"Knowledge owner" role, example from McKinsey

I blogged last week about McKinsey's Knowledge Professional roles. Here is some more detail of one of those roles.

One of the things I find most interesting when organisations publish details of their KM frameworks is to look at the knowledge roles.  McKinsey give us quite a lot of insight into some of these roles, and here is a role description of what I would describe as a Knowledge Owner or a Practice Owner - someone accountable for a specific area of knowledge. 

That person is Eileen Lau, and her area of knowledge is Business Technology. The role is entitled "Director of Business technology", and Eileen

"Leads the global team of practice managers and knowledge professionals for the Business Technology Practice, driving knowledge development and dissemination and creating linkages among knowledge, client service, and learning"

This is therefore very much a knowledge role, the elements of which are described as follows:

• leading Business Technology Practice's (BT) global team of practice managers and knowledge professionals, 
• establishing connections among the functions that make up the global practice 
• responsible for the overarching strategy and operations of the BT knowledge network, 
• driving the development and dissemination of BT knowledge and materials across the firm
• keeping up with new developments and innovations in the world of BT
• identiying and strategically filling gaps in the practice's knowledge
• ensuring that the practice has a point of view on topics of relevance—including cloud computing, cybersecurity, IT systems and infrastructure, technology enablement, and IT strategy
• catalyzing performance in the areas of expertise most needed by clients 
• establishing new areas of expertise in risk IT, value assurance, and digital transformation within the practice
• championing projects that further the reach of the firm's expertise and knowledge into the relevant client-service teams. 

In addition, Eileen established and manages the BT "First Alert" team, which guides client-service teams to the appropriate knowledge, experts, and case studies on various nuances of business technology.

This knowledge owner role is a critical role in any organisational KM framework.