Karen Thwaites-Hughes

As a person with dyslexia, I have never shied away from a challenge in whatever job I take and have always made the best use of my skills. I have never let the barriers of dyslexia stop me in achieving the best I can.

I am a Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) professional with seven years working in a range of Government roles including two years' experience of developing knowledge management (KM) and four years experience of Information Management in Department for Education (DfE). Working at the Home Office for over a year as an Knowledge Management Consultant to support and further develop their Knowledge Management capabilities.

I have excellent organisational skills, often required to balance my day-to-day priorities. I developed the KM delivery plan, whilst monitoring and reporting on progress. I have considered how this aligns with the Government KM principles and international standards, using the KM Maturity Model to measure outputs.

Through my extensive information management experience, I supported users with document management in SharePoint. I led on our user engagement work in promoting KIM through presentations and using fun interactive games to encourage colleagues to learn more. Leading these events, I managed a team of colleagues involved and reflected and learned lessons to adapt each event.

Over my time in KIM profession, I have developed my knowledge on Microsoft 365 apps, in particular SharePoint, through testing and self-learning, using Microsoft training videos and the knowledge of colleagues. In addition, I developed my knowledge on other Microsoft 365 product such as Power Automate and Power BI.

Making best use of my experience as a teacher, I have supported in the development and delivery of training within KIM at DfE. This included developing an induction programme and letting colleagues understand where to store information and manage their information and knowledge effectively. I continuously improve the training through reviews and feedback ensuring the learning meets the learners needs.