Just when you thought it was safe to turn on the TV and avoid the Baby Boomer financial planning advertisements (cf., Easy Rider selling Ameriprise), along comes the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. I was a baby when this occurred— and I have never met anyone who was there— so my only knowledge of it comes from movies, newspaper articles, and other media that have documented the event.
Fortunately, my work responsibilities don't require me to have an expert understanding of Woodstock. But what if this wasn’t the case? What if I needed this knowledge to perform the tasks expected of me?
Capturing undocumented, or tacit, knowledge is a critical concern for many companies and industries as they have an increasing awareness of generational issues within their employee base. In the upstream oil segment, for example, this has been referred to as “The Great Crew Change”. The concept of knowledge capture frames generational knowledge management issues, but it falls short in providing guidance on how to tackle these to mitigate business risk.
Mitigating such business risk forces us to shift the discussion from capture to capsure. Now, I recognize this is a coined term, but capsure contains two key questions:
-- are you sure you are focused on extracting knowledge from the groups that present the most risk to your organization?
-- are you sure you are deploying effective processes to extract this knowledge?
One way to address the first question is through a knowledge risk analysis (KRA). Drawing from principles of workforce planning, a KRA identifies those groups that are most critical for you to extract their tacit knowledge. This analysis comprises two dimensions: evaluating knowledge risk by position, and evaluating knowledge risk by generations in your workforce. Combined, these perspectives create a view to the potential for business disruption over time if not addressed.
In regards to processes, storytelling can play a significant role in ensuring you achieve capsure. Stories act as glue that holds a culture together, bonding the storyteller with their audience. They are a highly efficient medium for communicating experience and reinforcing desired behaviors. When you implement a framework that coaches targeted employees to craft and share their story, you create an environment that encourages the transformation of tacit knowledge into an enduring asset. (For further discussion on how storytelling influences culture, check out the recorded webinar Designing Culture).
Woodstock for one generation is Lollapalooza for another. Networking at the business club for one Sales executive is scouring LinkedIn for another. In either event, the song remains the same: how do you capsure tacit knowledge to mitigate business risk and, ultimately, gain competitive advantage?
