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The knowledge possessed by your team members is one of your organization’s most valuable assets. This just makes sense: The more organizational knowledge your team has about the products and services you offer, your customers’ needs, and your industry as a whole, the more productive and successful your company will be. Now, in many cases, the knowledge possessed by your team members is easily documented and communicated. This knowledge—known as explicit knowledge—can take the form of step-by-step instructions, concrete answers to frequently asked questions, records of customer interactions, and more. Sometimes, though, the knowledge held by your employees is a bit more difficult to communicate or document. But, it’s not impossible to do so. In this article, we’re going to dig deep into the concept of tacit knowledge. Specifically, we’ll discuss:
What is Tacit Knowledge?Tacit knowledge refers to the knowledge, skills, and abilities an individual gains through experience that is often difficult to put into words or otherwise communicate. Tacit knowledge is sometimes known by a few alternate terms, such as:
(Source) Similarly, “know-how” refers to the idea that, sometimes, an individual just can’t explain how they know what they know (or know how to do). For example, a professional golfer may be able to hit a ball 300 yards down the fairway, but may not be able to communicate a complete break down of every single thing they do when swinging a club to make it happen. As another example that may be more relatable... take a moment and think about yourself driving a car on the highway. Now think about your ability to know just how much pressure to apply to the brakes so that you don't stop too short (and potentially get hit by a car behind you) or too late (and potentially hit a car in front of you). While you certainly can read a manual to learn how to use your brakes (explicit knowledge), your ability to properly use them comes from experience (tacit knowledge). Additional Examples of Tacit KnowledgeA few, more pertinent examples of tacit knowledge:
Examples of Explicit KnowledgeIn contrast, explicit knowledge related to the above examples might be:
Difference Between Tacit, Implicit, and Explicit KnowledgeSometimes you’ll see the terms “tacit knowledge” and “implicit knowledge” be used interchangeably—but that’s not entirely accurate. In the simplest of terms, implicit knowledge is explicit knowledge that hasn’t yet been documented. For implicit knowledge to become explicit knowledge, it’s just a matter of recording the knowledge verbatim. (Again, as we’ll get to, capturing tacit knowledge is a much more involved process.) One last thing to mention, here: When defining knowledge as explicit or tacit, we don’t take an “either/or” approach. Rather, we look at each piece of knowledge possessed by an organization on a continuum of sorts. Say, for example, we’re looking at your sales team’s documented process for pitching to a customer. Here, the overall document clearly states the steps to take throughout the process—an example of explicit knowledge. But, within each step, there may be certain “know-how” pieces of info that your sales team may understand on an intangible level—but that might not be so clear to others who don’t have your sales team’s experience and expertise. At any rate, tacit knowledge is the unseen force that enables your team to operate to the capacity it does. While your organization’s tacit knowledge is vital as it is, it becomes even more valuable once you document it… 4 Reasons Why You Need to Capture Your Organization’s Tacit KnowledgeNow that you understand what tacit knowledge actually is—and how difficult it is to capture—you might be left asking: Why should my organization bother capturing our tacit knowledge and codifying it into explicit knowledge in the first place? To be sure, there are many benefits of capturing tacit knowledge, such as... 1. Communicate Organizational Knowledge More EffectivelyEarlier, we mentioned that tacit knowledge is sometimes referred to as “tribal knowledge”, as team members often “absorb” it simply by gaining more experience working within an organization. The thing is, though: Relying on this osmosis-like transfer of knowledge leaves up to chance whether it actually happens or not. Unfortunately, even your longest-lived employees may not gain the tacit knowledge needed to best do their jobs. Worse yet, it may be the case that your team members don’t know what they don’t know. Basically, this means they’ll continue to use a sub-par approach to their duties simply because they aren’t aware that there’s a better way to do them. (Source) (This especially applies to remotely-operating teams, as employees have minimal interactions with one another—meaning much fewer chances to exchange and absorb knowledge.) That said, the main benefit of being able to transfer tacit knowledge is that it makes this information visible and accessible to all members of your team. It also clarifies any confusion or uncertainties your team members may have about a given process, allowing them to dig into the “nitty-gritty” details to cement their understanding for good. The ability to capture your tacit knowledge also allows you to onboard new employees more efficiently. The typical onboarding process involves teaching newbies what the steps of various processes are. Injecting tacit knowledge into the mix allows them to get a feel for how to optimally perform these tasks. Similarly, codifying your tacit knowledge adds value to your current, explicit knowledge content. For example, you might supplement a standard operating procedure document with a video in which an employee demonstrates the procedure in action. In supercharging your current knowledge content, your team will be better equipped to tackle any and all processes they’re responsible for. This can lead to a massive spike in productivity throughout your organization. Injecting tacit knowledge into your external knowledge base will have a similar effect on your customers. Here, your knowledge base content won’t just tell your customers what to do—but will also explain just how to do it. This will equip them to get the absolute most value they can from your products or services. Overall, tacit knowledge becomes useful and valuable to others only when it’s shared by those who possess it. By documenting it concretely, you allow each of your team members to share their tacit knowledge with ease. 2. Differentiate Your Company from Your CompetitorsAs we mentioned earlier, the ability to store and share tacit will better equip your organization to serve its customers—and can also better equip (and enable) these customers to solve their own issues as they wish. With a comprehensive knowledge management system full of “know-what” and “know-how” information, both your support staff and your customers will always be able to find what they need to overcome the issue at hand. If your customers can always get the info they’re looking for when engaging with your brand, they’ll have every reason to trust you over your competition moving forward. What’s more, simply showcasing your tacit knowledge to your audience—even if they don’t necessarily need it at the moment—helps position your brand as a team of experts. If your competitors don’t offer similar content to showcase their value, you’ll already have a pretty hefty advantage over them. 3. Gain Knowledge Capital and Retain Organizational KnowledgeWe’ve established that your organization’s tacit knowledge is a valuable asset. And we don’t mean this symbolically, either. Your team’s documented tacit knowledge is proof that your team knows what it’s doing, and that your company is a valuable entity. For employee candidates, it provides insight into your organization’s vision, goals, and capabilities. This can attract high-quality candidates looking to work with a team as skilled and dedicated as they are. For investors and other stakeholders, it’s proof that they can continue working with your business with confidence—and that doing so will pay off in dividends. And, if your goal is to eventually sell your business, your documented tacit knowledge offers buyers proof that your company is made up of a highly-skilled and knowledgeable team of employees. Knowledge capital is also valuable to your organization, as well. As we said earlier, documenting tacit and other knowledge makes employee onboarding much easier. The other side of this is that you’ll also retain previous employees’ knowledge once they leave your organization. This can help your current employees pick up the slack as you search for a replacement hire, and also enable your new employees to hit the ground running. 4. Increased Productivity & Organizational InnovationSince you’ll have collaboratively developed and demonstrated best practices and optimal approaches to tasks, you’ll almost certainly perform at a much higher level. Moreover, this type of knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer where individual team members can learn from each other's experiences and mistakes will allow employees to spend less time and energy on ideas that don't work. This open exchange of ideas and experiences allows employees to gain new perspectives and see things from different angles which can lead to breakthroughs, “aha moments,” and other outside-the-box ways of thinking. Documenting your organization’s tacit knowledge may take some effort, but doing so is always well worth it. That is, as long as you approach the process in a strategic manner... How to Convert Tacit Knowledge Into Explicit KnowledgeOkay, so: We know what tacit knowledge actually is. And we know why it’s important—even essential—for your team to document it. Now, let’s talk about how to actually capture and document tacit knowledge. Create an Environment Centered on Continuous LearningYour first order of business will be to get your team focused on collecting and documenting tacit knowledge as a matter of course. |