We’ve talked about how to define critical knowledge, not only by talking to knowledge holders, but by talking to those that people work with, who may recognize skills and tasks – critical to the job or organization – that the knowledge holders may not see themselves. So…be sure to talk with the folks your knowledge holder works with closely; get their perspective.

Equally important is conversation with the knowledge holder directly, to not only uncover the explicit knowledge held, but also the tacit knowledge. These two types of knowledge capturing events are sometimes called “Knowledge Capture” and “Legacy Capture.”

Knowledge = Explicit

Legacy = Implicit

Legacy also implies that the knowledge holder has something to share with others – his or her “legacy” to the optimal functioning of the organization.

The tacit knowledge piece is sometimes hard to get to…it’s elusive and, well, tacit. It’s not as easy to see/hear/feel and takes a skilled interviewer to uncover. Here are some helpful interview questions we’ve used to discover a knowledge holder’s “legacy” not just ”knowledge.”

• In looking over your tenure in this position, what are you most proud of - – what has contributed to the success of your peers, department, division or the company overall?
• What advice would you give someone taking on this same job role for the company?
• What would your customers (internal/external) say you have done to improve/deepen the relationship between them and our company?
• Describe a time when you really made a difference for someone or some project. What advice would you give to another who wants to make a similar impact?
• What are the greatest challenges you face in this job? How have you handled them? What “dos” and “don’ts” have you picked up along the way?

These questions, and others like them, are designed to get past the procedural “how to” of a particular job role and dig deeper for the underlying “ways of being” that contribute to success. This is just a sampling of question types. What others can you think of?

A group of us were talking last week about managing organizational knowledge and how best to get this important work done, with budgets so tight and everyone so darned busy! The tasks of knowledge management can seem daunting, even when put into a nice, neat little package of steps to follow:

1. Identify critical knowledge (and who has it)
2. Choose knowledge capture methods
3. Capture knowledge
4. Transfer knowledge

Sounds simple, eh? What’s deceiving about this list is the primary word, “knowledge.” In some instances, critical knowledge may be something as (relatively) simple as a piece of tacit knowledge like “where do we keep the key to the safe?” In this case, there is likely only a handful of folks who hold that knowledge, but it’s easy enough to identify that this is information required to run a business, and we need to be sure this is documented and shared, appropriately.

In other instances critical knowledge may be something as (seemingly) complex as a piece of explicit knowledge like, “what is our quality assurance process?” If this knowledge is not documented and captured, it certainly can be, but doing so would be much more complicated, and time-consuming, than dealing with the missing “key location” knowledge.

So…what to do when you don’t know how big the proverbial breadbox of critical knowledge may be…and you know that managing the knowledge you have is key to all kinds of things that are good for your team, your department, your business…and your sanity? In wrestling with this, the group of us came up with an idea that goes something like this:

• Maybe we don’t embark on a huge assessment of knowledge
• Maybe we don’t make it the big deal that it can seem…and be
• Maybe, instead, we institutionalize managing knowledge by teaching our managers-of-people to routinely address knowledge needs

Let’s teach ‘em to fish! Yes…I know managers are overwhelmed and already have too much to do. But, what if…

• Spending a few hours a month could save them hundreds of hours of time the next time they lose or hire an employee?
• This investment of time saved them later, larger and more frustrating investments of time due to rework, quality issues, counseling unproductive employees, fact-finding for the causes of errors?

What if? This group and I are going to continue to explore how to quickly and easily teach our managers to manage not just people, but knowledge. Of course, our concept is that we do this quickly, painlessly (!) and in a way that integrates this work into the daily habit of the managers. Have any of you tried this? Do you want to? How do you think the managers in your organization would respond to one-more-thing-do-do…if it ultimately would save them time and effort? Let me know…