How KM can support diversity, equity, and inclusion
In 2022, TFA also launched a book club series to engage the business on the connections between KM and DEI. TFA covered the cost of the books—all employees needed to do was commit to reading them and attend three 1-hour meetings to discuss each book. Shannon Steffes, then senior managing director for org-wide knowledge management at TFA, told us that these discussions provided a great opportunity to “interact with people that are not normally advising us or giving direct input into our work.”
Book club discussions also allowed the KM team to understand how employees experience knowledge exchange in the context of their work. For example, Steffes said that if someone told a story about a time someone took credit for their work, “we picked that story apart for the KM and cultural elements that allowed that to happen and what we would need to do to address that.” The response to TFA’s book clubs was extremely positive overall and employees across the organization are ready to continue reading and engaging.
Poised for the future
Even if their organizations’ DEI journeys are just getting started, leading KM teams like the one at TFA are making strides in building more diverse, equitable, and inclusive knowledge practices. While these teams do not have all of the answers, their efforts thus far have enabled organizations to create more thoughtful and accessible KM approaches that speak to the experiences and identities of diverse employees. Employees across the enterprise—and KM—both benefit as a result.