Tribal Knowledge: A Source of Strength or Chaos?
Have you ever called a former employee to fix a tiny problem that all of your organisation’s combined brainpower can’t fix?
Regardless of how things ended with the former colleague, it feels like calling an ex for their Netflix password. Tribal knowledge refers to all unwritten information and know-how that is not widely known. It’s a constantly evolving cloud of knowledge that informs many small- and large-scale decisions in your organisation. Any gap in tribal knowledge can become a nightmare of a bottleneck on an important day or when training a new employee without their predecessor present. Anything from not knowing the printer’s password to taking a highly allergic client to a lobster restaurant can be attributed to unretained tribal knowledge.
According to a study by Emory University, mice inherit smell memories from their ancestors. When a mouse experiences danger, the scent emitted by the new predator is patched into their genetic code which will pass on to their offspring. The next generation will recognise the smell with no previous experience or guidance.
Tribal knowledge should not be misconstrued as a mere collection of how-to-manuals. It’s the all-encompassing genetic code of your organisation’s DNA in the root of how a company runs. Just like mice retain scents through generations, your company remembers it’s successes, failures and learnings. It’s powerful stuff.
After Covid, many “tribes” were broken apart by mainstream acceptance and the need for remote work. While many employees rejoiced at the opportunity to work from home, building and retaining efficient tribal knowledge became more difficult for many organisations. Today, many CEOs are rolling back on that decision, writes the BBC. In January, the employees of Disney received a memo from their CEO, Bob Iger.
“As you’ve heard me say many times, creativity is the heart and soul of who we are and what we do at Disney,” Iger wrote. “And in a creative business like ours, nothing can replace the ability to connect, observe and create with peers that come from being physically together, nor the opportunity to grow professionally by learning from leaders and mentors.”
Companies like Starbucks and Twitter also follow the trend of mandating more in-person days.
But even with people returning to the office more, what sort of institutional knowledge are you building, and how are you doing it? Tribal knowledge is not an evidence-based science. Somebody once fixed a TV monitor by giving it a good smack. Did it work? For some reason, yes. Is it the best long term way to fix the problem? Probably not. Documenting and analysing the unwritten knowledge will probably give you ideas on maximising your company’s efficiency and growth (maybe it’s time to buy a new monitor). It’s not an easy task, but will save you a lot of time and headaches, especially when training a new employee.
Here are some valuable tips for retaining tribal knowledge from lucidchart:
Ask your veteran employees to compile onboarding materials for new employees.
Ask employees to document their day to day tasks and help them sift good practices from bad once data has been analysed.
Create a single source of truth, an online document listing correct practices accessible to all teams and departments.
Write down the story of your company and never tire from telling it. A good story evokes emotion, motivates and sparks curiosity; your company’s story should do just this to keep the ideals and mission alive for generations.
To reiterate — your tribe has limitless knowledge, but not all knowledge is power.
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