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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Transforming Tacit Knowledge: Making the Most of What You Know
We use the sticky
points lawyers bring
up in the discussions
to identify good
topics for our next
roundtables.
In addition to new case law and legislation and controversial and
emerging issues, we have been asked to do a series of roundtables on
some of our major model documents. Along with making lawyers more
familiar with the content and reasoning behind key sections of the
model (plus reminding lawyers to use them), these roundtables have
elicited discussions around unusual clauses encountered in practice,
how lawyers respond to different issues that arise and language that
might help prevent problems in specific circumstances. We use the
sticky points lawyers bring up in the discussions to identify good topics
for our next roundtables.
Partaay!: If all else fails, remember that everyone loves a good
party. Though commandeering the firm's annual holiday party might
not win KM any friends, coopting part of smaller gatherings and
creating social events might work beer. These events could start
with socializing over food and drinks and then break midway for a few
invited people to share a war story or interesting experience around
a chosen theme, encouraging others to ask questions and contribute
their own experiences. Most of us enjoy telling stories, and storytelling
is a highly effective learning mechanism.
For a more spontaneous and less-orchestrated exchange, reserve
time toward the end of the event and encourage individuals to share
the most interesting story they heard or most useful thing they
learned from someone that evening. To make sure the invitation is
not met with silence, a KM person should be on hand to ask a good
question that can garner an interesting response from someone. KM
should be ready with pen or iPad to record the exchange.
Know More
Capturing tacit knowledge will always be a challenge; some argue it is
impossible. If you focus your aention on releasing and exposing tacit
knowledge, stimulating or orchestrating encounters and conversations,
transforming what you can into explicit knowledge, and sharing it to
generate new knowledge, your firm could end up knowing more than it
knows. ILTA
