What is Tribal Knowledge?
(This is the first part of the 3rd Chapter of the new book: The Tribal Knowledge Paradigm to be published October, 2012.) We struggled with a definition, as there was no usable one available anywhere. So we made up our own definition in the context of how we use it. We defined Tribal Knowledge in the second chapter and we will repeat it here again.
Tribal Knowledge or Know-How is the collective wisdom of the organization. It is the sum of all the knowledge and capabilities of all the people. It is the knowledge used to deliver, to support, or to develop value for customers. But it is also all the knowledge that is wrong, imprecise, and useless. It is knowledge of the informal power structure and process or how things really work and how they ought to. It is knowledge of who constrains the process and who facilitates it. It is the knowledge that is squirreled away by employees who feel a need to protect their jobs by not sharing the information needed to do a job. It is all the skeletons in the corporate closet. This is part of the totality of the Tribal Knowledge.
For example, it is the knowledge and the experience of the assembler who won’t tell others how he can put those two casings together (when no one else can). That knowledge is his job security. But more importantly, it is untapped knowledge that remains unused or abused.
So we use that definition for Know How as well. We use the terms interchangeably.
What is the Tribal Knowledge Paradigm?
Very basically, the Tribal Knowledge Paradigm consists of the following 4 principles:
1. “Tribal Knowledge” and “Know How” are used interchangeably
We believe that the equating of Tribal Knowledge with Know How takes a big issue off the table because of the confusion that we have experienced trying to explain any differences. There is none in our view. When CEOs asked us over and over to distinguish between the two, we basically simplified the discussion by saying that they were the same. Nothing else made sense. It just makes all discussions in the area a lot easier. Once we are all clear on that, we can continue moving forward.
Yet it is our intent to spotlight Corporate Know How as the prerequisite of business success and by using the term “Tribal Knowledge” we emphasize the structure and process of improving “Know How.”
And this point recognizes that Tribal Knowledge ia an essential resource that must be continually maintained, developed and synchronized with organizational mission. This almost sounds obvious but over our 25 years engaged in this consulting work, we realized that like all things, you must pay attention to it.
That is why the analogy of the Second Law of Thermodynamics is so important to us. It allows us to explain the need to keep adding energy to the system. It tells us that we need to pay attention to Tribal Knowledge but it doesn’t tell us that we need to increase it or improve it. It merely says that we need to pay attention to it. We cover the need to increase Tribal Knowledge in the next principle of our definition in the next blog.
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