Digital transformation, data abundance and the diversity of profiles are pushing organisations to create or strengthen their knowledge management systems. Capitalising on collective intelligence remains a complex undertaking, however, particularly given the diversity of tacit expertise that often escapes conventional tools. An overview of the main types of knowledge and the methods for transforming professional know-how into lasting, transmissible assets.
Understanding Knowledge Management
Definition and Three Types of Knowledge
Knowledge Management refers to the process by which an organisation creates, shares, uses and manages its intangible capital. It aims to convert the organisation's data into assets, to codify and develop professional competencies as a lever for innovation, competitiveness and growth. In practice, it results in the pooling of professional knowledge on a collaborative platform accessible to all.
Organisations draw on three complementary types of knowledge. Explicit knowledge encompasses easily accessible and straightforward-to-transmit information: analysis and synthesis documents, algorithms, company policies and user manuals. Implicit knowledge is obtained through the accumulation of explicit knowledge, following the principle of learning by doing. Tacit knowledge, finally, is built up over time through personal and cultural experience. Difficult to codify, it is at the heart of the challenges around transmitting know-how and requires a specific strategy for it to be formalised and shared effectively.
The Strategic Challenges for Organisations
Knowledge management addresses several strategic challenges simultaneously. It provides a structured response to the question of organisational continuity, particularly in the face of staff turnover and retirements. It facilitates organisational learning through continuous training, an effective skills codification strategy and better document management. Finally, it enables every employee to access the organisation's processes and best practices, directly improving operational effectiveness.
The Benefits of Structured Knowledge Management
For Decision-Making and Collective Performance
Knowledge management improves decision-making, particularly for skills development. Leaders can access real-time, up-to-date and relevant data for evaluating training, adjusting learning programmes or identifying areas where skills are insufficient.
Knowledge management also makes it possible to codify and preserve the individual expertise of the most experienced employees, reducing the risk of critical knowledge being lost following staff turnover or retirements. Employees can more easily access the organisation's processes and best practices, which strengthens their productivity and their capacity to progress autonomously.
For Innovation and Collaboration
Knowledge management systems break down conventional information silos. They place emphasis on collaboration and communication between teams, thereby stimulating collective creativity. When employees naturally share their ideas and knowledge, they create an environment conducive to the development of new services, products and processes. It is this amplification effect — each piece of shared knowledge generating new ones — that makes knowledge management a particularly powerful innovation lever.
How to Structure Effective Knowledge Management
Key Steps and Best Practices
The implementation of a knowledge management system follows a structured progression. The first step involves gathering as much relevant information as possible on the knowledge available within the organisation, drawing on existing documentation. This is followed by the organisation of the gathered data according to the chosen knowledge base and storage method.
The dissemination of information takes place as soon as the team identifies the right moment and appropriate channel. Developing a change management process in advance helps to adapt this new knowledge base to the working habits of the teams. The final step is the exploitation of knowledge: regular updating of codified data guarantees its accuracy and relevance over time.
Digital Tools and Concrete Examples
38% of employees report frustration with disorganised information servers and databases (APQC, 2024). This finding highlights the importance of choosing the right tools. Knowledge bases constitute the centralised hub for documenting processes, products and training: they make it possible to quickly find information and resolve issues in real time. Learning management systems (LMS) facilitate the sharing of training modules and pedagogical resources. Skills-tracking tools complete the ecosystem by steering learning within a learning organisation logic.
Toyota illustrates effective knowledge management in an industrial context through four phases: production and acquisition of knowledge, transfer of know-how, conversion into replicable capabilities and application at various levels. Apple, for its part, draws on a data warehouse and several expert systems to smooth the transfer of knowledge at scale.
Transforming Tacit Knowledge Into Transmissible Assets
Capturing and Formalising Informal Competencies
Staff turnover and retirements make the capture and transfer of knowledge a critical priority for 36% of business leaders (APQC). Informal competencies are acquired over time through experience: in order to mobilise and codify them, the organisation must first orient its culture towards knowledge sharing and collaboration.
A mapping of the knowledge available within the organisation, carried out using artificial intelligence tools covering procedures, documents and internal expertise, makes visible what often circulates informally. The designation of Knowledge Management Managers, responsible for structuring the capture process and facilitating formalisation, gives this approach an organisational backbone. The creation of reusable internal transfer guides and operational training materials then makes it possible to sustain the knowledge that has been formalised.
Involving Subject-Matter Experts in Sharing
30% of business leaders believe that certain employees conceal their knowledge to protect their status within the organisation (IDC). This phenomenon often reflects a lack of recognition for sharing and a culture in which individual expertise is perceived as an internal competitive advantage.
Involving subject-matter experts upstream and downstream of the knowledge management process requires a structured framework: establishing a system that actively encourages transmission, creating tutorials and interviews co-constructed with experts, deploying collaborative platforms and internal communities of practice. This approach makes it possible to capture tacit knowledge whilst recognising the expert, whose experience is acknowledged and documented.
