People are not often aware of the knowledge they possess or how valuable it can be to others. Tacit knowledge is not easily shared. It often consists of habits and culture that we do not recognize in ourselves.

Knowledge that is easy to communicate is called explicit knowledge. The process of transforming tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge is known as codification or articulation.

To make wider use of the tacit knowledge of an organization, companies need to identify the knowledge possessed by its employees and then arrange the kinds of interactions between knowledgeable individuals that will help the organization perform its current tasks, transfer knowledge from one part of the organization to another, and/or create new knowledge that may be useful to the organization.

This may be accomplished using a variety of different platforms.

Communities of Practice (CoP)

CoP is a term that describes a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession. This collaboration can be accomplished in many ways through secure Discussion Boards, Blogs, or Individual Interactive Web Pages.

According to Lesser & Storck four areas of organizational performance that can be affected by communities of practice:

• Decreasing the learning curve of new employees
• Responding more rapidly to customer needs and inquiries
• Reducing rework and preventing "reinvention of the wheel"
• Spawning new ideas for products and services

WV Vet Tech can provide innovative ways to enhance the collaboration of your team!

Lesser, L.E.; Storck, J. (2001). Communities of Practice and organizational performance