The core of the KM partner's role is to take overall responsibility for planning and implementing the firm's approach to capturing, creating, organising and sharing knowledge for the benefit of the business. Training is an integral part of knowledge sharing and therefore naturally falls within the KM partner's remit.
Anderson offers reasons for why a KM partner is necessary.
Of course it is not essential that a partner undertakes the role, but there are several advantages, including:
• signalling that the firm takes KM seriously;
• ensuring KM is integrated into top level decision-making;
• and allowing clout to be employed where necessary.
The KM partner does not actually need to implement; in fact he/she probably shouldn't! Staff qualified in IT, information management and legal skills are invaluable -- but leadership is critical.
