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According to Boisot, there are three types took ‘time out’ to learn the finer points of
of tacit knowledge to consider: [1] good policy development; it ended up as a
• things that are not said because everyone forum for testing a whole range of ideas.
understands them and takes them for More importantly, we worked out ways in
granted; which we could work together in a variety
of settings. This is where the real learning
• things that are not said because nobody
occurs—on the job, with real problems.
fully understands them; and
Peter was a great mentor for the other
• things that are not said because, although
members of the group. He was generous
some people understand them, they
with his time and knew what questions to
cannot costlessly articulate them.
ask. Even more importantly, he knew when
This comprehensive strategy It is possible to adopt individual strategies to ask them. Although we will miss his acid
involves the identification to manage each type of tacit knowledge. wit, we will not be left in a hole—because
and nurturing of communities Narrative, for example, is useful for we have learnt from each other. Almost by
discovering the things that are taken accident, we have built resilience into our
of practice.
for granted. Techniques for developing workplace—resilience that will help us to
intuition can be employed to enhance cope when people come and go. This type
the things that nobody fully understands. of group is called a ‘community of practice’.
Organisations might decide that certain
critical (but complicated) knowledge should M A N AG I N G TAC I T K N O W L E D G E
be more generally known. THROUGH COMMUNITIES OF
Although such individual strategies can be PR AC TICE
useful, this paper presents a comprehensive
So how does a strategy of supporting
strategy that addresses the management
communities of practice help organisations
of all three types of tacit knowledge. This
to manage their tacit knowledge more
comprehensive strategy involves
effectively?
the identification and nurturing of
communities of practice. First, these groups enrich the context
They enhance the around their area of interest. They enhance
artefacts that already W H AT I S A C O M M U N I T Y the artefacts (such as documents and tools)
exist; and they create OF PR AC TICE? that already exist; and they create new
new artefacts. artefacts. These artefacts (old and new)
The key features of a community of practice
take on enhanced meaning for the group
are encapsulated and communicated in the
and, as they do, more knowledge becomes
following anecdote.
unspoken—more tacit knowledge is created.
Peter was not only the organisation’s most
Secondly, the increasing interaction among
gifted policy analyst, but also one of those
members of the group, together with the
guys who just ‘knew’ how to get things
enriched context described above, enables
done around the place. Regardless of the job
members to respond quickly to unusual and
at hand, Peter would successfully navigate
unpredictable requests. This is because the
the organisation’s labyrinth of requests,
community of practice has been in the habit
approvals, office politics and hierarchy. He
of posing (and exploring) novel questions.
knew when something was missing; he knew
Thirdly, the existence of a community of
when the picture just did not ‘seem right’. And
practice means that there is a deeper and
like many other ‘baby-boomers’, Peter was
wider pool of expertise from which to
retiring—next week to his rural vineyard.
draw. Through the active processes of the
Fortunately for us, Peter was an active
community, tacit knowledge is shared—
member of our ‘policy-analysis brigade’.
thus ensuring that it is not ‘locked up’ in
This was the name we had given to our
one individual.
informal group that met in the boardroom
on the third Thursday of every month. It
had begun as a small group of people who
A handful of stories about the effective The arrow represents projects that must be
use of communities of practice from completed by a specific date and that must
organisations that most resemble your deliver a specific outcome. A successful
own will be an invaluable tool in building project has a clear direction and definite
your business case. There are many case deadlines to meet. Most organisations
studies and examples from companies focus their resources on the arrow.
such as IBM, GE, the US Army, and legal The cloud represents a community of
firms, among many others. Whenever an practice. It is more interested in the learning
Your own organisation opportunity arises, tell these stories. Your journey than the destination. Outcomes are
will soon begin to ask: own organisation will soon begin to ask: less clear. Although the arrow and the cloud
‘Why aren’t we doing this?’ ‘Why aren’t we doing this?’. are quite different organisational entities,
ARROW AND CLOUD one informs the other.
The second ingredient is to make a link For example, every project invariably faces
between project work and communities challenges and problems that must be
of practice. It is common to hear people overcome. If the project team knows that
lament: ‘But my people are so busy just a community of practice exists within the
getting the job done. We don’t have time organisation, the team can pose questions
to sit around and chat about these things.’ to this community—which represents
This attitude certainly makes it difficult a network of experts and expertise.
to get a community off the ground from Moreover, by receiving ‘realworld’
scratch. However, in our experience, if you problems from a ‘real-world’ project team,
can describe how this new organisational the community of practice can focus its
entity will enhance current projects, efforts on a subject that is valued by the
commitment from middle managers organisation. Communities of practice can
increases significantly. inform project teams by briefing them on
new thinking, models, and tools relevant
Middle managers are under great pressure
to the project.
to ‘get the job done’, and if they believe that
an initiative for a community of practice is However, a balance must be struck—too
merely a distraction, they will mount a great much direction from project teams or other
Ideally, project-team deal of passive resistance. After six months management teams can result in the
members should also be of effort you will wonder why nothing has community resisting such direction, and, at
community members, happened. It is a good idea to introduce worst, disbanding its activities altogether.
and vice versa. the simple idea of ‘the arrow and the cloud’ The key to the ‘arrow’ and the ‘cloud’
to describe how teams provide direction working together is that each must be
for communities and how communities can aware of the existence of the other—
support teams (see Figure 1, below). ideally, project-team members should also
be community members, and vice versa.
T H R E E T R A P S T O AVO I D
Figure 1: Arrow and cloud
Although the guidance provided above
Projects and teams appears to have a bias towards an organic,
undirected, and ‘bottom–up’ technique,
it is also important to incorporate other
approaches if common mistakes are to be
Questions Answers
Problems Innovations avoided. Here are some hints on avoiding
three common ‘traps’.
• Although it is important to identify
existing communities, a successful
Communities program must also gain support from
of practice the most senior business leader who is
willing to participate. One approach is to
get senior people active by inviting them achieved by command and control, or by
to chair community review boards or embarking on a program of converting
practice review boards. tacit knowledge to overt knowledge
• Although each community will invest that can be stored in a database. Rather,
The approach proceeds by
its own time and energy to sustain the the approach proceeds by fostering the
fostering the collaborative group, a successful program requires the collaborative efforts that already exist
efforts that already exist in the provision of real resources in terms of in the organisation, and by providing
organisation, and by providing budget and time. Such a commitment the support that nurtures this new
the support that nurtures this of resources demonstrates to the wider organisational form.
new organisational form. organisation (and to those participating Community mapping is an important first
in the group) that the community is step in developing a program of activities.
truly valued. This identifies the myriad communities that
• Although a community of practice is an already exist in the organisation. In addition,
effective organisational form for managing a business case for such a community should
tacit knowledge, a community-of-practice be built, and the value of communities of
initiative is more likely to be successful if practice should be communicated to senior
it begins with the organisation providing leaders, middle managers, and potential
overt content that can be discussed, participants in the community. With these
shared, and improved. foundations in place, a wider program can
then be developed.
SUMMARY AND NEX T STEPS
Organisations are becoming more complex, REFERENCES
and the pace of change is accelerating. 1. Boisot, M.H., Knowledge Assets:
Employees come and go more frequently. Securing Competitive Advantage in the
And there is a growing reliance on tacit Information Economy, Oxford University
knowledge as a competitive advantage. Press, Oxford. 1999.
Putting stories to work
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Faced with these realities, organisations
2. Snowden, D., Organic Knowledge
have been forced to adapt their
Management – Part 1. Knowledge
organisational forms to avoid having their
Management, 3: 14–17. 2000.
knowledgeable employees leave with no-
Such a loss of tacit one capable of taking their places until new 3. Wenger, E., McDermott, R. & Snyder, W.M.,
knowledge exposes employees get ‘up to speed’. Such a loss of Cultivating Communities of Practice: A
organisations to tacit knowledge exposes organisations to Guide to Managing Knowledge, Harvard
significant risks. significant risks. Business School Press, Boston. 2002.
Shawn Callahan is managing director of Anecdote Pty Ltd, a company which helps
organisations harness their tacit knowledge. In particular, we guide people
in becoming better intuitive decision-makers, help to create the conditions
for innovation, and provide new approaches for initiatives in culture change.
We use narrative techniques, concepts from complexity science, and tools and
techniques drawn from the wide discipline of knowledge management.
Please feel free to give Shawn a call on +61 3 8300 0747 if you would like
to discuss this paper.