Want to manage tacit knowledge? Communities of practice offer a versatile solution

a growing awareness that tacit knowledge makes up a substantial proportion of this vital knowledge— perhaps as much as 80%. Th e imperative to manage tacit knowledge more eff ectively has become more pressing in recent times—as experienced 'baby-boomers' retire, as clients increasingly present novel problems (for which 'cookbook answers' are both inappropriate and unavailable), and as market cycles accelerate and response times are reduced. Th ese dramatic changes mean that we do not have the time or resources to document what we know—even if it were possible to do so. Tacit knowledge is personal knowledge. It is diffi cult to discern and diffi cult to express. Examples include 'intuition', 'hunches', 'heuristics', and 'inherent talent'. It enables people to have 'gut feelings' that something is wrong or missing. It is knowing how to ride a bike, how to recognise the smell of coff ee, how to develop lasting client relationships, when to buy and sell, and which new venture is likely to work. It is not 'book knowledge'; rather, it is knowledge developed through experience. According to Boisot, there are three types of tacit knowledge to consider: 1 • things that are not said because everyone understands them and takes them for granted; • things that are not said because nobody fully understands them; and • thing that are not said because, although some people understand them, they cannot costlessly articulate them. It is possible to adopt individual strategies to manage each type of tacit knowledge. Narrative, for example, is useful for discovering the things that