Knowledge Management Glossary
Clear, practical explanations of the key terms in knowledge management, company know-how, knowledge capture and knowledge transfer.
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07Capturing Know-How
Turning specific people's knowledge into a structured, usable form.
Community of Practice
A group of experts who share experience and jointly develop know-how in a given field.
Company Know-How
The body of practical knowledge and procedures that lets an organization run and make decisions.
Continuous Improvement
The systematic improvement of processes based on experience and data from operations.
Corporate Memory
An organization's ability to retain and reuse knowledge gained in the past.
Critical Know-How
The part of an organization's knowledge whose loss would directly threaten safety, quality, or continuity.
Critical Roles
Positions where the most important operational and decision-making know-how is concentrated.
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05Decision Logic
The reasoning process an experienced person follows to arrive at the right decision.
Decision Making
The way an organization and individuals choose between options in operational situations.
Decision Tree
A structured decision tree that maps out options and their consequences.
Departure of Key Employees
A situation where an organization loses the holder of critical know-how.
Digital Transformation
Changing how an organization works by using digital tools and data.
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06Employee Adaptation
The process by which a new employee gains the knowledge and context needed to work independently.
Employee Onboarding
A structured start for a new employee that includes transferring the know-how their role requires.
Employee Retention
An organization's ability to keep its key people — and with them, their knowledge.
Experience Sharing
The transfer of practical insights between colleagues, shifts, sites, or projects.
Expert Knowledge
Deep specialist knowledge gained through years of hands-on practice in a specific field.
Explicit Knowledge
Knowledge that can be written down, shared, and passed on in documented form.
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14Key Employee
A worker whose knowledge or decision-making is irreplaceable for operations.
Know-How
Practical knowledge of how to actually get something done under real conditions.
Know-How Standardization
Converting proven experience into unified, mandatory procedures.
Know-How Transfer
The managed transfer of practical knowledge from one person or team to another.
Knowledge Audit
Mapping what critical knowledge an organization holds and where it's at risk.
Knowledge Base
A structured knowledge repository available to people right when they need it.
Knowledge Capture
The systematic capture of specific people's knowledge and experience into a usable form.
Knowledge Continuity
An organization's ability to keep functioning without losing know-how as people change.
Knowledge Lifecycle
The path knowledge takes from creation through capture and use to updating.
Knowledge Management
Systematic work with an organization's knowledge, from capture to use.
Knowledge Map
An overview of where in the organization key knowledge is located.
Knowledge Risk Management
Managing the risks of losing, or losing access to, critical knowledge in an organization.
Knowledge Sharing
Making knowledge available to the people who need it for their work and decisions.
Knowledge Transfer
Passing knowledge between people, teams, projects, or locations.
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03Learning from Experience
Systematically turning one's own experience into knowledge usable in the future.
Learning Organization
An organization that systematically learns from its own experience and adapts its practices accordingly.
Lessons Learned
Insights gathered from past projects, incidents, or deviations and turned into usable knowledge.
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05Operational Experience
Experience gained from long-term work with a specific operation and its deviations.
Operational Know-How
Practical knowledge needed for safe and reliable day-to-day operations.
Organizational Know-How
Knowledge of how an organization actually operates across roles and departments.
Organizational Learning
The process by which an organization changes its practices based on experience gained.
Organizational Memory
Preserved knowledge, decisions, and their context, accessible across the organization and over time.
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04Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
A mandatory, standardized procedure for a recurring activity.
Subject-Matter Expertise
Specialized knowledge required to perform a specific professional role.
Succession
An organization's readiness to replace key people without losing their know-how.
Succession Planning
Systematically preparing successors for key roles, including transferring knowledge that's never written down.
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05Tacit Knowledge
Unspoken knowledge and experience that exists only in people's heads.
Talent Management
Managing the development and succession of key people in an organization.
Technical Know-How
Knowledge of technologies and equipment and how they really behave in operation.
Tribal Knowledge
Unwritten knowledge shared within a team that exists nowhere in documentation.
Troubleshooting
Systematically finding and eliminating the root cause of a problem.