In my new home, things suddenly work very differently.
In the morning, I find myself wandering around the house a little aimlessly. Did I leave my bag in the living room or somewhere else? Even when I just need a bowl for my yoghurt, I open the wrong cupboard first. A simple routine that used to take a few minutes suddenly takes twice as long.
Knowledge without even realising it
It got me thinking. I had never written down my old morning routine. There was no step-by-step guide hanging on the wall. I just knew what to do.
And that is exactly where the connection to knowledge management lies. Much of what we know has never been consciously documented. When we do something often enough, routines develop that become almost automatic. This happens at home, but also at work. You know where to find information, how to approach a task and who to ask when you have a question, without consciously thinking about it.
When the environment changes
As long as your environment stays the same, this works perfectly well. It is only when something changes that you realise how much of your knowledge was implicit. Moving house is one example, but exactly the same thing happens at work. Think of a new system, a different way of working, a new role or a colleague leaving. Suddenly, the familiar route no longer works.
That's when you hear things like, "I think that used to be stored over there" or "Normally, I would always ask that colleague." It's just like my kitchen cupboards: my brain still knows the old route perfectly well, but it no longer fits my new environment.
"That's how we've always done it"
There is a risk in this too. Experience helps us work faster, but existing routines can also make change more difficult. A familiar way of working quickly starts to feel like the logical way to do things. Not necessarily because it is the best way, but because you know exactly how it works.
So knowledge management is not just about documenting information. It is also about becoming aware of the knowledge embedded in habits and routines. What seems like an obvious step to you may not be obvious at all to someone else.
Still finding my way
Eventually, my morning routine will become quicker again. In a few weeks, I'll know where my lunch box is without thinking about it, and I probably won't find myself half asleep in front of the wrong kitchen cupboard anymore.
But until then, it is a useful reminder: it is precisely when autopilot stops working that we start to see just how much knowledge is hidden in our routines. And that is often where knowledge transfer begins in practice: making visible what has long since become second nature to an experienced employee. At Eluxis, we help make that knowledge visible and usable for others.Kind regards,
Kind regards,
Isa Veltmaat
isa.vetlmaat@eluxis.com
LinkedIn: Isa Veltmaat
