Tacit knowledge - what people know 

"Our people are our most important asset" is a claim often made by organisations, and in the "knowledge age" it's easy to see why.

"Knowledge" is more than just a collection of data and information - it puts these into a particular context, and combines them with human experience.  This means that people can gather knowledge from one situation and apply the resulting insights and experience elsewhere.

"Understanding" is necessary to underpin real knowledge - without a depth of understanding of facts and figures, systems and processes, people do not really know how best to apply these and get the full benefit from them. 

This combination of experience, awareness, perception, insight and intuition that people carry in their heads, is what we call "tacit" knowledge.  It's not easily captured on paper, or on electronic systems.  But we can tap into it when people get to work - on projects, in teams, dealing with customers and sorting out problems.  Or we can use story-telling techniques.

To work effectively with knowledge, organisations need not only to invest in electronic systems to capture and manage "explicit" knowledge (the information, ideas and intellectual property that can be set out in documents and held on systems).  They also need to invest in their people, developing and deploying them to make best use of their experience and expertise. 

Managers can do this in a number of ways, such as:

• by recognising what motivates people, and what demoralises them
• by respecting people's views, experience and suggestions
• by carefully selecting project managers and their teams
• by bringing in people with challenging views to stimulate fresh thinking
• by encouraging people to collaborate with their peers, through communities and networks
• through support for mentoring arrangements, where experience can be passed on
• by ensuring that training and development exercises are taken seriously, with proper preparation and follow-up
• through the positive use of inward and outward secondments and work shadowing
• by recognising and rewarding innovation, collaboration and personal development.