Knowledge Makes You Smarter: Improving Corporate IQ by Transferring Tacit Knowledge

It is ironic that in what is recognized as a knowledge economy, the core or our success—knowledge—is being lost in ever-larger quantities because we do not know how to preserve it. Organizations are beginning to recognize the value of knowledge management practices and are investing in processes to identify, capture, organize, store, transfer, and reuse organizational knowledge to maintain operations and achieve organizational success. However, few have had much success in transferring tacit knowledge—the invaluable knowledge built on individuals’ experiences, skills, and judgement. This report explores the compelling reasons for organizations to focus on tacit knowledge (TK) transfer and presents effective practices and processes that can be used to implement a TK transfer initiative to preserve organizational memory and IQ.