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Model 08 of 74 · Leadership & People

Knowledge Management Maturity Assessment

Assess how well your organisation captures, organises, shares, and uses its collective knowledge.

Pillars & areas

Capture

Get it out of heads

  1. 01Knowledge Capture
  2. 05Learning from Experience

Organise

Make it findable

  1. 02Knowledge Organisation & Findability
  2. 04Knowledge Maintenance & Quality

Share

Spread it around

  1. 03Knowledge Sharing & Collaboration
  2. 06Culture & Incentives

Levels

  1. 1ScatteredLives in people's heads
  2. 2OrganisedDefined systems & structure
  3. 3FlowingEmbedded in how people work

01 Knowledge Capture

How well does the organisation capture what it knows, especially tacit and experiential knowledge?

0/4 answered

KC-1How does your organisation capture knowledge from day-to-day work?

Think about whether useful information (decisions, how-tos, workarounds) gets written down as it's created, or stays in people's heads.

KC-2How does your organisation capture the knowledge of experienced staff before they leave or move roles?

Consider whether departures result in knowledge loss, or whether there is a structured way to transfer what people know.

KC-3How well does your organisation capture 'how things really work' versus just formal processes?

Formal documentation often misses the unwritten rules, shortcuts, and context that people actually need. Think about whether that practical knowledge is captured.

KC-4How well does your organisation capture knowledge from external sources (e.g. industry trends, customer insights, competitor intelligence)?

Think about whether external knowledge is systematically gathered and shared, or whether it stays with the individual who found it.

02 Knowledge Organisation & Findability

Can people actually find what they need when they need it?

0/4 answered

KO-1How easy is it for someone to find the information they need to do their job?

Think about how long it takes a new joiner, or someone from another team, to find a key document or process.

KO-2How well organised is your organisation's documentation and knowledge?

Consider whether there is a logical structure that people understand, or whether it's a dumping ground of files with no hierarchy.

KO-3How effective is search across your knowledge systems?

Think about whether searching for information actually returns useful results, or whether search is so poor that people avoid using it.

KO-4How accessible is knowledge to the people who need it, regardless of team, role or location?

Consider whether useful knowledge is locked away in private folders, restricted spaces or tools that some people cannot use.

03 Knowledge Sharing & Collaboration

Is sharing knowledge a natural part of how people work?

0/4 answered

KS-1How naturally do people share knowledge with colleagues outside their immediate team?

Think about whether knowledge flows across teams, or whether each team operates with its own private knowledge.

KS-2How easy is it to identify who in the organisation has specific expertise?

Consider whether you can quickly find the right person to ask about a specific topic, or whether it requires a chain of introductions.

KS-3How does your organisation use collaborative tools to build shared knowledge?

Think about whether collaboration tools (wikis, shared docs, internal forums) are actively used for knowledge building, or just for project communication.

KS-4How effectively does your organisation share knowledge with new joiners?

Consider whether new joiners can get up to speed quickly through documentation, or whether they spend months learning through trial and error.

04 Knowledge Maintenance & Quality

Is stored knowledge kept current, accurate, and trusted?

0/4 answered

KM-1How does your organisation ensure that documented knowledge stays accurate and up to date?

Think about whether someone owns each piece of important documentation, or whether content is written once and never updated.

KM-2How much do people trust the information they find in your knowledge systems?

Consider whether people use the documentation confidently, or whether they always double-check with a colleague because they don't trust what's written.

KM-3How does your organisation handle conflicting or contradictory information across different systems?

Think about whether there is a single source of truth for key information, or whether different systems say different things.

KM-4How well does your organisation balance the volume of documentation with its usefulness?

More documentation is not always better — consider whether people create concise, useful content or lengthy documents that nobody reads.

05 Learning from Experience

Does the organisation systematically learn from projects, incidents, and decisions?

0/4 answered

LE-1How consistently does your organisation conduct reviews after projects or significant events?

Think about whether post-project reviews, retrospectives, or after-action reviews happen regularly, or only when something goes badly wrong.

LE-2How well are lessons from past experience actually applied to future work?

Consider whether lessons-learned documents are read and used, or whether they gather dust while the same mistakes recur.

LE-3How does your organisation learn from incidents, failures, and near-misses?

Think about whether incidents are investigated with curiosity or blame, and whether the learning is shared widely or kept within the affected team.

LE-4How well does your organisation learn from successes, not just failures?

Consider whether you study what went right with the same rigour as what went wrong.

06 Culture & Incentives

Does the culture reward knowledge sharing, or does hoarding knowledge give people power?

0/4 answered

CU-1Does your organisation's culture encourage or discourage knowledge sharing?

Think about whether people who share knowledge generously are valued, or whether hoarding knowledge gives individuals power and job security.

CU-2How does your organisation recognise and reward people who contribute to the knowledge base?

Consider whether writing documentation, mentoring colleagues, or contributing to the wiki is valued, or whether only 'real work' counts.

CU-3How comfortable are people asking for help or admitting they don't know something?

Think about whether asking for help is seen as a sign of curiosity and collaboration, or as a sign of weakness.

CU-4How well does leadership model and support knowledge management?

Consider whether leaders actively participate in knowledge sharing, or whether it's seen as something for junior staff to worry about.

Self-assessment report

Knowledge Management

Answer the questions above and your report builds here: an overall score, a score and target for each area, and the three changes that matter most.

About this model

About the Knowledge Management maturity model

Every organisation knows more than it thinks it does — the problem is that knowledge lives in people's heads, scattered documents, and tribal memory. When someone leaves, retires, or moves teams, critical knowledge walks out the door with them.

Knowledge management is about making organisational knowledge findable, shareable, and usable — so that people can learn from each other, avoid repeating mistakes, and build on what's already been figured out. It's not about creating a massive document library that nobody reads. It's about building habits, systems, and culture that make knowledge flow naturally.

This model assesses whether your organisation captures, organises, shares, and uses its collective knowledge effectively — or whether everyone is reinventing the wheel.

24 questions across 6 key areas, assessing how well your organisation manages its collective knowledge. Takes approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.

Who this assessment is for

  • IT and digital teams responsible for knowledge platforms
  • Operations and process owners
  • HR and learning & development teams
  • Team leads and managers
  • Anyone responsible for documentation, wikis, or knowledge bases

The three maturity levels

  • Level 1 — Scattered: Knowledge lives in people's heads, email threads, and scattered documents. There is no consistent approach to capturing or sharing what the organisation knows. Finding information requires asking around, and critical knowledge is regularly lost when people leave or change roles.
  • Level 2 — Organised: Knowledge is captured in defined systems (e.g. wikis, knowledge bases, shared drives) with some structure and governance. People know where to look for information, and there are expectations around documentation. However, knowledge may be inconsistently maintained, and the culture of sharing is still developing.
  • Level 3 — Flowing: Knowledge is a living, continuously updated resource that flows naturally across the organisation. Capturing and sharing knowledge is embedded in how people work — it's a habit, not a chore. Information is easy to find, trusted, and current. The organisation learns from its experiences and makes that learning available to everyone.

The 6 areas assessed

  1. Knowledge Capture — How well does the organisation capture what it knows, especially tacit and experiential knowledge?
  2. Knowledge Organisation & Findability — Can people actually find what they need when they need it?
  3. Knowledge Sharing & Collaboration — Is sharing knowledge a natural part of how people work?
  4. Knowledge Maintenance & Quality — Is stored knowledge kept current, accurate, and trusted?
  5. Learning from Experience — Does the organisation systematically learn from projects, incidents, and decisions?
  6. Culture & Incentives — Does the culture reward knowledge sharing, or does hoarding knowledge give people power?

How this model relates to other frameworks

  • ITIL Knowledge Management practice
  • NASA Knowledge Management framework
  • Nonaka & Takeuchi Knowledge Creation Model (SECI)
  • KM Maturity Model (APQC)
  • ISO 30401:2018 Knowledge Management Systems

Frequently asked questions

What is the Knowledge Management maturity model?

Assess how well your organisation captures, organises, shares, and uses its collective knowledge. It is an original, simplified model with three maturity levels (Scattered, Organised and Flowing), assessed through 24 questions across 6 areas: Knowledge Capture, Knowledge Organisation & Findability, Knowledge Sharing & Collaboration, Knowledge Maintenance & Quality, Learning from Experience and Culture & Incentives.

How long does the Knowledge Management assessment take?

Most people finish in 10–14 minutes. Each of the 24 questions has three concrete answer options. Your progress is saved in the page URL, so you can bookmark it and come back later.

How is the score calculated?

Each answer scores 1 (Scattered), 2 (Organised) or 3 (Flowing). An area's score is the average of its answered questions, and the overall score is the average of the area scores, so every area counts equally. Scores run from 1.0 to 3.0.

Is my data stored or shared?

No. Your answers are never sent to a server. They are stored only in the page URL, which you control. Copy the link to share results with colleagues, or export a PDF or CSV report.

How should I use the results?

Start with "Where to focus" in your report. It lists the questions with the biggest gap to the target you set for each area, and shows what the next level looks like in practice. For a fuller picture, ask several people from different teams to complete the assessment and compare their links. Differences in perception are often as revealing as the scores themselves.