It helps to start with the end in mind: what is your goal? Are you looking to inform? Inspire? Engage? Influence? Change behaviour? Start by setting a clear goal, as action depends on purpose. Try to envision impact and how to get there.

The agency developing a performance measurement framework had multiple goals. They needed to inform teams at different locations about the new data elements. They needed to work collaboratively to get staff buy-in about the relevance of data gathering and performance measurement. They needed to establish shared knowledge of their agency performance measurement approach. Finally, they needed to work together with staff to make the process useful and relevant.

At its core, knowledge mobilization is really about people. It’s about communicating valuable information with the right people to help ensure meaningful engagement and impact. It helps to work as a team to mobilize knowledge and to involve credible partners and champions.2 The right people will be able to share the vision, build understanding, recognize other perspectives, establish personal meaning and build commitment.

In the example of the agency bringing teams together around performance measurement, it helped to have a core team planning and doing knowledge mobilization. Sustainability and flexibility are enhanced when a team collaborates to mobilize knowledge.

Knowledge mobilization isn’t just about putting information out for consumption. It requires actively meeting people where they’re at and making it possible for them to act on information. This is why it’s essential to engage with people during the planning stage so that information and tools are designed and delivered the way your audience prefers. Who is your audience? Who do you want to use this knowledge? How will you involve them in making sure the information and process is useful and relevant?

In our example, the agency had to engage with their teams throughout the process. As an agency with multiple sites, this required a lot of travel and meetings, but it was still important. ‘Performance measurement’ and ‘data gathering’ can be threatening terms. It was important to build trust and shared understanding so that the staff were a part of the knowledge mobilization initiatives, not just the recipients of something new.

This leads us to the doing stage – or how you will mobilize knowledge. What’s the best way to connect people with your message? What do you need in order to mobilize the information? Think about your goal, available resources, budget, audience, supports and intended impact. These factors will help determine your method or the strategies that you’ll use to mobilize knowledge. There’s no single strategy that will be effective in all situations. Check out Doing for help choosing the strategies best for you.

For example, the agency developing a performance measurement framework used multiple strategies including outreach meetings, webinars and targeted communication to key leaders. Their experience showed that, for some initiatives, it’s a multi-year process to support staff through change.