Two observations…
- Most discussions about KM (knowledge management) seem to occur in a vacuum; devoid of any attachment (or direct relationship) to roles in the organization.
- Given a specific tool (such as blogs), we typically try to apply it to the core objective of a given role in the organization (i.e., blogs used for outward message-casting).
What if we looked at the role of PR in relation to KM? Do we fully understand the iceberg of knowledge management and how it intersects with PR?
Here are a few more observations - none of which are intended to make conclusions, and most of which raise more questions.
- PR is about “knowledge work” but there are few means of measuring or helping PR people become more productive.
- PR (in a functional sense) is about the elegant assembly of words, but I suspect it has dimensions that are far more complex.
- Does anyone ever ask - “how can we increase the PR team’s capacity to act more wisely?”. I get the sense that this is not a typical focus in organizations - correct me if I’m wrong.
- Blogs are great for enhancing and managing an outbound message. But are we missing the greatest opportunity to enhance the PR process - internal (secure) uses of blog technology?
- Are PR professionals comfortable with their productivity and knowledge management tools?
- Does BI (business intelligence), and CI (competitive intelligence) play a key role in the PR process as it relates to productivity and role performance?
- Email is a universal tool employed by PR professionals worldwide (perhaps more than Microsoft Word), but if email is where knowledge goes to die, why does the PR community use it so much for internal knowledge-work?
In the quest for creating better PR, do PR and marketing teams skip over some obvious IT-related housekeeping requirements that will transform them into a “PR machine” of extrordinary capabilities?
