Knowledge is Everywhere in Your Organization

From employee instructions to information that matters to customers and the outside world—knowledge exists throughout your organization. When it comes to structuring knowledge, the focus is often on reusing existing information, and much less on what hasn’t yet been documented. That’s a mistake, according to Content Consultants Rosanne and Justine. In an interview, they share how they improved internal knowledge at a client by capturing employee knowledge that hadn’t yet been put to paper—in other words, getting knowledge out of people’s heads. A crucial human process, not something AI alone can do. So how did they approach it? And why is this method valuable for every organization? “That’s when employees realize just how important this process is.”

Structuring and Improving Internal Knowledge

In mid-2023, TKC was brought in by a trade association in the technical sector. The main goal for this client was to organize their internal knowledge structure. “We were asked to clean up their internal information. The documented knowledge consisted of many duplicate and outdated files,” Justine explains. “We needed to create a well-organized and complete knowledge base.”

“The client originally had an intranet. Employees would post new messages about the same topics again and again,” Rosanne adds. “That resulted in lots of work instructions and internal messages with overlapping content. Eventually, no one knew what was accurate or where to find the right information.” And the issue went beyond duplication and outdated files: “A lot of information was missing, too.”

What Happens to Your Knowledge Organization When Experienced Staff Retire?

“The lack of documentation had two major consequences. New employees struggled to find what they needed on the intranet and on Teams,” Rosanne explains. “Sometimes experienced employees would sit with them for hours. The onboarding process took months, simply because the necessary documentation wasn’t there. On top of that, many experienced employees were approaching retirement. They had the knowledge—but it wasn’t always written down.”

“Employees within the organization realized that when these experienced staff members left, crucial knowledge would disappear.” That realization sparked a new process. Because can you really do your job if the necessary instructions or information aren’t available? “One employee raised the alarm. When we spoke to him about the topic, the ball started rolling. Our project lead was soon in contact with a long list of people in the same situation. They were all wondering: what happens to my role and my knowledge when I leave?” Justine summarizes.

Capturing Specialist Knowledge: Putting Tacit Knowledge into Practice

The age gap between junior and senior staff made the problem even more urgent. “Most employees were either quite young or nearing retirement. And specialists were often in the latter group,” Rosanne points out. “They’d been doing things their own way for a long time, but had never written it down.”

The two consultants tackled this issue head-on. They developed a step-by-step plan to capture knowledge from employees’ heads. “We start with an intake meeting with an employee,” Justine explains. “In that meeting, we explain our process, discuss their responsibilities, and identify what knowledge must not be lost. From that, we create a writing list of the most important topics.”

From Specialist Knowledge to Usable Content for Everyone

Rosanne adds: “Next, we schedule one-hour sessions where the employee talks us through their work. We listen and take notes. Sometimes these sessions turn into in-depth interviews. The central question is: What needs to be documented that other employees don’t know yet? You can’t just use an AI tool for that—this is where people are essential. We dive deep into the content.”

They then carefully evaluate the information. “As Content Consultants, we’re able to translate this knowledge into work instructions, FAQs, or other types of articles. In clear, accessible language that fits the organization. Of course, we always have the content reviewed by the specialist themselves—fully by the book,” Justine emphasizes.

Unearthing Crucial Knowledge: Challenging, But Essential

Does such a process meet resistance? “Not really,” Justine reveals. “People often assume it takes a lot of time. But we explain that we do most of the work. We meet with employees every few weeks, and we do the writing—they only need to review the content.” Rosanne adds: “We make it clear that our job is to handle the heavy lifting, so they can focus on their subject-matter expertise.”

During knowledge analysis, a lot comes to light. “I’m currently documenting the knowledge of a specialist. He sees the value of it and explains everything clearly. He also enjoys talking about his work—it’s something he finds important. When people speak with passion, you gain fascinating insights,” Justine shares. Rosanne gives another striking example: “I worked with an employee to write an article about a key formula used to calculate the price of workshops. That formula hadn’t been reviewed in years. As we went through it together, we discovered a mistake. You only find such things by being critical and open to revising. That’s when real improvements become possible.”

Why This Approach to Knowledge Capture Benefits Every Organization

Capturing knowledge is particularly relevant for this client—but Rosanne believes the method is valuable for any knowledge management project. “Absolutely. The focus is usually on reusing and cleaning up existing information. But looking at what hasn’t been documented yet increases transparency. Right now, employees often don’t know what others haven’t written down yet.”

Justine agrees: “The scale of implementation will vary by project. But every organization has crucial knowledge that’s not yet been documented. And AI can’t do that for you—it’s a fundamentally human task. Until you dive into it, you don’t even know what’s missing. Asking simple questions like: ‘Are you doing things automatically without a matching format, and why?’—that alone helps. Some things are so second-nature that they go unnoticed unless you shine a light on them.”

Both TKC consultants are on the same page: “Capturing this knowledge will always help as organizations bring in younger employees and need to onboard new staff. Organizations should take a forward-looking approach—identify who is retiring in the coming years. That gives you plenty of time to preserve the right knowledge.”

Could your organization benefit from organizing or documenting internal knowledge? Or do you want to learn more about how we extract knowledge from the minds of your employees? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us!