Introducing the Knowledge Work Maturity Model™
In part 1 we talked about WHY the knowledge work industry is undergoing radical change and how pursuing collective intelligence could completely reshape the industry today.
Part 2 revealed HOW pursuing ten statistically proven strategies can drive collective intelligence and knowledge work maturity, and we left you with five questions to ask yourself about your own organization.
In the final part, we combine everything and introduce the Knowledge Work Maturity Model™.
Remember, this is just a taste of the Knowledge Work Maturity Model™ – the full report has so much more that will allow you to benchmark yourself more accurately, compare yourself to other Knowledge Work Organizations and go deep on each phase.
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The why, the which and the how of the knowledge work maturity model
How do you define collective intelligence?
Collective intelligence has its roots in science — sociology, sociobiology, political science, and anthropology. It’s typically considered the outcome of the collaboration, collective efforts, and competition of many individuals that typifies consensus decision-making or crowdsourcing.
In a commercial knowledge work context, we’re defining collective intelligence as successfully operationalizing past and present experience, data, knowledge, best practices, and IP by building an infrastructure and culture of collaboration that values and rewards diverse knowledge resulting in superior employee and customer experiences, market leadership, growth, and organizational value.
What does 'knowledge work' mean?
Knowledge work organizations (KWOs)
KWOs are either a professional firm (e.g., a legal firm, financial services firm, tax firm, accountancy firm) or specialist teams within an organization (e.g., corporate law, corporate finance, regulatory, tax, audit procurement, HR department) that relies on digital documents containing intellectual property (IP) that requires protection and governance.
The knowledge work industry (KWI)
This is the collective term we use to refer to the full dataset.
Knowledge work (in a commercial context)
Commercial knowledge work draws on a deep level of accumulated experience and expertise combined with critical analysis and communication skills to translate documented processes into meaningful action. It involves processing and interpreting information through the lens of context to understand its relevance, applicability, and the associated risks of using it to solve problems, deliver services, and generate value.
Knowledge workers
Knowledge workers continuously engage in processes that create and exploit knowledge — typically by applying theoretical and analytical knowledge acquired through formal training — to develop and deliver products and services.
Why does the knowledge work industry need a maturity model?
The future of work is knowledge work, and the future of knowledge work is collective intelligence.
The prevalence and sophistication of technologies designed to support knowledge work is increasing exponentially. The knowledge management sector is predicted to grow to $1.1 trillion by 2026 (Drexel 2021)
"The more knowledge intensive the economy, the stronger the emphasis on the producing, diffusing, and applying knowledge." (Koster 2022)
Until now, there is limited consensus on the most effective way to design processes, build infrastructure and create a culture to deliver profitable knowledge work. The Knowledge Work Maturity Model™ addresses this gap.
Which organization is the knowledge work maturity model™ designed to help?
The Knowledge Work Maturity Model™ is designed to help organizations operating in the knowledge economy reliant on digital documents containing IP that requires protection and governance.
These organizations can be businesses e.g., Legal Firms, Tax Firms, Accountancy Firms, or specialist teams within businesses e.g., corporate law, corporate finance, procurement, HR etc.
These Knowledge Work Organizations (KWOs) and we refer to them collectively as the Knowledge Work Industry.
How was the model created?
For those of you who enjoyed statistics class at university, the full methodology is explained in the final report so feel free to geek out there.
For now, we are going to keep our explanations of the numbers at a high level.
2,000 KWOs that took our survey were scored on the ten key drivers of Knowledge Work Maturity.
These results were correlated with key knowledge work outcomes (Collective intelligence and market leadership) and each organization was awarded a score on a 0 – 200 scale.
The five phases of knowledge work maturity in focus
Remember this is just a taste of the Knowledge Work Maturity Model™ – the full report has so much more that will allow you to benchmark yourself more accurately, compare yourself to other KWOs and go deep on each phase.
This is just to get you thinking and familiar with the five stages and we hope it makes you want to read more.
Seeker
Knowledge Work Index Score: 0-80
Global Volume: 12% of global KWOs
Description: Invested in document management to drive efficiency and cost-effective delivery to clients.
Mindset: Intrigued, Learning, Data-driven
5 fact summary
- Internally focused
- Prioritizing productivity and cost savings
- Process improvement trumps technology investment or evolving their culture
- Informal knowledge management strategy and budget process
- Prefer to take one step at a time
Business outcomes currently experienced
- Workflow and document management efficiencies
- Cost savings across the business
Priority goals
- Improve employee productivity and collaboration.
- Reduce costs through operational efficiencies
“Productivity, that's the first thing I hear when something's not right with the document management system is, oh my God, we're losing billable hours.”
Senior Partner at Law Firm
Practictioner
Knowledge Work Index Score: 80-119
Global Volume: 28% of global KWOs
Description: Invested in knowledge management practices, security, and collaboration technologies that allow them to proactively deliver higher-value work and offer enhanced customer experiences.
Mindset: Organized, customer-focused, collaborative
5 fact summary
- Compliance and rigor are top priorities
- Supporting effective collaboration is their current organizational imperative
- Investing significantly in transforming to be digital-first
- Open to the power of knowledge work as one component of their future
- Committed to investing in serving their clients more effectively but are not yet where they want to be
Business outcomes currently experienced
- Improved stability and business resiliency – reduced IT costs and risk
- Improved knowledge worker productivity – increased billable hours
Priority goals
- Better manage risk
- Use technology to deliver a best-in-class CX
“In the beginning, it really was as simple as a new attorney coming on board, he or she doesn't know anything, where will this person go look up for stuff? Instead of sitting down with this person, we want to have a knowledge base for attorneys, so they have immediate access to everything.”
Director of Document Management at Law Firm
Established
Knowledge Work Index Score: 120-139
Global Volume: 28% of global KWOs
Description: KWOs investing in scaling and diversifying through secure, collaborative knowledge work, building value in the business and for clients and employees.
Mindset: Experiential, Growth-focused, Competitive
5 fact summary
- Share knowledge to build value for their organization, their clients, and their employees
- Operate collaboratively
- Committed to digital transformation
- Strong and functional knowledge work infrastructure
- Developing a culture of knowledge work
Business outcomes currently experienced
- Improved knowledge worker productivity – focus on higher value work (increased bill rates)
- Increased scale and diversification – new revenue streams
Priority goals
- Better meet employee and customers’ needs and expectations of value
- Increase competitive differentiation and open new markets
“We’ve had a hard time expanding further, because of everybody's bandwidth, the turnover rate, and efficiency. We are now considering whether the tools can either help us increase efficiency or reduce redundancies in workflow and process. We all need to be focused on higher value work.”
Lawyer at Law Firm
Expert
Knowledge Work Index Score: 140-159
Global Volume: 23% of global KWOs
Description: Building a culture and infrastructure enabling diverse knowledge to be documented, shared, and used to drive profitable growth for both the organization and its clients.
Mindset: Inclusive, Strategic, Future-forward
5 fact summary
- Continually future-proofing their KWO
- Committed to knowledge work as the key growth opportunity
- Actively investing to rebalance historical tech investment by evolving their knowledge work culture
- Pursuing collective intelligence
- Exude leadership internally and externally
Business outcomes currently experienced
- Improved employee experience – reduced employee churn
- Improved customer experience – lower cost acquisition and increased lifetime value
Priority goals
- Deliver frictionless and valuable experiences to employees and customers
- Proactively add value to customer and employee relationships
“We know that a happy employee and a productive employee, which means they're going to deliver better services to our clients.”
CIO at Law Firm
Pioneer
Knowledge Work Index Score: 160-200
Global Volume: 9% of global KWOs
Description: Single-mindedly pursuing collective intelligence with continuous innovation, diversity, inclusion, and a culture where employees meet personal goals, clients enjoy superior value, and the organization’s market value grows.
Mindset: Innovative, Creative, Thriving
5 fact summary
- True leaders
- Relentlessly pursue innovation
- Committed to furthering diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Technology and culture evolve in partnership
- Creating commercial benefits through collective intelligence
Business outcomes currently experienced
- Institutionalized knowledge – increased market value
- Increased employee advocacy – lower cost to acquire employees and customers
Priority goals
- Enable a culture of knowledge work the drives collective intelligence
“We try to think very hard about how work gets done, how time gets managed, how knowledge gets shared and how we can be better are serving clients. We think about the people involved and we build our technology around creating the right environment for people to do their highest value work. It’s a journey. It’s about how you make decisions and investments.”
CIO at Law Firm
Research Report
The Knowledge Work Maturity Model
An industry-first research study to understand knowledge work maturity and the strategies it takes to unlock better business outcomes.