The LEXICON Framework Part 1: Link KM to Daily Workflows

Originally posted 11-Sep-25

Lucidea asked me to write a series of blog posts about the LEXICON Knowledge Management (KM) framework created by Clare Bilobrk.

Clare Bilobrk has more than 25 years of experience managing legal information services for national and international firms in the UK. Her work spans practical library management and legal technology, with a focus on helping information professionals demonstrate value and increase their visibility.

She has published on business skills for librarians, project management, current awareness, and building school libraries. She has shared her expertise with professional audiences at BIALL, ALLA, and AALL. Clare’s approach blends hands-on experience with imaginative insight, making her a respected contributor across the information and knowledge management fields.

Introducing the LEXICON Framework for KM

LEXICON is an acronym for:

Link KM to daily workflowsEmpower championseXplain the valueIntegrate with existing systemsCultivate a knowledge-sharing cultureOptimize for ease of useNurture feedback loops

I am an enthusiastic user of acronyms, so I jumped at the chance to write about Clare’s contribution. LEXICON is a prescription for implementing knowledge management.

Clare’s first point:

Link KM to daily workflows — Ensure KM processes fit seamlessly into existing tasks. Automate data capture where possible and avoid separate, burdensome submission processes.

Embedding knowledge management in the flow of work has long been a goal of KM programs but has proved to be elusive. It means adding knowledge creation, capture, sharing, seeking, and reuse to business processes so that these steps happen routinely as part of normal work.

How to Embed KM in Daily Workflows

Here are 16 suggestions for embedding KM in the flow of work.

When creating customer proposals and presentations, automatically reuse and adapt existing content to customize deliverables. Enable sharing of lessons learned by connecting creators of new proposals and presentations to those who have already delivered similar ones.Implement a knowledge capture and reuse process as part of the formal project life cycle. Automatically provide reusable content from previous projects and mandate that it be incorporated into new ones. Automatically capture content from project deliverables in a collaborative team site, cleanse it appropriately, and then contribute it to the relevant knowledge repository. Ensure that useful lessons learned are documented by project team members before they can start on their next project.For mission-oriented organizations such as the military, enhance standard procedures so that relevant lessons learned are reviewed before a mission starts and an After-Action Review (AAR) is a required when a mission is completed.When travel is being reserved, take advantage of local knowledge and the experience of past travelers. Embed reminders into calendars, inform colleagues, and suggest events to attend and people to meet at the destination. Automatically create a trip summary, expense report, and meeting notes.Enhance the staffing process so that multiple systems and databases are accessed, including internal and external skills profiles, individual calendars, previous work history, and the project scheduling system. For expertise location, automatically post in relevant communities and then update skills profiles based on those who respond.Update online learning modules based on recent employee experience and new developments in field. Enhance training with captured knowledge and link content in the knowledge repository to available training. Automatically feed newly-captured lessons learned and proven practices into the relevant training courses.Embed literature reviews and knowledge capture into the stage gates of the product development process. Stimulate innovation by spontaneously offering insightful content to creators and inventors. Capture good ideas from community discussions and send them to the appropriate organizations. Automate a closed-loop innovation process starting with capturing good ideas, feeding them to the right teams, periodically following up, and closing the loop with the sources of the suggestions when their ideas are implemented. Assist in the patent application process by filling in as much information as possible and prompting for the rest, following up to help with submissions and to disseminate details to interested parties.Feed the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and eCommerce systems with all relevant data from all possible sources, including phone calls, text chats, chatbot interactions, email, physical mail, and in-person meetings. Supplement with information gleaned from social media, online sources, and other customer systems such as ordering, billing, and customer surveys. Deliver this at relevant moments to all employees who have customer contact.Aggregate multiple sources of competitive intelligence and deliver insights to those who can take advantage at the appropriate times. Automatically solicit inputs from employees who previously worked for competitors and use this to enhance existing sources.Ensure that as much relevant knowledge as possible is sought and provided to support decision making. Automatically track previous decisions and follow up to learn which ones were effective and incorporate that information into future recommendations.In the healthcare sector, integrate electronic medical records, prescriptions, tests, diagnoses, treatments, and scheduling. Automatically seek information from external databases, online forums, and specific experts to help diagnose conditions. Automatically prompt patients to provide status updates, alert care providers, and recommend ongoing care and remediation.Aggregate previous budgets, forecasts, and actuals as part of the budgeting and planning processes. Compare spending to other internal and external departments and point out areas for improvement. Provide regular real-time updates on budget versus actual data to all appropriate parties.Automate placing job postings and ads, processing applications, scheduling interviews, providing feedback to candidates, and securing hiring approvals. Conduct onboarding using appropriate materials, schedule required training, assess performance, and provide feedback and support to new hires.Feed search queries to internal and external search tools, monitor search logs and provide best bets for frequent search terms, and redirect queries to community online discussions and help desks as needed.Monitor email and group chat and offer to redirect messages to the right place, including community online discussions, help desks, and other potentially helpful recipients.Allow people to subscribe to topics of interest and then provide notifications, alerts, and news feeds in email, on the desktop, or on mobile devices. Source content by regularly scanning internal and external sources, including news, repositories, knowledge bases, community online discussions, Wikipedia, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, videos, and social media.Bringing It All Together

The overall goal should be to embed knowledge management in the basic work processes of an organization so that it is not viewed as a separate task that can be avoided. For related articles, see:

KM Process IntegrationKM Process AutomationHow AI Can Support KM Processes

Stay tuned for additional updates on how to apply the LEXICON framework to your knowledge management processes.

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