Episode 4: Not All Expertise Lives in SharePoint - The Introvert's Guide to KM with Maggie Starkey
Not Another KM PodcastShow Notes
In this episode, Brittany and Rachel sit down with Maggie Starkey to talk about the real work of knowledge management — the part that lives in relationships, not just repositories.
They explore why interpersonal skills are core KM capabilities, not “nice to have” extras. From building trust and practicing active listening to navigating layoffs and organizational change, this conversation centers on the human side of knowledge work.
Maggie shares insight on resilience, the emotional weight KM professionals often carry, and why the value of KM isn’t always immediately visible — but is absolutely critical to long-term business success. They also dig into the impact of AI, the challenges of knowledge transfer, and what it means to protect expertise when people move on. If you care about trust, connection, and making knowledge work actually work — this one’s for you.
More from Not Another KM Podcast
KM has been around for 30+ years, and it still can’t answer the question “so what do you do?” without a 20-minute explanation. So we did the only reasonable thing: we sent it to therapy. Brittany plays the therapist and Rachel lies down on the couch as KM itself, working through some deep-seated feelings. There’s sibling rivalry with information management, constant confusion with content management, a little jealousy toward L&D and its snack budget, and some very complicated emotions about the new kid everyone’s obsessed with: AI. Once the session wraps, we get real about what’s behind KM’s identity crisis. We talk about why the words we use matter so much when we’re trying to show our value, whether the “KM” label is helping or hurting us, and how KM can flex to fit different organizational cultures. Then we look ahead: is AI the thing that finally makes KM make sense to everyone else, or the thing that makes everyone forget we were here first Spoiler: KM is going to be okay. Probably.
Sarah Abdelatif, co-founder of Propel, joins us to talk about knowledge retention in the development and humanitarian sectors, the messy, iterative path to building Propel, and what it takes to keep learning alive inside an organization. We also dig into AI: why it should sharpen human knowledge instead of replacing it, why quality control matters, and why democratizing access to knowledge is still the goal. If you care about keeping people at the center of how organizations learn, this one's for you. You'll find links to Propel and Sarah's work below. Links: Sarah's LinkedIn Website: https://www.propelapp.org/ Email Sarah: [email protected]
Most people never think about payroll until something goes wrong. But behind every paycheck is a complex web of regulations, systems, processes, and institutional knowledge that organizations can't afford to lose. In this episode, payroll transformation consultant Nina Teague shares her unique journey from educator to payroll specialist and explains why payroll may be one of the most overlooked knowledge domains in business.
What happens when organizations stop thinking about learning as something that happens to people and start thinking about it as something they build with people?
This is Episode 2 of a 2 part series.