I was sitting in a plastic chair at a company town hall, nursing a lukewarm coffee.
The executive on stage was mid-sentence. He looked very sincere when he said, "Our people are our greatest asset."
I almost choked on my drink.
At that exact moment, the project leaders for the new system rollout were ignoring the staff. They were busy measuring technical "go-live" dates. They did not care if the people actually knew how to use the tool.
The staff were stressed. They wanted Explicit Knowledge, system guides and process flows. They were not being given any. Without those tools, they had no way to build the Tacit Knowledge required to actually use the system.
The staff were being asked to just "know" a complex system. They were pointed to online generic guides on the internet. They showed them how to use the tool but not inputs needed to provide the outcomes they expected. By denying them parts of the "Know" part of the process, the project team was making the transition impossible.
It reminded me that "people are our greatest asset" is only half the story.
People only become a great asset when you support them in applying what they know. But they can't apply what they know if they never build that knowledge and have no support to build that knowledge.
Explicit knowledge is what is needed to support people to build their own internal knowledge over time. If you don't provide this, you are setting them up to fail.
In this story as with all stories, I sided with the staff.
We worked with the working groups to shift the focus from the system to the users. We mapped out the knowledge that was needed to bridge the gap between the generic user guides and how they apply those guides in the context of this organisation.
This made sure that the change actually worked for them and that they were supported to properly learn.
If you want to start mapping what knowledge you need, to determine what knowledge you have and what you need to create you can grab the template or join the discussion in the Free Changing with Confidence Mini Course.
If you want to learn more about how provide explicit knowledge to properly build tacit knowledge for your people then grab Changing with Confidence or book a call with Adrian.
