What are the best practices for eliciting tacit knowledge from experts?

One of the biggest factors in eliciting tacit knowledge is proximity. You cannot elicit tacit knowledge without being close to the person who has the knowledge you want to attain.

Eliciting tacit knowledge from expert is for example been able to identify the exact moment a prospect is ready to hear your sales pitch. Knowing just the right words to use within your copy to attract and engage your audience. Knowing which specific piece of content to deliver to a customer based on their expressed And this can be done in an objective manner for value adding

Humans usually share knowledge freely when they get something in return, from the concrete "payment for services" to raising their profile, through the less tangible helping a colleague for the warm fuzzy feeling of paying back what was given to them before they were expert. It helps to understand both where the expert is (are they nearing the end of their career and would like to leave a legacy? Do they want more prestige for what they do, to move up the chain?), and how to frame this with them, but also frame what the business needs. I like the concept of training "next-perts" that @John Hovell introduced me to.

- Mentoring - Planned Job succession Both of these are clearly long term outcomes which the KM startegy needs to support. The other important aspect is the WHY around the WHAT that is in the Explicit Knowledge stores

There are things we can ask the expert to do such as narrate their work, preferably while they do it but also later on in review; such as in surgery or trade apprenticeship situations. We can ask the expert to share stories, reflect on their experience, re formulate models that explain their knowledge domain. There are things we can ask other experienced people to do such as (as here in LinkedIn) add their own comments; and also participate in communities of practice. There are things we can ask those who wish to learn to do such as ask questions.

One thing organizations forget to do is capture tacit knowledge before it walks out the door. This causes a huge loss of institutional memory. Organizations should capture this institutional knowledge via oral histories before long-time employees retire as well as people that are considered single points of failure if they leave an organization. Start early and promote a collaborative structure so the tacit becoming explicit starts on day 1-not after they have left the building and you have to reinvent the wheel.

Mining Tacit knowledge is indeed a tough challenge. Not only is the knowledge intangible and difficult to define, the experts may well be unaware of it. It is possible to work towards tapping into this Resource through a mutipronged approach. Make sure the experts convert all tangible knowledge into the knowledge base. Sometimes, it is possible to convert expert knowledge into SOP's. If not, building relationships over time, through 1:1s between leaders and their team members, and between mentors and their mentees can make a difference. Not only will the transfer of knowledge happen through learning, it is possible that the learner may be able to document it.

It can be recommendable to hire a knowledge transfer consultant in order to gather tacit knowledge from your employees. The advantages are that they (emotionally) are NOT involved in the process nor the organizational circumstances in general. Plus, the knowledge holders can more easily trust in external persons. They do not have "to take care" about what they say; they can talk more freely.

Knowledge can only be volunteered, never conscripted (by Dave Snowden). If there is no trust, there is no (real) sharing. There needs to be trust from the Expert in the organisation and between the expert and the (intended) audience. Trust can be confirmed in procedures and documentation, but always originates from behaviour. If you have experienced lack of trust, no document or code-of-conduct will outweigh that experience.

We cannot force anyone to share their knowledge with others. However, organizations can create a culture of knowledge sharing and specifically support and promote this by encouraging open and respectful interaction with knowledge holders. People only share their knowledge if they have the feeling that their knowledge will not be misused by others for their own purposes. If they feel that they themselves learn something from sharing their knowledge and receive something in return, then they are happy to share.

One caveat: After asking the question, stay silent and allow the expert to answer. Give them some time and space to explain. Your silence will elicit a fuller and more interesting response.

Acknowledge clearly how important SME's contribution and experience for the sustainable success of their company is. You might also involve them in creating e.g. adaptive learning modules to preserve their knowledge and offer personalized learning opportunities to the rest of the organization.

I think what we are saying here is a structured interview - what we used to call “knowledge elicitation”. After the background and preparation work you might start with an open question such as “tell me about…”. The interviews progress by turning to different aspects of the subject in question using open, closed, leading and non-leading questions, probes, recaps, confirmations, cases, stories, hypotheticals, causal, composition and concept exploration etc until the knowledge engineer has a model of the subject domain: its structure, content and applicability. It’s a skilled job. It is usually equally a moment of discovery for the interviewee who gains an insight into their own knowledge and reasoning that can be a surprise and a delight.

When you’re chatting with experts, try asking questions that make them think and share more. Open-ended questions are like a good movie—they keep the story going! Instead of “yes” or “no” questions, ask things like “How did you approach that challenge?” or “What surprised you the most about that project?” It gets people talking and sharing their experiences, which can uncover a goldmine of knowledge. Think of it like exploring a treasure map—the more you dig, the more you find!

Choosing the right questions is critical to achieve your conversation goal. However, using open-ended questions may not necessarily be the answer for every situation. Are you looking to understand an issue you know nothing about? If yes, then by all means, open-ended questions will assist you in gaining insights. However, suppose you are trying to understand how many people are affected by the issue or what historical data may help build the context. In that case, a quantitative survey may assist you better.

One of the good ways to share tacit knowledge is to use video. In this method, which is used for skilled and highly complex tasks, we must take a video of the expert while doing the work, and after adding explanations to the video, publish it in the knowledge management software

Make the knowledge sharing as rich as possible. Involve as many senses as you can. Especially if you work with tacit knowledge which is strongly connected to the physical world, try to get that physical world into the knowledge sharing activity. That's why thinking along & working together are the best ways to transfer tacit knowledge. The recipient will pick up knowledge the expert wasn't even aware of.

This TED talk has an excellent exercise that encourages everyone to get involved in the process of sharing knowledge https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_got_a_wicked_problem_first_tell_me_how_you_make_toast?

I like using new tools like Tango that allow users to break a process into steps with screenshots. I cannot stress enough how this mode is the most efficient in transferring tacit knowledge like simple tips and tricks users employ to get work done faster.

We usually use a simple table for actitivies and another for key persons. The table helps to focus the interview on the relevant aspects. Information about key persons helps to capture relational capital.

Knowledge in its pure form is a raw material. It must be shaped, crafted, and refined to be useful. Experts may provide stream of consciousness information or choppy instructions that jump between steps. Your job is to figure out how all the information fits together logically. Then craft a product that makes the choppiness disappear.

After creating the knowledge from its source, perhaps after conducting interviews with experts and mining knowledge from multiple documents, it is crucial to verify and validate with subject matter experts or knowledge experts. They will provide feedback focused on the knowledge and less on how it is written. They should also make sure that some of it is redundant or missing. The best practice is to involve this workflow organically, perhaps using a workflow mechanism within the appropriate platform.

Es muy útil diseñar estrategias en equipo, para que la propia comunidad de la compañía valide el conocimiento generado. Dentro de cada equipo, tener una o dos personas en el rol específico de coordinar y supervisar el conocimiento creado y reportarlo a su líder y al área de KM. Además, los propios miembros luego validan la utilidad de lo generado con sus likes y visualizaciones. El apoyo mutuo dentro de la empresa es un gran validador y permite que el conocimiento se construya en forma colaborativa.

Verify captured knowledge with subject matter experts and stakeholders to ensure accuracy and relevance. Iterate on collected insights through feedback loops to refine and enhance the quality of tacit knowledge.

A leaving experts debriefing ends with a transfer plan that is compiled by the manager and can then be followed up upon to execute the transfer activities.

Another approach is to create an environment and culture where experts feel motivated to capture and share tacit knowledge on their own. You are likely to find knowledge contributions in areas that would not have been identified with a pull-dominated approach.

Tacit knowledge is contextual in nature and is best elicited from 'experts' when there is a situation. The experts get into a problem/solution mode and their collective thoughts could be abstracted and captured against the situation (after due generalization) in a knowledge base for future reference.

Go to the actual place. Observe the actual work. Apparently my 49 characters to the end of that sentence were not enough - and there was I trying to demonstrate tacit by leaving it to your imagination to write the rest <sigh>

I recollect memories from my childhood when my grandfather had many chickens. I used to go to their area and collect the eggs. A magic moment! Eliciting tacit knowledge from experts is like gathering eggs from free-range chickens. First, create a trusting environment, similar to making the chickens feel safe. Observe their routines to understand where knowledge is hidden. Engage in casual conversations, like gently coaxing the chickens to reveal their nesting spots. Encourage mentorship, akin to letting chickens share their space naturally. Finally, document and share the knowledge as you carefully collect and store the eggs :)

There are certainly reasons for wanting to elicit tacit knowledge and make it explicit. However, beware any conscious or subconscious bias for explicit knowledge over tacit knowledge. Most knowledge will remain tacit and that’s just fine. We have other ways to support tacit knowledge besides making it explicit. And most will likely be lost in any such state change.