A question came up on a messaging channel of the KMGN network: How would you map tacit knowledge? The post also referenced CVs as a way to document experience, but I would agree with the person posting that initial question that a CV doesn't scratch the surface of tacit knowledge.
At best, a CV reflects a series of experiences and since the purpose of a CV is typically to send to potential employers ahead of an interview, the main purpose of a CV Is not to convey tacit knowledge. A CV reflects experiences but doesn't say much about what the person learned from those experiences, either explicitly or in the form of tacit knowledge.
I once went to a job interview with a simple concept map instead of a CV. The map didn't reflect specific jobs or positions but areas I had experience with through these jobs. More importantly, because it was a form of concept map and not a linear document, I was able to show how the combination of experiences had resulting in a mental map, a framework to connect these different experiences. I think that in order to map tacit knowledge, we must reflect on our experiences and as a result, make that knowledge explicit. You end up with something that is no longer tacit since you've "explicited" it through reflection. That is still probably scratching the surface or barely digging into the underwater part of the tacit/explicit iceberg, but very much worth doing in my opinion.
This is essentially a form of Personal Knowledge Management and the mapping doesn't necessarily have to be in the form of a concept map. I just find it very useful because it helps connect things previously not connected in my mind.
Let's start at the top. By definition, tacit knowledge is not conscious, so mapping tacit knowledge sounds like an oxymoron. However, I believe we can strive to make some of our tacit knowledge more explicit in order to map it out and the process of mapping can help make tacit knowledge more explicit.
Why map it out you might say? Isn't it enough to make it explicit? Well, are you making it explicit in a blog or a personal journal that just accumulates content in a sequential way? Mapping out that "explicited" knowledge is a way to enable further articulation, further exploration of the connections between insights generated through reflection and analysis.
I know "explicit" isn't a verb. I should refer to the SECI model and say "externalize" instead. Before we can externalize or articulate that tacit knowledge, we need to have an idea of what we are looking for. Externalize feels like "extracting" knowledge and I don't like these harsh-sounding words.
Here is an example of an attempt at externalization: I have a lot of tacit knowledge around the construction of concept maps. I have a lot of experience constructing concept maps and when asked how I do it or what constitutes a good concept maps, I find it difficult to answer. I know a good concept map when I see it. This is also related to the curse of knowledge. I tried, years ago, to articulate (or externalize) that tacit knowledge by creating a couple of courses about concept mapping. Essentially, I was trying to create the conditions for others to experience the process of constructing concept maps as the way for them to acquire that tacit knowledge themselves. In trying to articulate that process, I felt the need to specify a number of steps or method, but that was a shortcut and not truly how I personally experience constructing concept maps and I can't go back in time and remember how I initially learned how to construct concept maps. All I was able to do was set up an environment where someone could go on a similar path to learn for themselves and acquire their own tacit knowledge.
Because tacit knowledge is based on first-hand experience, it is unique to the individual. Granted, every person who knows how to ride a bike acquires tacit knowledge of bicycling, but even that is somewhat unique to the individual experience. I was passed by a large flock of real cyclists this morning on my morning bike ride. They were going three times my speed and moving in ways I have never experienced because I don't ride in groups. Their accumulated tacit knowledge around cycling is very different from mine. As a side note, if they regularly cycle as a team, they will acquire a form of collective intelligence based on their collective tacit knowledge. There is a lot more to explore around collective intelligence and the ability of people to combine their explicit and explore their respective tacit knowledge through effective collaboration. In fact, there is probably a lot around effective collaboration that is based on tacit knowledge rather than explicit best practices because it's in the realm of communication and human behavior that we engage in daily without giving it much thought -- unless you're a huge fan of personal knowledge management and you are a strong reflective practitioner.
Going back to the original question: How could anyone map their tacit knowledge? Again, you wouldn't map your tacit knowledge but rather externalize knowledge acquired through experience and map it.
Is it only knowledge acquired through experience? If I'm combining ideas from other people in new ways, it's not based on my first hand experience, but it's my accumulated experience that allows me to come up with this new way of combining ideas and come up with new insights. And the more I have reflected upon my experience over time, the more raw and refined materials I have to draw from to articulate / externalize insights based on other people's experiences because I can relate them better to my experiences and create the connections.
So, here are some of the techniques useful to articulate/externalize and then map tacit knowledge:
- Reflection and journaling, closely linked to learning logs or learning diaries; blogging is also great but has a public dimension that may hinder more personal reflections.
- Concept mapping, closely related to mind mapping.
- Interviews and dialogue, storytelling, very useful to get people to more organically access their tacit knowledge via skilled prompting.
- Observation and feedback (essentially qualitative methods used in apprenticeships for example).
The first two methods are the ones I use most regularly because they build on each other. The reflection can be documented with a map and the process of generating a map inevitably leads to new avenues for reflection, (potentially) deepening access to tacit knowledge. The benefit of a concept map over a more linear narrative is the ability to explicitly and visually show connection across ideas and concepts. In a real concept map, the connecting words that link distinct concepts are perhaps the most important elements. That's also why relationships are the most important element in knowledge graphs... but that's another fascinating topic.
Let's get back again to mapping newly externalized knowledge. I am currently working on a project that seems to address a lot of that. It's a combination of personal narrative via concept mapping and knowledge graphs. I don't know where this project is going yet so perhaps I should keep it at that. I gave myself the title of Knowledge Explorer, so I'm exploring, without a specific destination in mind because I haven't discovered any new territory yet. The new territory seems to be Knowledge Graphs, but I need to revisit old territory (concept maps) to become more insightful about Knowledge Graphs. This conversation is helping in some way to externalize that old territory raw material of experience.
I can say that a key to reflection and journaling is "know thyself". That's a starting point for personal knowledge management aimed at accessing tacit knowledge. There is nothing wrong with personal knowledge management focused on optimal curation of one's readings and resources, but that's scratching the surface in the same way that a repository of documents in an organization is not equivalent to managing knowledge.
So, my modern version of "know thyself" includes working on self-awareness, some mindful practices (to slow down the brain), values clarification (which helps me to focus on what's most important to me), deepening my reflective practice, exploring personal narratives, acknowledging cognitive biases, known unknowns and unknown unknowns, and setting personal learning goals while exploring my interests. Given that this is all too cerebral, I'm integrating elements to "know your body" and engaging in a lot of movement because brain and body work together and a moving brain is much more capable than a sitting brain.
Years of intermittent note-taking -- I can't really call that journaling -- have led to habits and lots of notebooks (physical and virtual) that remind me of who I was and what I was thinking. This is also an aspect of "knowing oneself" and the evolution of one's mental frameworks but also being reminded of the stable core of who we truly are. I can safely assume that I've acquired some bad habits along the way. It would be interesting to try to identify those. That would fall into the category of acknowledging biases.
Again, how should anyone proceed if they want to try to map their tacit knowledge or more accurately, externalize their tacit knowledge so it can be mapped?
1. Start with simple reflections around a specific project or event. It can be overwhelming to try to reflect on the entirety of our daily experiences. Focus is essential. Think in terms of critical knowledge. If you're not sure about what to focus on, keep a random journal for a few days or weeks and then review your entries to try to identify a recurring theme. In fact, you could use a concept map to expose key themes that would then allow you to focus your reflections. I've posted maps that were based on events or just individual readings. It's nothing fancy.
2. Define a learning agenda to further focus your reflective practice. At first, it's probably best to identify a relatively narrow set of topics to focus on. As discussed in another post, I undertook a pretty ambitious learning agenda this year with a broad set of topics. That was intentional and it's something I can do in my current personal/work life. It might not be sustainable if I were still working full time and managing a family. So, define a learning agenda that is reasonable and high value for you.
3. Find ways to share. Once you're comfortable with your own progress becoming a reflective practitioner, or just comfortable enough sharing, ''find ways to share'' what you are thinking, your insights, your learning process. This should result in interesting interactions and further learning. That is not my strength and I know it, which is probably why I just barely push a few posts on my blog and I consider myself "done" with the sharing.
I also teach so perhaps that's where I end up sharing a lot of tacit knowledge without thinking too much about it, in a more organic way, based on conversations with students and the questions that come up. I may not be mapping that but hopefully some of it is still transferred and some of it is mapped in the student's own notes and mental models.
Resources to Explore: This is not an exhaustive list.
Tacit Knowledge & Personal Knowledge Management
- The Tacit Dimension, by Michael Polanyi (of course)
- The Knowledge Creating Company, by Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi (for the SECI model).
- The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action, by Donald A. Schon.
- Personal Knowledge Management: How to do it, with 25 resources and 10 books on PKM, by Stan Garfield
- The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization, by Peter M. Senge. There is a nice focus on personal mastery and mental models which are crucial for understanding tacit knowledge.
- Harold Jarche - Seek, Sense, Share Framework.
- There are 173 entries tagged as PKM on my old Diigo account. I have not updated anything recently. First entry dates from 2009 and a lot of the links are most likely dead. That's also partly why collecting, storing and tagging links (curating) cannot be the full picture.
- There are also a number of posts on this blog that I've tagged as PKM although I clearly have not posted on this topic in a long time or didn't tag.
Some focused on becoming a better "learner", some more focused on managing information overload.
- Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential, by Barbara Oakley. All the books by Barbara Oakley are focused on learning based on neuroscience insights and while targeted at "students" most insights are valuable more broadly to learning at any age, including learning from experience.
- Building A Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative potential, by Tiago Forte.
- Thriving on Overload: The Five Powers for Success in a World of Exponential Information, by Ross Dawson.
- Riding the Current: How to Deal with the Daily Deluge of Data, by Madelyn Blair.
Concept Mapping Resources:
- Learning, Creating and Using Knowledge: Concept Maps as Facilitative Tools in Schools and Corporations, by Joseph D. Novak
- The Mind Map Book, Tony and Barry Buzan
- Visual Tools for Transforming Information Into Knowledge, by David Hyerle
Some concept mapping resources are more focused on business applications and collaborative mapping:
- Applied Concept Mapping: Capturing, Analyzing, and Organizing Knowledge. by Brian M. Moon, Robert R. Hoffman, Joseph D. Novak and Alberto J. CaƱas.
- Visible Thinking: Unlocking Causal Mapping for Practical Business Results, by John M. Bryson, Fran Ackermann, Colin Eden, and Charles B. Finn.