Okay...Time for review and to see how we are doing! Click on the links below for:
1) subject matter review
Knowledge Management Flash Card Review
2) quick quiz to see how you're doing.
Knowledge Management Quiz
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
First Training Video: Knowledge...Explicit or Tacit?
Hello again. I am eagerly awaiting our face to face session. In the meantime, please take 5-10 minutes to view the below Screencast-O-Matic lecture. This video is part one of a three part session we will complete before meeting face to face. It covers the concept of knowledge and how it is different from data and information. It also discusses the differences between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.
Having now watched this video lecture on Knowledge, can you give some examples of the difference in data, information, and knowledge in your work center? If the knowledge you cite, can you differentiate between or provide new examples of tacit and explicit knowledge?
Having now watched this video lecture on Knowledge, can you give some examples of the difference in data, information, and knowledge in your work center? If the knowledge you cite, can you differentiate between or provide new examples of tacit and explicit knowledge?
Welcome to Need to Know's (N2K) Advance Introductory Training Session
Greetings!
If you are visiting this blog, you are slated for an upcoming face to face (F2F) training session with Need to Know (N2K). We are a private consulting firm at the ready to meet the training and professional education needs of today's cutting edge organizations.
The training you are about to receive covers the concept of Organizational Knowledge Loss. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, Knowledge Loss (KL) is the knowledge an organization fails to retain once an employee leaves the enterprise through retirement, transfer, termination, resignation, or some other form of attrition. I have attached a short Powtoon to give you a nuts and bolt idea of what KL is, how it can impact your organization, and how it can be prevented.
The purpose of this advance introductory training is to provide you with some basic information on the topic we will be covering, leaving more time in our face to face training for knowledge and skill application. This way we can spend more time learning how to apply this knowledge in different scenarios rather spending a bulk of our training sitting through classroom style lectures.
If you feel like you aren't grasping everything through this advanced intro session, no worries. We will conduct a thorough review our first day. During that review we will be able to field any questions you may have and/or dig deeper into any of the topics you choose.
In the mean time, please feel free to post questions, comments, or thoughts to this blog so all may benefit from your inquiries or insight.
Let's begin with a short discussion on the type of knowledge most susceptible to loss. Knowledge loss deals primarily in the currency of "tacit" knowledge, the techniques that promote efficiency, improve processes, and ultimately provide an edge over the competition. Examples include:
-subject matter expertise
-memories of why certain key decisions were made
-knowledge of a prior project’s undocumented results
Here is a fun video that gets the point across:
Tacit knowledge is both difficult to convey and highly perishable. Think of Fonzi hitting that juke box. He knows exactly where and how to hit it to make that song play. That knowledge is in his head and he is the only one who knows how to make it happen every time. This makes it extraordinarily difficult to codify and as such is extremely susceptible to employee turnover. Said another way, what happens when Fonzi moves out of town? Who is going to know how to get that juke box to play that song like he did?
Another example...When you think "tacit" knowledge, picture the dad who shows his son how he cooks his family chili recipe...the way he dices the onions, the type of tomatoes he uses, when he adds each ingredient. Yes, there is a recipe to follow, but the unique way dad throws the ingredients together, how he preps them, when he adds them, when he stirs it, how long it sits, etc is all in dad's head and difficult to duplicate. The son watches and learns. No notes are taken. There is no manual or text book. He learns by watching his dad, doing it himself, and getting his hands dirty.
An enterprise that fails to capture this knowledge before it leaves its organization can find itself at a severe disadvantage to its competition. The impact of this failure to retain critical skills, capabilities, experience, and knowledge is typically unknown until it is too late.
Case in point...think of Circuit City in 2008. They let 3,400 of their highest paid sales associates go in an ill-fated attempt at cost savings and reinventing the company. Circuit City’s residual less-skilled and smaller sales force caused it to lose its edge to other competitors like Best Buy. After losing this edge, it never came back. Clients left Circuit City’s new-found poor customer service in droves and revenue fell. Circuit City filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and closed its doors in 2009.
Do you have a story similar to these? Possibly a comment to share about tacit knowledge in your field? Any ideas on how your organization combats this problem? How do they codify and transfer this tacit knowledge? Please share your feedback with the group.
If you are visiting this blog, you are slated for an upcoming face to face (F2F) training session with Need to Know (N2K). We are a private consulting firm at the ready to meet the training and professional education needs of today's cutting edge organizations.
The training you are about to receive covers the concept of Organizational Knowledge Loss. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, Knowledge Loss (KL) is the knowledge an organization fails to retain once an employee leaves the enterprise through retirement, transfer, termination, resignation, or some other form of attrition. I have attached a short Powtoon to give you a nuts and bolt idea of what KL is, how it can impact your organization, and how it can be prevented.
If you feel like you aren't grasping everything through this advanced intro session, no worries. We will conduct a thorough review our first day. During that review we will be able to field any questions you may have and/or dig deeper into any of the topics you choose.
In the mean time, please feel free to post questions, comments, or thoughts to this blog so all may benefit from your inquiries or insight.
Let's begin with a short discussion on the type of knowledge most susceptible to loss. Knowledge loss deals primarily in the currency of "tacit" knowledge, the techniques that promote efficiency, improve processes, and ultimately provide an edge over the competition. Examples include:
-subject matter expertise
-memories of why certain key decisions were made
-knowledge of a prior project’s undocumented results
Here is a fun video that gets the point across:
Tacit knowledge is both difficult to convey and highly perishable. Think of Fonzi hitting that juke box. He knows exactly where and how to hit it to make that song play. That knowledge is in his head and he is the only one who knows how to make it happen every time. This makes it extraordinarily difficult to codify and as such is extremely susceptible to employee turnover. Said another way, what happens when Fonzi moves out of town? Who is going to know how to get that juke box to play that song like he did?
Another example...When you think "tacit" knowledge, picture the dad who shows his son how he cooks his family chili recipe...the way he dices the onions, the type of tomatoes he uses, when he adds each ingredient. Yes, there is a recipe to follow, but the unique way dad throws the ingredients together, how he preps them, when he adds them, when he stirs it, how long it sits, etc is all in dad's head and difficult to duplicate. The son watches and learns. No notes are taken. There is no manual or text book. He learns by watching his dad, doing it himself, and getting his hands dirty.
An enterprise that fails to capture this knowledge before it leaves its organization can find itself at a severe disadvantage to its competition. The impact of this failure to retain critical skills, capabilities, experience, and knowledge is typically unknown until it is too late.
Case in point...think of Circuit City in 2008. They let 3,400 of their highest paid sales associates go in an ill-fated attempt at cost savings and reinventing the company. Circuit City’s residual less-skilled and smaller sales force caused it to lose its edge to other competitors like Best Buy. After losing this edge, it never came back. Clients left Circuit City’s new-found poor customer service in droves and revenue fell. Circuit City filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and closed its doors in 2009.
REFLECTION:
Do you have a story similar to these? Possibly a comment to share about tacit knowledge in your field? Any ideas on how your organization combats this problem? How do they codify and transfer this tacit knowledge? Please share your feedback with the group.
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