NCCMT Spotlight Webinar - Sharing Best Practices

Editor's Notes

• #9: the NCCPH program is dispersed across the country with 6 National Collaborating Centres the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools is located at McMaster University, in Hamilton 4 of the other NCC’s support the use of research evidence in specific public health content areas NCCMT and NCC Healthy Public Policy work across content areas the focus of NCCMT improving access to, and use of, methods and tools that support moving research evidence into decisions related to public health practice, programs, and policyin Canada.
• #10: NCCMT offers a products and services to help apply research evidence in decision making This presentation today is going to provide an overview of the Online Learning Opportunities that NCCMT offers.
• #13: The Tool for Sharing Internal Best Practices was produced with funding from the United States Agency for International Development in 2005. Since then, the emphasis has shifted somewhat to the systematic process for effective knowledge sharing and learning to inform better public health outcomes. During this webinar, I will share how we have institutionalized this knowledge management (KM) process and highlight some of the KM approaches for sharing best practices originally mentioned in the Tool.
• #14: We believe the answer is through knowledge management.
• #17: Ultimately, KM means different things to different people. An organization’s strategic objectives and goals can determine what KM means to that organization and can guide that organization’s definition. The definitions of KM abound. A recurring theme, though, is that KM is a process and a set of tools and resources that support an organization’s business objectives. As a result, it’s imperative that an organization that is interested in implementing a KM initiative identifies the objectives and goals of it, just like you do with any set of interventions. In this way, KM can be defined in the unique language of that particular organization.
• #20: knowledge of what works (which may be identified/labeled as a best practice) must be produced, documented, shared, and used These benefits of KM mirror the benefits described of sharing best practices in the Tool for Sharing Best Practices.
• #21: HOW We connect program managers and health workers to the latest health knowledge that helps them to act effectively. We work at the global, regional, and country levels to strengthen capacity of others to get knowledge into the hands of program managers and health workers who need it most.
• #22: Most KM experts talk about 3 main components of KM: The people, the processes, and the technology. The “people” are the those who create and share knowledge. Collectively, they comprise the culture that nurtures and encourages knowledge exchange. The “processes” are the methods used to acquire, create, organize, share, and transfer knowledge. The “technology” refers to the mechanisms that facilitate knowledge exchange: They store and provide access to data, information, and knowledge created, acquired, organized, and exchanged by individuals in various locations. Likewise, in order to carry out a best practice initiative you need: People to facilitate identification and sharing of internal best practices, for example, by training or hiring staff to serve on a best practices team or act as a best practices coordinator; Processes and tools that are designed to share knowledge through reports, electronic discussions, and face-to-face meetings; and A commitment to take the time needed to identify, document, and share best practices.
• #24: People to facilitate identification and sharing of internal best practices, for example, by training or hiring staff to serve on a best practices team or act as a best practices coordinator; Processes and tools that are designed to share knowledge through reports, electronic discussions, and face-to-face meetings; and A commitment to take the time needed to identify, document, and share best practices.
• #25: Best practice initiatives generally employ two complementary strategies to share knowledge: These are examples of ways to capture and share explicit and tacit knowledge – which is ultimately a goal of knowledge management.
• #27: Pull/Connect (Asking): Systems, processes, behaviors that support people seeking knowledge from other people. Asking may be one of the most effective ways to transfer knowledge. People we often ask if they need knowledge. For example, many doctors will say they “ask a colleague” if they are looking for information vs. looking up the information in a text book. It is quick, effective, allows for back and forth. Use approaches and techniques: after-action reviews, peer assists, twinning, study tours, and communities of practice. – AARs and CoPs are highlighted in the Tool for Sharing Internal Best Practices. Push/collect (Publishing): Systems, processes, behaviors that support people contributing their knowledge to some form of database. Develop publications and resources: policy briefs, guidelines, journal articles, manuals, job aids, and project reports;
• #28: The steps in identifying and sharing best practices largely mirror the implementation phase or processes of the KM cycle.
• #29: Institute processes, systems, and tools for learning before, during, and after an intervention. At K4Health, we regularly employ peer assists, after action reviews, needs assessments, and other KM techniques to look at what is working or had worked and what isn’t working. We also invite other from the organization or other organizations for brown bags and other meetings to share their experience implementing similar interventions in different contexts.
• #31: Would you like more information on AARs?
• #32: We often collect stories or case studies as part of our observation as well as to provide more context to the information that we gather as part of FGDs and interviews. Usually, this type of qualitative date is gathered at the beginning of our engagement with a local partner as well as at the mid-way point to adjust our activities if warranted. And it goes without saying that activities should be grounded in evidence.
• #33: As I mentioned, we have a standard case study template as well as templates for a variety of other KM approaches that we employ that allow us to easily document our lessons learned. such as AAR, peer assist, storytelling, fail fair, CoP, NetMap, Depending on who the audience is for the best practice, will determine the media that we use for documentation purposes – blog, video, case study, guide, etc. – as well as where it is saved and with whom it is shared – whether that is internally and/or externally.
• #34: Communities of practice can be a great vehicle for not only identifying best practices but also documenting and sharing them. The Implementing Best Practices (IBP) for Reproductive Health Initiative