Tribal Knowledge

Tribal knowledge is the unwritten collective wisdom of an organization. It refers to the tradition of tribes handing information down from generation to generation in the time before the written word was developed.

In the same fashion, when information is not document properly, it must be passed from employee to employee.

There are many obvious shortcomings to relying on tribal knowledge.

1. Information may be passed incorrectly. This is similar to the telephone game that elementary school children play. Every time the information is relayed, there is a high likelihood of something being distorted.
2. Tribal knowledge is inefficient. The same piece of information may need to be presented numerous times for it to stick. If the information is not written down, learning it takes two people (one to tell it and one to listen) instead of just one person to read it.
3. Tribal knowledge is often misinterpreted. What a person says may not be what they mean, or what is heard. When a process is documented, the person recording it can take their time and make sure it is accurate. This problem often leads to each person doing a process slightly differently.
4. There is no way to check that a process is being performed properly. Only the person who has the process committed to memory can review an operation.
5. There is nowhere to look for information if a step is forgotten. An operator can only go to someone else who knows the process, and in many cases, there might be only one other person. That individual may not always be available.
6. The people who are most well-versed in the information are likely to be disturbed frequently by those with lesser knowledge.
7. If a person holding information leaves the organization, the information leaves with them. In one extreme case, a single individual left a company that was recently acquired. She actually did have her own notebook with cryptic explanations on how to do a surprisingly large number of processes that only she knew how to do. After she left, that notebook was nowhere to be seen.
8. Customers and investors will have less confidence in a company that does not properly record their processes. Imagine thinking about investing a sizeable chunk of change and it comes down to two similar companies. When you visit, one has their processes well documented, and the other is flying by the seat of their pants. Where do you invest?

Improvement Opportunities with Tribal Knowledge

There is a tremendous continuous improvement opportunity when processes are not documented. The simple act of writing information down does a few things.

1. It gets everyone on the same sheet of music. Everyone will have the same understanding of what the information is.
2. It enables more effective cross training. With formal documentation, structured training programs become much easier. Workforce flexibility is critical in a Lean organization.
3. It provides a basis for improvement. It is much easier to improve a written process than one that is maintained through tribal knowledge.
4. It makes processes easier to communicate. When a change is made on a documented process, it is easy to inform everyone. When tribal knowledge changes, it can be a long task to get everyone in sync.