What Knowledge Is Critical to Your Organization?

There are a number of reasons why it is both urgent and critical to understand where the critical tacit knowledge in your organization lives. Is it held in the heads of your senior people, in the heads of bench scientists, or in the heads of those who deal with your customers on a daily basis?

You want to ensure you retain the knowledge, share it more broadly through the organization, and build the internal bench strength and competencies around that knowledge.

But the first question I ask is, “Are you certain you know what knowledge, expertise, and experience is critical for your organization’s success?

You need to ask “What is the knowledge and experience that, in losing, would cost productivity, increase risk, decrease profits?”
In other words, what is the knowledge, experience, expertise critical for your organization to not only survive but thrive?

If you can’t answer this, you are not alone. Many organizations cannot answer that question. Honestly. Large and small organizations, public and private, for- and not-for-profit organizations… few can answer the question. And, if they do, their information might be outdated or based on assumption.

What knowledge is critical to the survival and sustained success of your organization? Is it the knowledge your employees hold around new product development? Is it how they use internal processes to develop products quickly; knowledge about the materials needed, the new designs or technology available? That knowledge may well be based on knowledge about what products are critical to your customers.  And, what is critical to customers will change over time, so there must be an ability to forecast, to predict and to prepare for the future.

Perhaps your critical knowledge is around the ability to effectively leverage your supply chain, to get products or services to those who need them quickly, accurately, cheaply and with little error.  Or perhaps it is in how you service and work with your clients, more than it is how you develop new products. It might be that your organization builds loyalty like no other but do you know why and are you certain, absolutely certain, you can retain that for your future customers? Do you know who your future customers are and what they will want or need, much less what they will pay?

Knowledge about your core competency must be retained, enhanced, reused….but first it must be identified.  And not necessarily by YOU. It must be identified by the clients, the customers, those who purchase whatever it is you have to sell—be it a service, a product or somewhere in between.  It must be identified without emotion or assumption, but as an honest assessment as to what sets you apart from your competitors now and in the future.

There is no substitute, no golden bullet, and no way to ensure your organization’s continued success unless you are certain you know what that success is built on.  There are few more important questions then “What is the knowledge/experience/expertise that you must have for continued, sustained success.”

My own knowledge transfer during transition

The term 'walking the talk' has taken on a whole new, and powerful, meaning for me. For the past 16 years, I've helped companies in transition identify and transfer business critical knowledge.

Now, it's my turn.

I have brought a number of new people into the fold here at KLHagen, including two new associates (well not exactly 'new' but more about that later), two talented consultants and a fantastic business manager. What does that mean for the business?

It means increased capacity, expanded competencies and capabilities and enhanced service offerings. KLHagen is moving forward.

What it means for me personally is that I must walk the talk. It means I am in the process of identifying and transferring my tacit knowledge about tacit knowledge transfer. 16 years worth of processes, ideas, learning, experiences, insights, hints, tips, thought processes, alternatives, watch outs, success criteria, rationale...I think you get the picture.

And, it's very good for me.

I chose experienced people with strong backgrounds and their own unique, critical and relevant competencies and areas of expertise. I know they are open-minded learners who stand in curiosity while applying all of the years of experience they bring on board to make excellent decisions for our clients. All that being said, I still had to consider how to share the deep experience and expertise these years have brought me.

I will give you an overview of that process in upcoming blogs and provide my own insights as I walk my talk. And, I will introduce you to my new colleagues.

Life ensures we keep learning lessons and getting better at what we do...as long as we are present and authentically show up for the learning. I'm blessed to have such great people to work along side and with on this journey.

Of Storytelling and Joan Didion

I have been listening to the CD edition of 'The Year of Magical Thinking' by Joan Didion. As I listen, I am myself literally on a glorious adventure, driving through some of the areas of the country I know little of. The backdrop of Didion's writing, as read by the incredible Barbara Caruso, is not only an enhancement to my attitude of exploration and diving deep, but provides learning I will apply to the knowledge transfer work I do. I am driving, feeling, learning, and loving this experience.

I find Didion's writing so descriptive and emotive that I lap it up like a thirsty golden retriever at a watering dish. Verbs and nouns and turns of phrase splash out all around me. Didion has a courage in her writing so strong as to inspire courage in the reader as well. And there are moments in this book so real, the reader needs courage to continue to read. Didion ponders the details of each event, each action or thought so vividly that the reader is anchored in that exact time and space.

(And yes, this will come back to knowledge management and storytelling.)

Once anchored in the details, Didion is able to describe with word pictures how she felt at that time and you are with her, you understand her. You can not help but make sense of the emotion she describes as you too have had those emotions, even if not as well articulated.

She unflinchingly compares the experience from the past to how she feels about that same event or moment some two years later, as she is writing the book. In that comparison is a leap in learning and healing, both for Didion and for her reader.

She then uses her gifts to describe what she is doing physically at the time of the emotion, and what people around her are doing, which has an amazing impact of the scene. The way in which her physical actions or those around her is described either underscores the truth in the emotions she has stated, or that her judgment of what she was feeling is off. In other words, if she has stated that she was a calm customer, handled the news of the death of her husband well, she will tell you that her heart is racing, she is forgetting which room or city she is in or she presents another indication that she is truly not the cool customer she considers herself. She allows you to see the truth in a way she could not immediately do herself.

You get, from this, the whole story. And, you understand the event, the background or context, the rationale, the intended outcome, the actual outcome and as much as humanly possible, the truth. Joan Didion is showing us the art of storytelling at it's finest.

Think of those experts who hold many years of deeply held knowledge, aha moments, and lessons learned which you wish to transfer. What a challenge to not only get the full understanding of how the innovation or action came to be, but also what a challenge it is to keep the learner fully and completely engaged. Can we not learn from Didion and use her formula?

Consider this: Have the expert describe the background and context leading up to the innovation or event as completely as possible. Have them think about where they were, what they had just read or spoken of which influenced them, what they were wearing even, to help anchor and jog their reflection. Then, in detail, consider the intended outcome, what truly had they hoped or assumed they might learn or do, what they trying to achieve or change. Next ask for the same deep description of the actual outcome, to understand what really happened, why the gap exists and how it came to be. Now, have them consider what they really learned from that, what they will do with that learning or what others might do with that learning.

Perhaps this all sounds too much for one story. But if you want to understand how the inventor of laser surgery decided to go from lasers for non-human uses to repairing burns in a hospital in Vietnam, or how someone inventing a drug which failed for one disease realized she could now apply it to save lives in another totally different area, you need to uncover and develop a deep understanding of that moment. We need to learn how to learn these things from each other. Not to be mired in the past but to apply the new ideas to the future. And I know of no better teacher than Joan Didion.
Now, I must get back to the drive and the adventure which awaits!