What is Tacit Knowledge and How Do Companies Obtain It?

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge.”

Every motivated executive, high-performing team, and hustling professional craves knowledge. The more insights they gain, the better they understand the truth. This results in a higher probability to perceive patterns, draw conclusions, and achieve success.  And in today’s world, the more knowledge they share, the more benefit it can bring to goals created by a company or industry.

\All knowledge is not created equal. Its nature is variable, so its value is variable. So how can you determine what knowledge to gather and share? Continue reading to learn more.

Enter Competitive Intelligence (CI)

Competitive intelligence helps identify and effectively leverage specialized knowledge about a company’s competitive environment. Its objective is to be predictive, as companies seek CI to plan tactical moves in the short term and enable strategic success in the long term. In most cases, this amounts to gathering information about the competitive environment as it exists to produce projections about the future. As a result, most CI collections are contemporary. It focuses on what’s occurring RIGHT NOW because the people who drive its collection need an accurate picture and answers about what is current. CI professionals often focus on the existing environment, but this is problematic. 

CI Roadblocks

A great deal of knowledge relevant to how a company or industry arrived at its current condition is not identifiable in the here and now; it’s located in the past. There is key information buried like gems in pockets of tacit knowledge, which is intelligence gained through personal and professional experience in current or previous jobs. Tacit knowledge is possessed by professionals such as subject-matter experts, peripheral specialists, and academic authorities. These people possess experience and industry exposure that make them valuable sources of CI information. People with tacit knowledge develop their expertise and insights over decades, and in many cases, their understanding of when and how an industry or company developed spans above and beyond what can be found through online research. 

Why Do Companies Lose Tacit Knowledge? 

Tacit knowledge is difficult to identify and curate for CI purposes for two reasons-eglecting to document industry knowledge, and a recent progression of younger leaders with less experience. People who have it and are more accessible have generally never been asked to record it. This is because they are so preoccupied conducting the activities associated with their jobs that they never think to write down their lessons learned. On the other hand, People who have tacit knowledge may have retired, left to work for a different company, or are using this knowledge in another industry (and thus may not be easily identifiable as a ‘current’ resource).

Despite these circumstances, pursuing tacit knowledge for use in CI products and analysis is crucial. After all, according to research, 80 percent of all assets in companies relate to tacit knowledge, which is why it’s considered the largest untapped resource in an industry. Additionally, generating a holistic picture of a company or industry means looking at all the factors that contributed to its current status, not just the ones that are easy to identify and quantify. And although CI professionals can assist in this identification effort , there are steps companies can take RIGHT NOW to ensure they are structured to capture tacit knowledge:

• Pass on tacit knowledge at the end of a project by documenting and storing it on a desktop or online tool: These tools should be standardized across a company for easy use and understanding. A tool for capturing tacit knowledge can be as simple as an excel spreadsheet, or as comprehensive as an application with the specific purpose of making sure historical information is available and coded for future use.
• Work in dynamic or cross-functional teams:  Tacit knowledge can be transferred to junior employees by pairing them with senior experts. New generations of employees can then use tacit knowledge as the basis for their activities and production by learning it from older generations. Its transfer also increases the individual value of these junior employees as they become the repositories for new information. 
• Record tacit knowledge in stand-alone documents: Many companies encourage or require employees to draft a ‘lessons-learned,’ analysis at the end of their job or add to existing manuals about the position, work team, or company. These living guides can be invaluable products for describing evolutions in a company or industry’s history. They can also be leveraged at later dates to inform current-day employees. 
• Leverage senior employees with deep industry knowledge and experience:  Most companies employ at least one individual with longstanding experience who has worked with multiple firms within the given market. This person maintains a robust network of connections and has navigated the many changes in the given industry. Establish a mentor-mentee program where the senior employee passes on well-earned tacit knowledge in a supportive manner. Conversely, leverage these industry “ringers” through brown bag presentations or brief “spotlight” lessons during daily scrums.

Lean More About CI at Adapt Intel

Tacit knowledge collection may be more of an art than a science, but it is a crucial component of developing a persistent and relevant strategy for CI collection. With the right approach to gathering tacit knowledge, and the right CI strategy to use that knowledge effectively, companies will be well-positioned to develop wisdom about their competitive environment.

Contact Adapt Intel to learn how CI and tacit knowledge can benefit your company! Visit our website or click the button below to connect with our team of experts!