Tacit Knowledge
What Is Tacit Knowledge?
Tacit knowledge refers to the kind of know-how that's hard to put into words. It's gained through experience, intuition, and personal insight. Unlike explicit knowledge, which can be easily documented and shared (like in manuals, reports, or SOPs), tacit knowledge lives inside people's heads.
Examples of Tacit Knowledge at Work
Here’s how tacit knowledge shows up in everyday work life:
- A senior employee who just gets company culture and uses it to onboard new hires with ease
- A sales rep who instinctively knows when to push a deal or back off
- A manager who can sense team morale dipping and knows how to lift it without a single complaint being voiced
- A customer support agent who handles angry clients like a pro, purely based on gut feeling
Why Does Tacit Knowledge Matters?
1. Boosts Organizational Learning
Every company wants to be a learning organization. But formal training only goes so far. When you capture and spread tacit knowledge, you're building a deeper, more adaptive learning culture.
2. Strengthens Succession Planning
If a key employee leaves, do their skills leave with them? That’s a big risk. Preserving tacit knowledge ensures smoother transitions when roles change.
3. Improves Employee Performance
Employees with access to real-world wisdom (not just theory) perform better. Tacit knowledge makes onboarding faster, decision-making sharper, and teams more self-sufficient.
4. Drives Innovation
Most creative solutions aren’t found in handbooks. They come from unique insights and patterns only experienced people can recognize a direct result of tacit knowledge.
Types of Knowledge: Tacit vs Explicit vs Implicit
Before we go deeper, let’s clear up the knowledge family tree.
| Type of Knowledge | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Explicit | Documented, easy to share | SOPs, policies, training manuals |
| Tacit | Personal, hard to express | Intuition, soft skills , gut feelings |
| Implicit | Can be made explicit, if documented | A workflow someone follows instinctively |
How Is Tacit Knowledge Acquired?
You can’t just read about it or take a course. Tacit knowledge is built over time through:
- Hands-on experience
- Trial and error
- Observation
- Mentoring and shadowing
- Real-time problem-solving
It’s like learning to ride a bike. You can read the manual, but until you actually fall a few times and get the hang of it, you don’t truly know how to do it.
Challenges of Managing Tacit Knowledge in Organizations
Managing tacit knowledge can feel like catching smoke. Here’s why it’s tough and why HR should care:
It’s Not Easily Documented
People don’t always realize what they know. Or they struggle to explain it clearly. This makes transferring that knowledge difficult.
It’s Highly Individual
Two employees might perform the same task differently because of how their experience shapes their approach. There's no 'one-size-fits-all.'
It’s at Risk of Being Lost
When someone retires, quits, or even goes on long leave a chunk of knowledge might disappear. That’s a major knowledge management red flag.
How HR Can Capture Tacit Knowledge?
You can't download someone’s brain (yet), but HR can take some smart steps to preserve and spread tacit knowledge across the organization.
1. Encourage Mentorship Programs
Pair up seasoned employees with newer ones. The casual chats, the feedback, the real-time advice that’s how tacit knowledge flows.
2. Create Communities of Practice
Build internal groups where employees with similar roles or interests can exchange tips, tricks, and experiences regularly.
3. Use Storytelling
Encourage employees to share work stories in newsletters, Slack threads, or town halls. Real stories are powerful vessels of tacit knowledge.
4. Make Job Shadowing a Habit
Let newer employees shadow experienced ones not just once, but regularly. Observation is one of the fastest ways to absorb tacit knowledge.
5. Host Retrospective Sessions
After projects wrap, bring teams together to reflect. What worked? What didn’t? What were the “gut feelings” that turned out right? Capture all of it.
The Role of HR Tech in Managing Tacit Knowledge
Good news! You don’t have to do it all manually. Tools like Qandle’s HRMS help structure and support tacit knowledge flow by:
- Tracking mentorship programs
- Facilitating internal communications
- Enabling 360-degree feedback loops.
- Storing performance journals and work insights
- Promoting peer recognition and culture-sharing
While tacit knowledge isn’t exactly downloadable, HR tech can at least provide the platforms and processes to make it easier to surface.
Tacit Knowledge and Employee Retention
You’ve probably heard the saying, “People don’t leave companies, they leave managers.” But they also take something huge with them when they go — their tacit knowledge.
That’s why knowledge transfer isn’t just an operational goal; it’s a retention strategy. When employees feel their insights are valued, they’re more likely to stay and contribute.
Make space for people to share what they know, and they’ll feel like more than just a role — they’ll feel like an asset.
How to Measure Tacit Knowledge
Admittedly, it’s not easy. You won’t find it on a dashboard. But HR can use proxy metrics and indirect indicators, such as:
- Peer feedback and 360 reviews
- Mentorship effectiveness
- Time-to-productivity for new hires
- Project success rates with knowledge-sharing initiatives
- Employee engagement and trust scores
Even informal check-ins can help. Ask: “Who do you go to when you’re stuck?” Chances are, that person holds a lot of tacit knowledge.
How to Encourage a Tacit Knowledge Culture
Want your organization to be a hub of learning and innovation? Build a tacit knowledge culture. Here’s how:
- Promote psychological safety so employees feel safe sharing unpolished insights
- Reward not just results, but the sharing of process
- Break down silos between departments
- Encourage “working out loud” - narrating your thought process
- Normalize learning from failure - it’s a goldmine of insight
Tacit Knowledge in the Future of Work
In an age of AI and automation, the human edge lies in what machines can’t replicate: empathy, instinct, creativity, and judgment all rooted in tacit knowledge.
HR’s role is evolving. Beyond hiring and compliance, it’s about empowering people to think, feel, and connect. That’s the future of work. And that future is human.
At Qandle, we help HR teams go beyond the basics. From seamless onboarding to effective knowledge-sharing tools, our all-in-one HRMS platform makes it easier to unlock the full potential of your people.
Schedule a demo today and see how Qandle helps you preserve and share your team’s smartest insights.
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