation
• Business-value measures for productivity, risk and decision quality
• Dashboard requirements and management review cycles
• Benefit-realisation plans and investment-case development

Workshop: Participants build a CKO scorecard and outline an investment case for two prioritised knowledge management use cases.

Day 5: Roadmap delivery and executive communication

• Use-case prioritisation using value, feasibility and risk criteria
• Sequencing policy, process, people and technology changes
• Platform selection principles and vendor evaluation criteria
• Data migration, legacy content remediation and archive decisions
• Change network design and communications planning
• Ninety-day mobilisation plan and programme dependencies
• Board-level narrative and executive presentation structure

Workshop: Participants finalise and present their Knowledge and Records Management Strategy Pack, including governance, measures, risks and a 90-day roadmap.

Tools & standards covered

ISO 30401, ISO 15489-1, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft SharePoint

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions